McIlroy looking on with great interest

Rory McIlroy will be an interested spectator as the first event of the European Tour’s Final Series gets under way in China today.

McIlroy holds a commanding lead of more than three million points over Sergio Garcia as he looks to win the Race to Dubai and PGA Tour money list titles for the second time in three years.

However, the world number one is missing both the BMW Masters and WGC-HSBC Champions events in Shanghai in order to prepare for a court case with his former management company, increasing the admittedly slim possibility of being overhauled by the likes of Garcia and current European number one Henrik Stenson.