Fisher hoping for victory in Dunhill Championship

Ross Fisher heads into this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa knowing that victory could put him top of the European Order of Merit.

The 27-year-old Englishman is currently in joint first place on the money list alongside Lee Westwood, thanks mainly to his runner-up finish at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

With Westwood not in action this week, Fisher is determined to claim success at a tournament he finished fourth at last year.

“Obviously I’ve got good memories from the last couple of times I’ve been to South Africa, especially last year,” he said. “To finish fourth was a great result for me last year, and then obviously I went on to do quite well in the SA Open as well, to finish 15th.

“So, I don’t know whether it’s the weather or the courses or the people, but I just enjoy playing back down here really.”

That good start to last season inspired him to go on and win the KLM Open at Zandvoort in Holland, before he finished the season ranked 43rd on the Order of Merit.

And he has already gone a long way in improving on that position with his earnings after one event of the new season at £216,317 (€301,090) almost half of what he earned last year.

“The HSBC proved that my game is good enough, so I would like to get among the best players in the world. I’m not really thinking about it, but obviously in the back of my mind, you know this year my main goal would be to get into the top 50 and if I can do that, great.

“HSBC was a massive disappointment, but at the same time it was a great start. I feel like it’s a really good opportunity for me to get off to a really good start.

“Hopefully get a lead going into Christmas, and I think this week and next week I’ve got two really good chances of winning tournaments, one would be nice if not both. That might be a bit greedy, but you just never know in this game.”

As for the extra pressure of being one of the highest ranked players in the line-up alongside home-favourite Ernie Els, Fisher added: “It’s not too bad. To see my name up that high is tremendous. But, you know, I’ve got to play very, very well this week. There’s a lot of good players behind us as well.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting week.”