McIlroy tops the tables

Rory McIlroy has moved into a lead of more than €120,000 over Lee Westwood in the Race to Dubai with one week to go on this season’s European Tour.

The 20-year-old has taken top spot off Westwood not only on the European Tour money list, but also on the Ryder Cup points table.

McIlroy is trying to become the second youngest player ever to win the Order of Merit, regained top spot by finishing second at the Hong Kong Open while Westwood was down in 54th.

There are just four players now who can be crowned number one – McIlroy, Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher.

Paul Casey would have been a fifth but he has withdrawn from the Dubai World Championship starting on Thursday because of injury.

McIlroy is firmly in the driving seat. Subject to confirmation of exchange rates tomorrow, it looks as though he will win the “Race to Dubai” title regardless of how he plays if Westwood fails to claim a top-six finish in the last event, Kaymer is outside the top four and Fisher the top two.

The rewards are massive. Whoever finishes number one earns a bonus of €1m, while the tournament first prize – even with the 25% reduction announced because of the economic situation – is more than €830,000.

One putt next Sunday therefore could be worth more than €1.8m.

The event is for the year’s top 60 money winners and McIlroy’s stablemate and fellow Northern Irishman Darren Clarke has missed out on it by less than €7,800.

Clarke came 11th in Hong Kong but finishes the campaign in 61st spot, just behind Welshman Jamie Donaldson.

Latest leading positions in the European Tour “Race to Dubai” money list after the Hong Kong Open and JBWere Masters:

1 Rory McIlroy (N Ire) €2,538,449, 2 Lee Westwood (Eng) €2,410,277, 3 Martin Kaymer (Ger) €2,332,544, 4 Ross Fisher (Eng) €2,105,047, 5 Paul Casey (Eng) €2,014,063, 6 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) €1,679,489, 7 Oliver Wilson (Eng) €1,668,252, 8 Simon Dyson (Eng) €1,525,157, 9 Ian Poulter €1,434,554, 10 Ernie Els (Rsa) €1,375,704

11 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) €1,339,645, 12 Francesco Molinari (Ita) €1,327,863, 13 Sergio Garcia (Spa) €1,321,872, 14 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) €1,175,979, 15 Peter Hanson (Swe) €1,173,801, 16 Henrik Stenson (Rsa) €1,134,650, 17 Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) €1,128,073, 18 Padraig Harrington (Ire) €1,119,349, 19 Soren Hansen (Den) €1,095,307, 20 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) €1,093,060

Latest leading positions in the European Ryder Cup table after the Hong Kong Open and JBWere Masters: (top four on world list qualify, then next five on European points list. Captain Colin Montgomerie adds three wild cards)

WORLD POINTS

1 RORY McILROY 89.2, 2 SIMON DYSON 76.0, 3 LEE WESTWOOD 75.2, 4 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 70.8, 5 Ian Poulter 61.9, 6 Francesco Molinari 58.5, 7 Alexander Noren 55.0, 8 Gregory Bourdy 53.3, 9 Ross McGowan 50.3, 10 Ross Fisher 47.8

EUROPEAN POINTS

1 Rory McIlroy 860,222, 2 Simon Dyson 828,296, 3 Lee Westwood 792,724, 4 IAN POULTER 646,122, 5 ROSS FISHER 604,779, 6 FRANCESCO MOLINARI 580,184, 7 ALEXANDER NOREN 577,454, 8 ROSS McGOWAN 537,636, 9 Oliver Wilson 470,287, 10 Gregory Bourdy 390,949

(Capitals denote players in qualifying positions)