Many of us have missed that pressure shot when your playing partner suddenly ups the stakes. Well today the pressure has been supercharged and it doesn’t matter if you are Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm, $3 million for winning the DP World Tour Championship will have the knees knocking coming into the closing stages.
Closing hole drama
The last four holes at Jumeirah Golf Estates are perfectly set up for a dramatic finish and I have a feeling today they will have their part to play.
With all eyes on Rory and Jon, therest of the field might go under the radar:
GAME 25. THE FINAL GROUP
Mike Lorenzo-Vera showed the first signs of nerves as he bogeyed the final hole of his third round. But with Pete Cowen and Mike Walker behind him, they know how to get their players over the finishing line. Pete and Mike coached Fitzpatrick to victory in 2017 and Lorenzo-Vera will have learned a lot from that. He can just play his own game without feeling intimidated by the brute force of Jon Rahm.
Jon Rahm starts the final round as favourite to win both the DP World Tour Championship and the 2019 Race to Dubai, worth a combined $5million. He thrives on pressure but that sum of money could effect anyone.
GAME 24.
This could be the group to watch as both Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood could throw caution to the wind and go pin hunting from the first hole. Rory is two shots back of the leaders but he will want to put the pressure on from the start. Fleetwood knows that Rahm is the man to beat to win the Race to Dubai but he will need to go super low. Tommy is four shots back which means he will have to pull off another eagle littered card like he produced at the Nedbank Golf Challenge last week. He has a habit of going low on Sunday, so this pairing could bounce off each other.
GAME 23.
Thomas Pieters and Marcus Kinhult have found form at the right time. Kinhult narrowly missed out against Fleetwood in the play-off last week and he’s putting himself in contention once more. Clawing back six shots from Rahm is a huge ask but he will be aiming at a top three which would earn a staggering $592,500. Pieters has managed to overcome his injury woes and is now living up to his potential. If he can get the short stick working early in the round he’s one player that could go super low.
