The battle of who will win the Race to Dubai looks set to go to the wire with Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm positioned nicely in a share of second place on 9-under-par heading into the weekend at the DP World Tour Championship.
Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger sits six strokes back in a share of 13th and should either Rahm or Fleetwood win the tournament and Wiesberger not climb into second place they will overtake the Austrian and win the season-long battle to become European No.1.
Last week’s NedBank Golf Challenge winner Fleetwood is trying his best to ignore the Race to Dubai permutations and insead turn the focus on himself.
“It’s a classic case of trying to stay in the moment and take each shot as it comes. There’s a lot going on over the weekend with a lot of different scenarios and players in the mix,” said the Englishman.
“There’s a lot of things going on around you, so the more internally focused you can be and the more you can just stay in your bubble, it will just be a great challenge going into the weekend trying to do that.” – Tommy Fleetwood
Rahm enjoyed the battle as the course got firmer and the wind picked up in the afternoon and he rallied late, picking up five shots in the closing six holes to post a 3-under-par 69.
“I’m so proud of turning it around the way I did because things were not looking good – it was playing hard,” said Rahm. “I kept putting myself in position on the fairway and that’s why I had better chances, but if you didn’t put it in the fairway, it’s a difficult day out there. Very windy.”
Wiesberger, who followed a 70 with a 71 to sit on 3-under-par is still confident of a good weekend and coming out on top come Sunday afternoon.
“We have so many good players out here all capable of being in my position so I’m just cherishing being the one who has to be hunted down,” he said. “I’m trying to do the best I can and enjoy it as much as I can.
“You don’t know how many times you will be in a position like this, and when you are, it’s a great feeling. So hopefully I can finish the season stronger with another couple of good rounds and we’ll see what happens.” – Bernd Wiesberger
