Rory McIlroy recaptured his place at the top of The Race to Dubai after finishing runner-up behind Gregory Bourdy at last week’s UBS Hong Kong Open – his 13th top ten finish of a stunning season. The Northern Irish starlet had been overtaken by Lee Westwood after the latter’s victory at the Portugal Masters, but after the Englishman could only manage 54th place at the Hong Kong Golf Club, McIlroy took advantage to grab the top spot with just one event of the season remaining. If McIlroy, who took his season’s earnings to €2,538,449, were to win the Dubai World Championship presented by: DP World, he would become the second youngest player behind the great Seve Ballesteros to top The European Tour Money List. But with just €128,172 currently separating him and Westwood in second place, a win for the latter would also see him finish as Europe’s Number One for the second time. The only other men who could win The Race to Dubai are Germany’s Martin Kaymer and England’s Ross Fisher, who fill the third and fourth places with respective earnings of €2,332,544 and €2,105,047. Go

A third place finish at the season-ending OKI Castellon Senior Tour Championship saw Scotland’s Sam Torrance to secure a third Senior Tour Order of Merit Crown. Torrance produced a final round of 69 at the last event of the 2009 season to take third place behind Mike Harwood and Angel Franco at the Club de Campo del Mediterráneo and secure the €30,000 he required to leap-frog Ian Woosnam at the top of the final Order of Merit. Torrance finished the year with earnings of €170,695, with Woosnam taking second place on €167,315. England’s Carl Mason took third place on the Order of Merit with €157,917.Go

Edoardo Molinari finished Number One on the Challenge Tour Rankings, smashing the previous record for earnings in one season and climbing into the top 90 in the World Rankings in the process. His season earnings of €242,979 could conceivably stand as a Challenge Tour record for the next ten or even 20 years such was his domination. Perhaps more impressively still, he has climbed a staggering 569 places to 84th in the Official World Golf Ranking, thanks chiefly to his victories at the Piemonte Open, the Kazakhstan Open and the Italian Federation Cup. He was ultimately unable to preserve his unbeaten record on home soil and add the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final to an already bulging trophy cabinet, eventually finishing seventh to record his 12th top ten finish of the season with Peter Whiteford taking the title to secure a place among the 20 graduates for The 2010 European Tour. Go