With the season-ending Final Swing just a few weeks away, there has been plenty of moving and shaking in The Race to Dubai Rankings – europeantour.com’s Callum Johnson takes a look back at all of the action from the past month.
The higher echelons of The Race to Dubai standings have remained unchanged of late, with the top nine players standing firm as summer drew to a close.
Below them though it has been a hot-bed of activity, with no move more prominent than Oliver Wilson’s meteoric resurgence up the Rankings from 252nd to 39th after his maiden European Tour victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
It was an emotional return to form for the Englishman, igniting tearful scenes at St Andrews, having secured a one stroke victory over a chasing pack that included World Number One and Race to Dubai frontrunner Rory McIlroy.
Upon striding off the 18th green at The Old Course, eyes welling at the realisation of his accomplishment, Wilson was embraced by his wife Lauren, at which point one could virtually see the weight of expectation and frustration lifted from his shoulders, as he finally squashed any doubt of his ability to win on The European Tour.
Everybody loves a good redemption story, and this one is up there with the best of them.
An evidently choked-up Wilson said: “I don’t have words for it. It’s been ten years, 11 years coming. There were nine runners-up and I hadn’t done a whole lot to lose those, but nothing had really gone my way and this week, to be given a big opportunity by Dunhill to play – I can’t thank them enough to give me an opportunity to do this – I guess it’s what golf’s all about.”
Prior to his heroics at the home of golf, where he carded a last round 70 to reach 17 under par for the tournament, Wilson had spent too long in the golfing wilderness for the talent he clearly possesses, dropping down to 792ndin the Official Golf World Rankings and plying his trade on the Challenge Tour since losing his card in 2011.
However, Wilson famously accumulated nine second place finishes in European Tour events from 2006 to 2009 as part of a run of form which saw him break into the world top 50 and qualify for The 2008 Ryder Cup team.
The capacity to mix it with the best of them was clearly there, but merely dormant for the last few years. At the Alfred Dunhill Links Championships it returned in spectacular fashion though, especially on the Thursday and Saturday where Wilson shot a 64 and 65 around Carnoustie and St Andrews respectively to seize his maiden win, and there have been few more popular victories amongst his peers this season than his
Another man who will be revelling in his past month’s success is Joost Luiten, who won his fourth European Tour event at the ISPS Handa Wales Open by a one shot margin at 14 under par, en route to the top ten in The Race to Dubai standings.
Luiten enjoyed an imperious week at The Celtic Manor Resort which culminated in a champagne showering from Sir Terry Matthews, the venue’s owner, on the 18th green after the Dutchman shot a level par final round to hang onto his lead.
"It was tough, it was hard work down the last," Luiten admitted. "I didn't have the start I wanted with two bogeys and I just tried to hang in there and wait for my chances and made some nice birdies at the end and a par down the last was luckily enough.”
Among his opponents in Wales was a previous Challenge Tour champion in Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a final round 64 to reach 13 under and share second place with Shane Lowry.
The Englishman then followed that result with another runner-up finish behind Wilson at the Dunhill Links, but he will be keen to go one better in the coming months.
Fleetwood’s purple patch has resulted in him firing up The Race to Dubai Rankings this month from 30th to 16th and he is certainly one to watch out for come the Final Series, as the young buck attempts to claim a second European Tour title.
However, the man with the happiest memories of the past few weeks is arguably Paul Casey, who not only became a father for the first time this summer, but also won his first tournament as a dad at the KLM Open shortly after in the Netherlands.
This double whammy of a fortnight had Casey commenting: “I’m a bit emotional to be honest, it was very care free for three and a half days, because if I played well or poorly I was going to go home to see my baby, and then I got to the last three holes and I thought I really want this - not that he is old enough to understand.”
The Englishman had an insatiable appetite for birdies over the tournament weekend, storming through the field from eight shots back at the cut to card a course record 62 on Saturday. He would sustain that momentum with a 66 on Sunday, all of which saw him enjoy a one shot victory over Graeme Storm at 14 under par.
Having turned his attention back to The European Tour at the Kennemer Golf & Country Club, a revitalised Casey has risen up The Race to Dubai standings from 94th place to 46th and perhaps it was a new venture into fatherhood that galvanised his return to winning ways.
In hindsight then, the past month has been a golfing whirlwind on the circuit, and now The European Tour turns its attention towards the countdown to The Final Series.
Players will be eager to gather as many ranking points as possible before they embark on the closing stint of this year’s journey, which will climax at the DP World Tour Championship, where a new Race to Dubai champion will be crowned.
