World Number Six Justin Rose will be bidding to secure successive victories on Chinese soil in this week’s BMW Masters, the penultimate event of The European Tour’s Final Series.
Rose recently captured his first European Tour victory of the season in the UBS Hong Kong Open, beating Lucas Bjerregard by a single stroke to take his tally of titles to eight.
The victory moved Rose to fifth place in The Race to Dubai and within striking distance of World Number Three Rory McIlroy, who currently leads the Rankings on 3,393,923 points.
Rose boasts an impressive record at Lake Malaren Golf Club, finishing in a tie for fourth in last year’s BMW Masters and joint sixth on his only previous appearance in 2012, so the Englishman is understandably confident of closing the gap on McIlroy in Shanghai this week.
Rose said: “It was great to get my first European Tour win of the year in Hong Kong and I enjoyed taking some time off with the family afterwards, but it’s back to business for the BMW Masters. I’ve still got some ground to make up in The Race to Dubai so I’m probably going to have to win one of the next two events to overtake Rory, but I’m feeling good about my game so I’m in with a decent chance.
“I’ve got a very good record in Dubai and finished fourth in the BMW Masters last year, so together with my win in Hong Kong that gives me a lot of confidence to take into the week. With Rory taking the week off, it gives me a great chance to close the gap on him and make it an exciting end to the season next week in Dubai.”
Rose’s compatriot Danny Willett has every chance of usurping McIlroy at the top of the tree, having closed to within 74,214 point of the Northern Irishman following his tied third finish in last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions.
The 14-strong Chinese contingent will be led by Li Hao-tong, who finished in a tie for seventh place last week, and the Volvo China Open champion Wu Ashun.
Li came agonisingly close to winning the Shenzhen International in April, losing out in a play-off to Kiradech Aphibarnrat, then one week later Wu became the first Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil when he triumphed at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
Marcel Siem won last year’s BMW Masters in dramatic fashion, chipping in for birdie on the first extra hole to see off Ross Fisher and Alex Levy.
The quality of this year’s field is underlined by the presence of four Major Champions, seven winners of WGC events, three European Tour Number Ones and 25 of the winners from The 2015 European Tour International Schedule. Of the 78 players competing in the tournament, a total of 57 have won on The European Tour.
Notable names in the field include the 2013 Race to Dubai winner Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and John Daly, and Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia of Spain, England’s Ian Poulter, Wales’ Jamie Donaldson and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who returns to duty for the first time following his emotional victory in the recent Turkish Airlines Open.
American Patrick Reed, a four-time winner on the US PGA Tour, will also be teeing up at Lake Malaren following his tied seventh finish in the WGC-HSBC Champions.
The BMW Masters will be the third BMW-sponsored event on The 2015 European Tour International Schedule, following the BMW PGA Championship and BMW International Open.
The outcome of the tournament, which carries a prize fund of US$7 million dollars, will determine which 60 players qualify for next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
