The 2014 season enters the home straight this week as the eagerly awaited Final Series begins at the BMW Masters, where a world-class field will assemble at Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai, China.
Seven members of the victorious 2014 European Ryder Cup team will be in action to contest the US$7million prize fund, as will the man who captained them to glory at Gleneagles, Paul McGinley.
Jamie Donaldson, the player who claimed the winning point for the Europeans, is joined by team-mates Thomas Bjørn of Denmark, who was tied fifth in last year’s BMW Masters, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, Scot Stephen Gallacher, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Englishmen Ian Poulter and Justin Rose.
Chris Kirk, the highly-rated American who won the second event of the FedEx Cup series on the US PGA Tour in September, is also in the field, reflecting the global appeal of The European Tour’s Final Series, the lucrative four-tournament climax to The Race to Dubai.
All will be attempting to emulate Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, who claimed the title 12 months ago, and many will look no further than Poulter, who has enjoyed an excellent record on Asian soil in recent years.
His last victory on The European Tour came in the WGC-HSBC Champions, also in Shanghai, and prior to that he won in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The 38 year old said: “The BMW Masters is going to be a fantastic tournament. I like Asia in general. I love being there and like the Lake Malaren course. And I have some lovely fans over there. I’m looking forward to returning and trying to get my hands on that trophy.”
Fernandez-Castaño will defend the title he won last year, when he finished on 11 under par, one shot ahead of Italian Francesco Molinari and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, both of whom are also in the line-up.
The BMW Masters and its substantial purse provides the perfect opportunity to make a leap in The Race to Dubai, with players at either end targeting a profitable week.
Those currently outside the top 15 will have their eye on grabbing a slice of the US$5million Bonus Pool, awarded at the season’s end, while those further down the money list will have designs on qualifying for the lucrative finale, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, for which only the top 60 qualify.
The BMW Masters is the first of a two-week swing in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai, followed by the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club, before the Final Swing moves on to the Turkish Airlines Open by the Ministry of Youth and Sport and then the US$8million climax, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
