By Will Pearson, europeantour.com
at Lake Malaren
As we continue the build-up to the start of this year’s Final Series at the BMW Masters in Shanghai, europeantour.com spoke to three men on the brink of some key career landmarks in The 2014 Race to Dubai.
While Rory McIlroy sits proudly atop the money list with the climactic four events of the 2014 campaign remaining, there is still plenty to play for for every other player involved over the next month.
Those with some key targets include Joost Luiten, chasing a first top ten finish in The Race to Dubai, Tommy Fleetwood, on the cusp of a slice of the lucrative €5million Bonus Pool on offer to those finishing inside the top 15, and Eddie Pepperell, eyeing a move inside the top 60 and a debut at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
And with Lake Malaren Golf Club set to host the BMW Masters for a third time this week, with plenty of points and plunder on offer to those brave enough to take it, the stakes could not be higher.
JOOST LUITEN
2014 R2D: 9th– 23 events; 1 win; 7 other top tens; Scoring Avg 70.69; Earnings €1,500,777
2013 R2D: 12th – 26 events; 2 wins; 6 other top tens; Scoring Avg 69.92; Earnings €1,411,910
A winner once again in 2014 at the ISPS Handa Wales Open, Luiten has been one of the most reliable performers on The European Tour in recent years, having finished inside the top 30 in four out of the last five seasons with 44th his lowest placing on The Race to Dubai since first playing a full schedule in 2010.
There are still improvements to be made and new goals to be set, though, according to the Dutchman.
“I finished 12th last year so I’m looking to move up a little bit,” said Luiten. “I’m ninth now and I think it would be a great year if I could finish inside the top eight but you have to say anything inside the top ten constitutes a very good year.
“I played very consistently until the KLM Open and was looking for a win there, but it’s great that it happened in Wales. If you can just win one every year it makes your season great; it makes the difference between a good, consistent year and a great year.
“We all know how big these four tournaments are; you only need one big week and you can really move up in the world ranking and The Race to Dubai, so there is a lot to play for but we will take it week by week and make the best of all the events in the Final Series - hopefully starting this week at the BMW Masters.”
TOMMY FLEETWOOD
2014 R2D: 17th – 24 events; 3 runners-up, 4 other top tens; Scoring Avg 70.29; Earnings €1,179,142
2013 R2D: 26th – 32 events; 1 win; 4 other top tens; Scoring Avg 70.58; Earnings €1,007,872
Fleetwood will always remember 2013 as a breakthrough season, having captured his maiden European Tour title at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles less than a year after retaining his playing rights at the last in 2012.
In the most dramatic of circumstances two years ago, the Englishman fired a final-round 69 in the SA Open Championship – the final full-field counting event that season – to claim a first top ten of the season and rise from 124th to the safety of 109th.
It was smoother sailing for Fleetwood in 2013 and he has improved further this year with a share of the $5million Bonus Pool for a finish inside the top 15 within sight.
“I’m aware of the Bonus Pool of course but it’s not necessarily one of my biggest aims,” said the former Challenge Tour Number One. “These are four great events and after playing them last year it was a big goal to get in them again in 2014. We have the best players in the world playing these four weeks it would be great to get myself up there again come the weekend and really test myself.
“You always want to keep improving on the years before. Getting in the top 30 last year was great because with that it gets you into The Open, and so that was another aim this year to match that and now I’m determined to beat last year and finish up as high as I can.
“We did say top ten in The Race to Dubai would be great and that might be a bit of a stretch, but you’ve always got to set targets that are difficult to reach to keep yourself going and keep the desire there.”
EDDIE PEPPERELL
2014 R2D: 62nd – 24 events; 5 top tens; Scoring Avg 71.41; Earnings €430,463
2013 R2D: 76th - 25 events; 2 top tens; Scoring Avg 71.37; Earnings €389,766
After ascending to the top rung of European golf as a graduate of the 2012 Challenge Tour, Pepperell took to life on The European Tour with aplomb last season, with a tied sixth place finish at the flagship BMW PGA Championship proving the highlight of a solid, impressive maiden campaign on The Race to Dubai.
And in 2014, despite a slow start which saw the Englishman miss seven cuts from his first nine starts this season, he has turned things around since late summer with four finishes inside the top five in his last seven tournaments propelling Pepperell to within touching distance of a debut in the year’s climactic event in the United Arab Emirates.
“I’m trying not think too much about Dubai,” said the 23 year old Oxford native. “If I make eight good scores in my next eight rounds of golf, then Dubai will take care of itself.
“The first half of this year I played badly but the last three or four months have been good. I’ve had a few close calls, a few top fives, top tens, and that’s where I want to be. It’s been a good learning curve again, as it should be in the second year on Tour, and next season is really when I will be demanding more of myself.
“But Dubai would be a nice way to finish the season. I think my family would come out and it would be a nice celebration for my family and me, but hopefully this is still just the beginning of many more years to come when I can do that so I’m taking it one step at a time.”
