The Final Series gets under way this week and, with 40 million points on offer over the next four weeks, The Race to Dubai is far from over.
The four-week run takes in this week’s BMW Masters, the WGC- HSBC Champions and the Turkish Airlines Open by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, before the 2014 campaign reaches a climax with the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
With Race to Dubai earnings converted to points upon the conclusion of last week’s ISPS HANDA Perth International, each of the Final Series tournaments will carry a 10 million point prize total, with 1,666,600 points awarded to the winner of each event.
With current Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy not in action until the DP World Tour Championship following his recent withdrawal from the first two events of the Final Series, the door has been left ajar for the chasing pack in the quest to succeed Sweden’s Henrik Stenson as European Number One.
Furthermore, the race for a share of the $5million Bonus Pool – increased from $3.75 million last year – will carry right through to the conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship, with the top 15 players on conclusion of the season finale each taking a slice of the Bonus Pool. Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee is currently in the 15th place and will be looking to consolidate his position over the next three weeks. Remarkably, 14 different nationalities are represented among the current top 15 in The Race to Dubai.
McIlroy holds a commanding lead of 3,124,987 points over second place Sergio Garcia heading into the Final Series but, with 40 million points up for grabs, that lead is by no means insurmountable over the final four events.
Assuming McIlroy will earn at least 27,170 points – the allocation for 60th place in the DP World Tour Championship – his minimum points total for the season will be 5,427,869.
Therefore, with 1,666,600 available to the winner in in Dubai, any player who reaches 3,761,269 over the next three weeks will have the Number One spot in his sights; and with 4,999,800 points potentially available over the first three tournaments, any player teeing up in all three events can still mathematically win The Race to Dubai.
Indeed, any player competing in two of the next three tournaments could conceivably collect 3,333,320 points with a brace of victories, which theoretically opens the door to the top 63 players in The Race to Dubai; while all of the top 20 players have a chance of being within striking distance of McIlroy with a first and second place finish over the next three weeks.
In order to keep his hopes alive of overhauling McIlroy, Garcia needs to acquire 1,485,557 points before the season finale, which is the equivalent of a runner-up and top five finish in the two events he has entered.
If Stenson is to stand a chance of defending his Race to Dubai crown when he arrives at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the venue he is attached to as ambassador, the Swede will need to win 1,820,039 points.
Victor Dubuisson – who with a second place finish in Perth is once again hitting peak from heading into the Final Series, during which he will defend his Turkish Airlines Open title – has a target of at least 2,077,370 points to aim for over the next three events; and to that end, a second and two fourth place finishes would be sufficient to maintain his hopes of a first Harry Vardon Trophy win.
There are sure to be plenty of twists and turns throughout the Final Series, and despite McIlroy’s phenomenal season – which has seen him win two Majors, a WGC event and the BMW PGA Championship – the Ulsterman is not yet home and dry.
The Final Series kicks off with this week’s 78-man BMW Masters, held at Lake Malaren in Shanghai, China.
