The top players in the Race to Dubai make have made their way to Turkey ahead of the first of three Rolex Series events to complete the 2019 season. With no cut, a small field and lots of Race to Dubai points on the line, there is everything to play for at the Regnum Carya Resort.
Ahead of tomorrow's opening round, our statistics guru has picked three players for you to consider adding to yourFantasy Race to Dubaisquads for this week.
Favourite: Justin Rose
The defending champion returns to Turkey knowing that a win is the only way to reclaim his World Number One spot. Rose's victory last year was in part due to his excellent long game, ranking second in Greens in Regulation. In eight rounds in this event, Rose has lost strokes in just one round. The Olympic Champion has never finished worse than third in his two appearances.
This season, the 38 year old has finished in the Top 20 in 15 of 20 world starts, including eight top fives. His current form is unmatched. His worse finish in his last five starts was eighth at the Sky Sports British Masters in which he battled back from an opening round 74 (tied 79). Currently ranked inside the top five in Strokes Gained tee to green, a key component this week.
Form horse: Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Aphibarnrat returns to Turkey off the back of his tied fourth finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions last week, his third top five finish in the WGCs this season. Aphibarnrat will tee it up at Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort where last year he shared a 54-hole lead with Shane Lowry.
In his 16 rounds in this event only defending champion Rose has a better average round, 68.63. Currently ranked 37th in strokes gained tee to green on Tour this season, Aphibarnrat comes into the week putting well. He topped the putting stats last week - averaging 24.8 putts per round.
Currently 14th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, expect a strong end to the season for the Thai golfer who will be desperate to better his 11th place finish to the season long rankings last season.
Wildcard: Pádraig Harrington
The 15-time European Tour winner is over two years without a win but has been back contending on a number of occasions this season. Strong recent results at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (tied seventh) came after a fifth place and runner-up finish weeks previously.
Harrington arrives to Turkey after a strong showing last year (solo fourth) and despite ranking 51st in Greens in Regulation in this event last season, recent performances suggest that Harrington is trending towards improvement in this area.
Currently ranked 89th in the Race to Dubai as he battles to make the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai finale at the end of this month, he has work to do but expect that work to start this week in Turkey.
That's our picks, now it's time to make yours. Be sure topick your Fantasy Race to Dubai teambefore the deadline closes ahead of the first round.
