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Big Week on Tour
This week the European Tour announced its 2019 schedule following a WGC event in Shanghai and just before the final stretch; three consecutive Rolex Series events to close out the season and crown a Race to Dubai Champion.
The fixture list was generally well-received, with the seemingly unlikely inclusion of the British Masters a fan-favourite, especially when it’s hosted by the fan-favourite Tommy Fleetwood. The Southport native just so happens to be the reigning Race to Dubai Champion, and he has a very good shot at defending his prestigious title. To the fans’ delight, Fleetwood is second in the rankings to none other than Francesco Molinari; making Moliwood the European Tour’s Top-2 for the season so far.
Feeling the Heat
More points. More money. More pressure. That’s the way it’s going to be for the next three weeks, starting with Turkey this week. The headline group is World No. 2 Justin Rose teeing off alongside fellow Ryder Cup heroes Fleetwood & Thorbjorn Olesen. All three men boast Rolex Series titles over the last couple seasons and with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Molinari, Alex Noren and Jon Rahm all missing from the field you’d expect at least one of them to seize a great opportunity. If that doesn’t convince you enough already, try this on for size: In just five editions of this tournament, Victor Dubuisson won his only two Tour titles; Olesen won this event in 2016 and Rose won it last time out. Omens galore
With a hot and sunny forecast on one of the kinder European Tour courses, this is a birdie-maker’s paradise. The lowest winning score in this event was Brooks Koepka’s -17 in 2014. This of course lends itself to the aforementioned headline group, but it’s also good news for some other players.
Top Contenders
Matt Wallace already has three wins this season but hasn’t really received the accolades his success warrants. A Rolex Series win would change that. Looking at some non-Europeans who may fancy making hay while the sun shines, Shubhankar Sharma likes making double-figures (sometimes positive, sometime negative) and whilst you might dismiss him following a +16 last week, he shot -19 two weeks earlier. His Joburg Open & Maybank Championship wins at the start of the season both saw him hit sub-20 in perfect conditions. New Zealand’s Ryan Fox already has an incredible six Top-10 finishes in Rolex Series events and I’d expect him to make it seven this week in favourable conditions. Finally, China’s Haotong Li finished T11 on home soil last week to make it five Top-30s on the trot, including a T5 and T9 at the Alfred Dunhill Links and British Masters respectively. If that form wasn’t convincing enough, he shot the season's joint-lowest score-to-par (-23, joint with Sharma at the Joburg Open) en route to victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Outside of the headline three, Wallace looks like Europe’s leading contender in an event that favours non-Europeans. Sharma, Fox & Li are all primed for big weeks. Whatever happens, we can expect to see some free-flowing, birdie-making golf in the sunshine. I wonder how much a plane ticket to Turkey costs...
Written by Joe Carabini
