Race To Dubai / Bill Elliott / 16 November 2009 / Leave a Comment

In the plush surroundings of the Earth Course - an 'oasis of risk and reward' - the cream of the European tour is preparing to compete in the final leg of the lucrative Race To Dubai. Bill Elliott asks if a certain Irish wunderkind can land the riches or whether a quality field will punish his shortcomings with the putter...

Between now and Sunday morning there will be a lot of hoop-la regarding the climax of the Race to Dubai over the virgin acres of The Earth course in the Emirates. Much of this will come from players who will be trying to talk up their own chances of success and much of it will be over-hyped nonsense.

What we can say here and now is that whoever is in with a chance of winning the Race to Dubai (formerly known as the European No.1 title) will be squinting nervously over the last few holes and trying hard not to fall over while gibbering and, quite probably, drooling. Nervous? You bet your sweet life they will be nervous.

Let's cut to the chase...There are two events taking place simultaneously when play begins on Thursday over the record 7,675 yard Earth course, an oasis filled with watery challenge and high risk and reward. Greg Norman has been paid millions to design and build this place and it promises to be some arena.

After 50 events on the tour, only the top 15 players going into this week qualify for a $7.5million bonus pool. The winner of the Race will be Europe's top golfer for 2009, get the Vardon Trophy to take home and will also pocket a bonus worth $1.5million. Meanwhile the winner - from the 60 players taking part, no cut remember - will pocket a $1.25million first prize.

Ipso facto chums, if the winner of the so-called World Championship is the same bloke who wins the Race to Dubai then he will hoover an extraordinary $2.75million bucks. Can't you just hear those buttocks clanging?

Realistically, it seems that only one of four players can now win the Race to Dubai. Rory McIlroy heads this short list, 128,000 euros ahead of Lee Westwood with Martin Kaymer 206,000 adrift and Ross Fisher over 400,000 behind. If either McIlroy or Westwood wins the tournament then it is over. If Kaymer wins then the young Ulsterman and the now veteran Englishman need a second place to pip him. If Fisher wins then he probably needs someone to kidnap the other three.

But winning this tournament will be far from easy. Among the 60 players set to play are Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els and Geoff Ogilvy. Throw in the likes of Alvaro Quiros and Justin Rose, Rod Pampling and Ian Poulter and you can see this quality field is just that...quality.

Els tells me that he is back on track following his runner-up spot in China a fortnight ago. "My short game just seems to have clicked again and I can't wait to get going, " he says. Harrington, who has spent much of the season fiddling with this and that, also appears closer to some real form and nods enthusiastically when asked about his form.

The most obviously in-form player is McIlroy. At 20, Rory is the new, tousle-haired face of European golf but though there is no denying his ability with 13 of the 14 clubs in his bag, there remains a nagging uncertainty in this quarter about his putter. It is not that he is a poor putter, just that his short stick is his only weapon that is not yet genuinely world class.

Westwood, too, still has a nagging short-game deficiency. "Am I a better player than I was 10 years ago when I finished No.1 in Europe? Nah, I can't be, I don't win as often, " he tells me disarmingly.

Which brings me to Kaymer. The German appears to have everything on his side now he has recovered from the injury that threatened to wreck a stellar season. He probably would have been in pole position this week had it not been for the damaged foot he sustained while go-karting three months ago.

But it means he is by far the freshest of the talented trio who have the biggest chance of landing the European Tour's biggest-ever prize. It's also worth noting that while Rory and Lee were slogging it out in Hong Kong last week, Kaymer was quietly making his way to Dubai to practice on a course that no-one has played competitively.

Does this mean he can top the always resolute Westwood and the mercurial McIlroy? It just might. What I do know is that if the Race to Dubai goes to penalties, then, as ever, my money is on the German.

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