The Race to Dubai looks set to be decided at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship after Henrik Stenson moved top of the standings with a runner-up finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Stenson, 40, leapfrogged Danny Willett after the Masters champion failed to make the cut, while Rory McIlroy’s third-place finish in China closed the gap on the Englishman.
Stenson, the reigning British Open champion, snared a crucial birdie with a putt at the final hole to move to 16-under and share second with American Daniel Berger in the Shanghai event, seven shots behind runaway winner Hideki Matsuyama.
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“It was a sweet putt to make on the last,” he said. “A nice way to finish with a bogey-free 65.”
With Stenson and McIlroy both absent from the upcoming Turkish Airlines Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, Willett has the opportunity to reclaim top spot ahead of the season finale in the UAE.
“It’s going to be tight all the way to the end, and that’s the way we like it,” said Stenson, who won the Race to Dubai in 2013 — the only time since 2012 that four-time major winner McIlroy has not won the European Tour crown.
“It would be nice to go into the last one knowing that if you win in Dubai, you win overall.”
Top five in the Race to Dubai standings:
1. Henrik Stenson (SWE) 3,843,283.58 points
2. Danny Willett (ENG) 3,581,896.64
3. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 2,824,148.55
4. Alex Noren (SWE) 2,318,603.58
5. Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 2,242,985.02
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