Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – EUROPEAN TOUR – DP WORLD TOUR
CHAMPIONSHIP, DUBAI, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates – The
European Tour season finale is this week in Dubai with a field that includes
the top 60 players in the Race to Dubai.
The event will be a little anticlimactic as Rory McIlroy clinched the Race to
Dubai title on Sunday when Marcel Siem, Sergio Garcia and Jamie Donaldson
failed to win the Turkish Airlines Open.
If one of those three had won last week in Turkey and this week’s DP World
Tour Championship, Dubai, they would have been able to pass McIlroy and win
the Race to Dubai.
Siem came closest to winning as he tied for eighth in Turkey. He closed with a
1-under 71, which was solid considering that he dislocated a rib while working
out before his final round.
Last year, Henrik Stenson cruised to his second huge payday of the fall. After
winning the PGA Tour’s FedExCup, Stenson fired four rounds in the 60s,
including a pair of 64s, en route to beating Ian Poulter by six strokes.
Stenson clinched the Race to Dubai by winning the season-ending event last
year. He won two FedExCup playoff events on the PGA Tour to win the FedExCup.
The Swede hasn’t won since this event last year, but he did post nine top-10
finishes in 2014. He finished second at the BMW International and the Volvo
World Match Play Championship.
The field this week includes four of the top-7 players in the world and eight
of the top-25 overall.
Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds.
This is the final event of the season for the European Tour. The next tour
event will be the Nedbank Challenge, which kicks on December 4. That is the
first event of the 2014-15 schedule.
LPGA TOUR
CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida – The LPGA
Tour returns to the United States for the first time since September for the
season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Shanshan Feng fired a 66 in the final round last year as she rallied to win
the title by one stroke over Gerina Piller. The win for Feng was her second of
the season and third of her tour career.
Feng recently added her fourth title in Malaysia and she has four top-7
finishes in her last five starts.
There is plenty on the line this weekend. The top nine players in the Race to
the CME Globe can all win the $1 million prize with a victory this week. In
order, those nine are Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park, Lydia Ko, Michelle Wie, So Yeon
Ryu, Shanshan Feng, Anna Nordqvist, Chella Choi and Karrie Webb.
Along with that big prize, the Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy are
both up for grabs as well. Stacy Lewis leads Inbee Park by three points in the
Player of the Year race.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds this week.
The next event for the LPGA Tour will be the LPGA Tour Qualifying School,
which will be contested from December 3-7 at LPGA International Golf Course in
Daytona Beach, Florida.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
CHAMPIONS TOUR NATIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT, Orange County National Golf
Center & Lodge (Panther Lake Golf Course), Winter Garden, Florida – Seventy-
eight players are in Florida this week as they battle for a spot on the
Champions Tour in 2015.
The top five finishers following the 72-hole event will earn full Champions
Tour status for 2015. Those that finish sixth to 12th will be conditionally
exempt and the remainder of those in the top 30, and ties, will be eligible to
compete for spots via the open qualifiers.
Last year in Scottsdale, Arizona, Wes Short, Jr. carded four rounds in the
60s en route to a 5-stroke win over Mike Reid and Jim Rutledge.
Short earned his first tour title at the Quebec City Championship and he
finished 16th on the money list this year.
Rutledge, who has six PGA Tour Canada wins and one Web.com Tour title, is back
at Q School this year after posting just one top-10 finish in 2014. He shared
10th in Quebec.
Among the past PGA Tour winners in the field are Guy Boros, Joel Edwards, Gary
Hallberg, 1996 U.S. Open winner Steve Jones, Greg Kraft, Neal Lancaster, Barry
Lane and Blaine McCallister.
There is no television coverage this week.
The final Champions Tour event of the season will be the PNC Father/Son
Challenge. That event is slated for December 13-14 at the Ritz Carlton Golf
Club in Orlando, Florida. Stewart and Connor Cink fired back-to-back 61s to
win by three strokes.
