Can Donald Fight Off McIlroy To Finish Top Of Race To Dubai & Complete The Money List Double?

 

By Rod Crowley: The 2011 "Race to Dubai" reaches its conclusion this week with the Dubai World Golf Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates and at the end of the four days, there will be two champions crowned, firstly the winner of the tournament itself and the 2011 winner of the "Race" itself, which was previously known as the European Tour Money list, will also be decided.

It is even possible that the same golfer could be crowned both! The event is only open the top sixty players on the tour and with $10,000,000 up for grabs in prize money, including $1.6 million to the winner, a competitive end to the season is guaranteed. 

Twelve months ago, the Race to Dubai was won by Martin Kaymer but it was Sweden's Robert Karlsson who won this final tournament.

Having played most of his golf on the US PGA Tour this year, Karlsson only managed to qualify in 42nd place which means he is well out of contention of topping the money list whilst Kaymer, although consistent form on the tour in 2011 is currently in third place he is unable to overtake the current leader, Luke Donald.

Donald has also played much of his golf in the States this year but his performance have seen him establish a comfortable lead at the head of the Race to Dubai having earned €3, 856,394 from just 12 tournaments! World number one, Donald, also finished top the money list on the US PGA Tour and could become the first man in history to win both the American and European Tours in the same season.

His consistency has been truly remarkable with four wins and a host of high placed finishes, which has kept him at the number one spot in the world golf rankings for most of the year even though a major win still eludes him.

Fittingly, the only man who can leapfrog Donald in the Race to Dubai is the current world number two, Rory McIlroy, who will need to win the final tournament this weekend and hope that Donald does not make the top ten. Any other outcome would result in Donald winning.

McIlroy has also had a remarkable year, the highlight being his record breaking victory at the US Open in June, earning the 22 year old a first "Major" and huge acclaim in the process.

There are many golfing commentators who believe that McIlroy can reach the same heights that Tiger Woods has done and the Ulsterman heads to Dubai on the back of a great win in Hong Kong last weekend and is the favourite amongst bookmakers to win but Luke Donald is also amongst the front runners.

Luke Donald, who suffered the loss of his father recently, during the same week as his wife gave birth to their second daughter, only returned to playing last week.

He was one of 12 golfers invited to compete in the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City but could only manage seventh place, leaving some questioning his frame of mind and current form. However, he knows what is on the line this week and he will be surely be in determined mood to deny McIlroy his slim chance of finishing ahead of him.

Winner for the second successive year in Sun City was Lee Westwood, who in the process broke the course record with an amazing third round of 62. He too has been in terrific form for most of the year which has secured him, along with Donald and McIlroy, in the top three in the world golf rankings.

Westwood won both the tournament and the Race to Dubai in its inaugural year in 2009 and although he is too far behind Donald this year to top the list, he still poses a major threat to both Donald and McIlroy in the tournament.

Contenders For The 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year

There are many sceptics who question the integrity of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year after many unlikely winners have walked away with the award when you look at past winners from down the years. Greg Rusedski for instance won in 1997 after losing in the US Open Men’s Tennis final, Zara Phillips and her mother Princess Anne for that matter, winners in 2006 and 1971 respectively for winning Olympic Gold Medals in the not too well known sport of Eventing – anyone believe that there may have been some bias here?

The reasons behind David Beckham’s win in 2001 remains a mystery, Or was that the year he played the starring role in England’s 2-2 draw against Greece? Michael Owen’s win in 1998 is even more questionable, given it seems for a scoring a wonder goal against Argentina in a World Cup last 16 match that England were to lose on penalties.

Staying with football, there would be very few that would argue against Ryan Giggs achievements but when he won the SPOTY in 2009, it was on the back of a mass social media campaign from Man Utd fans which seemed to focus on his services to football rather than any outstanding feat achieved that year.

It is difficult to argue that there is more than a little cynicism contained in some of the past winners but when an award is given on annual basis, shouldn’t it be received by somebody who has accomplished something of great note?

In many ways, it is great to competitors of less popular Olympic sports be rewarded. In recent years, the Olympic sportsmen and women who have won the award include, Sir Chris Hoy in 2008, Dame Kelly Holmes in 2004 and Sir Steven Redgrave in 2000 being the last three. The trend of Olympians is almost certain to continue in 2012 with the London Olympics taking place next summer but the question is which sportsman or women has achieved anything of note befitting of the award over the past 12 months.

The favourite to win this year is Mark Cavendish, the first ever British "Green Jersey" winner in the Tour De France, a feat he achieved after winning four stages of the world’s most gruelling race. He is also became the World Road Race Champion in 2011 and although he will be seen in the Olympics next year.

His achievements this year have been outstanding and he is the justified leader at this stage and could even be on course to win back-to-back awards if he adds Olympic Golds to his honours at the London Olympics next year and as the latest Sports Personality of the year odds would suggest, at 5/4, Cavendish is firmly the one to beat.

Golfers, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy are also in contention to win after the two men from Northern Ireland each won Major Golf Tournaments earlier this year. McIlroy won the US Open in June, breaking almost every conceivable record for the tournament in the process whilst Clarke meanwhile came back from almost total obscurity to win the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George's.

Clarke lost his wife to breast cancer in 2006 and clearly affected his form and his come back, finished off by his first win in a Major tournament made the achievement that bit more special and endeared him to the public in the process.

There is a very strong argument for a third British golfer to be in the running this year and that is the current world number one Luke Donald. The Englishman will become the first man in golf history to top the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic, after an incredibly consistent season, which has seen him win four tournaments and finish in the top ten a further 14 times.

Included in those wins was the WGC World Match-Play at the beginning of the year, which will go a long way to seeing Luke become the first non-American to win the US Tour’s Player of the Year. Donald too has been hit with a major personal bereavement earlier this month, when his Dad, Colin died suddenly, just four days before Luke’s second daughter was born.

However, if the Sports Personality of the Year award is about acknowledging major wins then McIlroy and  Clarke must be fancied ahead of him but should Donald end his wait for a first major in 2012 then you can rest assured that this popular personality will be amongst the front runners in twelve months time.

Written by Rod Crowley