Friday 20 November 2015 11:14, UK
Robert Lee previews an exciting finish to the European Tour season in Dubai this week and reflects on the changes to the schedule and membership criteria announced by Keith Pelley in Dubai.
The European Tour season concludes with the DP World Tour Championship this weekend, and it promises to be an enthralling battle for the right to be crowned European No 1.
There are technically seven players who can win the Race to Dubai, and we haven't had such a close contest for quite some time. Rory McIlroy has a slim lead at the top of the standings, but if he has a bad week it brings everyone else into focus.
Danny Willett is the only player who can win and not have to worry about where McIlroy finishes, but for the likes of Justin Rose and Shane Lowry, a win for them might not be enough to win the Race to Dubai depending on where McIlroy finishes.
Henrik Stenson could win for the third year running, take the winner's cheque away from everyone else and then we'll see how the permutations work out. There are a lot of scenarios and that will make for great viewing. Willett is only 1,600 points behind McIlroy, and it all makes for a great week in store.
Last year, Rory had the Race to Dubai title all wrapped up with a couple of events to spare, but we'll be seeing him going full tilt this week, and that is one of the greatest sights in golf. He has been a little stop-start since he returned from that ankle injury. I don't think he's played the schedule he would have done had he been fully fit, and I always feel with him that he could do with a bit of a run-up.
Rory hit it well in Turkey but just didn't score as well as he should have done, and he had a good finish at the HSBC. But he's had a week off and he's back at a golf course he loves.
The Earth Course at Jumeirah suits the long, high-ball hitters like McIlroy and Stenson, and it's perfectly set up for Rory to play well and be the best golfer in Europe once again. And if he wins, he'll be close to regaining the world No 1 ranking as well.
No advantage
Willett hinted that Rory has an advantage over his rivals in Dubai this week because he's playing only three of the four Final Series events and is fresh from a week off, but Danny has played twice as many events over the season. He has had plenty of time to make hay in the events that Rory hasn't played.
But if I was Danny, I wouldn't be talking about who has an advantage and who hasn't, because it sounds like you're getting your excuses in. He should go to Dubai and try to win the tournament - end of. If Danny wins this week, he wins everything, it's as simple as that. And if the best player in the world beats you, so be it.
The early headlines in Dubai have been dominated by the announcement of the changes to next season's schedule, as well as the membership requirements to retain a European Tour card.
The Tour's new chief executive, Keith Pelley, has confirmed next year's Final Series will consist of just three events - the Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Challenge and the DP World Tour Championship.
Changing schedules is nothing new to the European Tour, and the dropping the WGC-HSBC Championship from the Final Series is a good move because not enough European-based golfers get to play in it. It's very selective, and although it's a great tournament and counts towards the Race to Dubai, it doesn't tick the right boxes to be included in the Final Series.
And with just three events to end the season, I would hope that more of the top players will play in all of them. It certainly gives them that chance. Let's see how it runs next season.
Logical move
The other big announcement was the reduction in the number of events required to retain European Tour membership. You now only have to play five sanctioned tournaments outside of the majors and the World Golf Championships.
That's a logical move. It makes no difference to the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, who are going to play in all the bigger events anyway, but it helps other guys who might drop out of the top 50 in the world and be unable to play in all of the majors and WGCs.
When Keith Pelley took over as chief executive from George O'Grady, I don't think he thought he would be anywhere near as busy as he has been. He's had to deal with a lot of significant issues in a short space of time.
But I'm a big fan of Keith Pelley. It's clear when he speaks that he has huge enthusiasm for the game, where the European Tour can get to, and the energy to involve the world of golf and make it happen.
He's impressing everyone that he's worked with, there have been difficult decisions to be made, and he has been a bit like a football manager - get a solid defence in place and then go on the attack.
One of his first decisions was clearing Rory McIlroy to play in the Final Series despite not having played the required number of events. But I don't think that was a tricky decision at all.
Rory had committed to fulfilling the criteria before he suffered that freak ankle injury that kept him out for weeks in the middle of the summer. To have ruled him out for the Race to Dubai would have been very short-sighted. He's the world No 3, he's putting in a lot of time and effort with the Irish Open, and he's a talismanic figure for the European Tour.
I can't see past McIlroy finishing the season as European No 1 for the third time in four years. I think Henrik Stenson will make it a hat-trick of DP World Tour Championship wins, with McIlroy finishing ahead of Willett to win the Race to Dubai.
Stenson obviously loves the course and it sets up so well for his style of play, He played well last week, and he's the man to beat in Dubai.
