Justin Rose ready to make a late push for Race to Dubai victory
Wednesday 11 November 2015 13:57, UK
Justin Rose feels he can build n from his recent win in Hong Kong and make a late push for Race to Dubai victory, starting at this week's BMW Masters.
Despite skipping the first two Final Series tournaments, Rose is one of five players sitting within a million points of Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy - who sits out of this week's event - and could move top of the standings depending on how those around him perform.
Rose hasn't featured since winning last month's Hong Kong Open, but heads to Shanghai in a confident mood having not finished outside of the top six in his past four European Tour appearances.
"I had a great week in Hong Kong," he said. "It was fun and I played really, really well. I feel very good about my game.
"It is always nice to pick up a win late in the season and pick up some points, and obviously that gives me a better shot at the Race to Dubai.
"Getting back from Hong Kong, it was more a case of relaxing and recharging the batteries before a bit of travelling and one final last-ditch effort to try and overtake Rory and Danny and a couple of the other guys ahead of me.
"If I win any of the last two events that puts me ahead of them, depending on what they do. For me it's fairly simple: I need to play well for the next two weeks."
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McIlroy is the only player currently inside the top 15 of the standings not to feature this week, with Rose teeing off alongside those currently sixth and seventh in the standings, Branden Grace and French Open champion Bernd Wiesberger.
Still hopeful
Henrik Stenson is one of a number of players in the field still with an outside chance of topping the Order of Merit standings, despite heading in to the penultimate event of the season in 18th place and just over two million points adrift of McIlroy.
Stenson is without a win worldwide throughout the 2015, although has experience of making a late run for victory having taken the Race to Dubai title two years ago.
The world No 7 features alongside Martin Kaymer and China's Ashun Wu for the first two rounds at Lake McLaren golf club, looking to build on a strong finish at last week's WGC-HSBC Champions.
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"Hopefully I can start a little bit quicker than I did last week and be right there on Sunday," Stenson said. "There are a lot of points to play for here this week and of course in Dubai in the final.
"Two wins or two really good weeks could do the trick I guess. First thing though is to play well here this week to put ourselves in position."
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