Sunday 12 November 2017 20:05, UK
Justin Rose is making a late challenge for Race to Dubai victory in Dubai this week, a decade on from the last time he topped the European Tour’s Order of Merit.
The 37-year-old heads to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship second in the standings after back-to-back victories at the WGC-HSBC Champions and the Turkish Airlines Open.
Rose didn't feature in last week's Nedbank Golf Challenge but only trails Tommy Fleetwood by 256,737 points, keeping alive his chances of being European No 1 for the first time since 2007.
Although Rose only made 12 official European Tour starts during that campaign, the Englishman registered two victories and never finished outside of the top-25 on his way to topping the standings by 448,708 points.
After winning the season opener in Australia - then called the Mastercard Masters - Rose posted back-to-back top-fives at the WGC-Accenture Match Play and The Masters.
Rose's first appearance on home soil came at the BMW PGA Championship, where he finished runner-up in a play-off to Anders Hansen, while a final-round 76 saw him slip out contention and end tied-10th at the US Open.
Tied-12th finishes in the final two majors of the year were made either side of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where Rose sat in a share of second and eight back from Tiger Woods.
Rose returned from appearing in the inaugural FedExCup play-offs on the PGA Tour to take second spot behind Nick Dougherty at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, before making a first-round exit from the HSBC World Match Play Championship a week later.
A share of 21st at the Portugal Masters - his worst finish of the European Tour season - left Rose trailing leader Ernie Els heading in to the season-ending Volvo Masters.
With the South African not playing the final event, Rose took advantage by recovering from a final-round collapse to edge to victory in a play-off and secure his European No 1 status.
Will Justin Rose top the standings once again? Watch the DP World Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports.
