Shane Lowry battles to stay Race to Dubai No 1 at Dunhill Links
Wednesday 25 September 2019 11:36, UK
Shane Lowry is determined to stay top of the Race to Dubai at the Alfred Dunhill Link Championship, ahead of his battle to end the season as European No 1.
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The Champion Golfer has topped the standings since his win at The Open in July, following on from his victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, with Lowry holding a narrow advantage over nearest challenger Jon Rahm.
Rahm moved within 28 points of the Irishman with a runner-up finish at the BMW PGA Championship, where the Irishman claimed a share of 11th, with Lowry looking forward to having plenty of points to play for the coming weeks.
"It feels like every tournament I play now is a big event," he said. "Obviously I had a decent week at Wentworth last week so I was happy enough with that and hopefully I can take that form into this week and have a good week here.
"It is relaxed here but we're all very competitive people, I know I am, and I desperately want to go out there this week and do well.
"I want to consolidate my place at the top of the Race to Dubai but I have a couple of months to do that and there are going to be some big tournaments. There are some great players behind me, but if I can do my own business hopefully I'll do okay."
Robert MacIntyre leads the home interest in this week's field, with the Scot still hopeful of making a late charge up the Race to Dubai standings in his rookie season on the European Tour.
"Being in contention to win the Race to Dubai is the goal," MacIntyre said. "Obviously we want to get as high up as possible going into the final few events, but I've got a few things that I need to sort out before then and hopefully come the final event I can be knocking on the door.
"I'll have maybe five or six weeks off at the end of the season. That will be the time to reflect and work on the things that we still need to work on. It's been a quick year.
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"At the start I was just trying to keep my card and then after the British Masters you sit back and go 'well, now I need to push on and try to win'. Going from just trying to keep your card to trying to win on the European Tour is a drastic move but I'm enjoying myself."
Watch the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.
