Rozner, Bezuidenhout surge in Race to Dubai rankings

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The field for the DP World Tour Championship – the final Rolex Series event of the season - is set after two days of high drama in the penultimate week of the 2020 European Tour season, which saw tournaments take place in Dubai and South Africa.

France’s Antoine Rozner punched his ticket to the season-ending event with a come-from-behind victory at the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World, while home favourite Christiaan Bezuidenhout romped to a five-stroke win at the South African Open to move into the top five in the Race to Dubai.

Bezuidenhout won for the second consecutive week in his homeland – and should he make it a hat-trick of victories at the DP World Tour Championship there is a chance he could win the Race to Dubai, depending on how those in front of him in the Rankings perform at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Jamie Donaldson was runner-up in Sun City and his haul of 222 points secured a return to the Earth course for the first time in five years with the top 61 available players in the Rankings qualifying for the DP World Tour Championship.

South African Dean Burmester will join the Welshman after his one under par final round saw him finish alone in fourth and earn 100 points to move up 15 spots in the Rankings to 49th.

In Dubai, Rozner lit up the Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Saturday with a superb final round eight under par 64 to clinch his first European Tour title by two shots ahead of fellow Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, English pair Andy Sullivan and Matt Wallace and Italy’s Francesco Laporta.

Rozner was hovering in 55th position in the Race to Dubai prior to the week but emphatically secured his spot for a debut in the DP World Tour Championship by collecting 335 points for the win to move up to 24th in the Rankings.

All four players in second place collected 132.75 points for their efforts. Sullivan moved up three places into 11th in the Rankings while Wallace nudged himself up 16 places into 34th.

Both Laporta and Lorenzo-Vera sat well outside the top 60 prior to play and only a win would have been good enough for either to break through the barrier and qualify.

Attendance at the DP World Tour Championship will be for invited guests only. Golf fans can follow the action on the Dubai Sports channel in the UAE or by tuning into their local network as well as staying up to date with all of the action at www.europeantour.com and on the European Tour’s social media channels.

The Race to Dubai is a season-long competition to crown the European Tour’s No 1 player. Celebrating the global connectivity of Dubai and the European Tour, the list of champions since 2009 reads like a Who’s Who of modern-era greats, including three-time winner Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson with two titles, as well as Jon Rahm, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.

Formerly known as the Order of Merit, points are accumulated based on a tournament points system with the winner awarded the prestigious Race to Dubai trophy at the conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship.