The conclusion of the weather that disrupted the Andalucia Valderrama Masters sees the start of the Race to Dubai finale series with five South Africans in line to play in the last event.
This week the European Tour heads to Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Course for the WGC-HSBC Champions, the last event before the finale series.
It’s been a slow season from a South African perspective with just three local winners (Dylan Frittelli in Mauritius, George Coetzee in Tshwane and Brandon Stone in Scotland).
The top 116 in the Race to Dubai have now been confirmed with Zander Lombard a high-profile casualty from the those exempt into the first of the final events, the Turkish Airlines Open.
Looking further ahead to the season decider, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, only a handful of South Africans are currently in the top 60.
Stone remains SA’s leading candidate in 16th place following his remarkable final round surge to the Rolex Series event – the ASI Scottish Open. Next best is Dylan Frittelli, now a dual member of the European Tour after gaining his PGA Tour card via the Web.com finals. He is followed directly by European Tour rookie Erik van Rooyen in 35th place with Branden Grace, the reigning Nedbank Golf Challenge champion, immediately after.
In 41st place is Louis Oosthuizen, who is looking to a strong finish to his season after a fifth-place result in Malaysia two weeks ago.
Dean Burmester is the closest South African to the top 60 and needs to move up two spots to book a place in Dubai, where he challenged for the title last year before falling just short alongside playing partner Jon Rahm.
Coetzee is 11 spots away from the Dubai field, who finished fourth the week after his win on home soil but enters the crunch period on the back of two missed cuts.
