It may be less than a month since Luke Donald was crowned the third winner of The Race to Dubai but the battle to succeed him begins in earnest this week with the launch of the 2012 season at the Africa Open in South Africa.
Donald’s triumph in Dubai last month brought the curtain down on one of the greatest seasons in the history of The European Tour and the competition to usurp him as Number One is shaping up to be fiercer than ever.
With the top four on the Official World Golf Ranking all European Tour Members, The 2012 Race to Dubai is the most eagerly anticipated to date, comprising 46 counting events spread across 11 months and all five continents.
As has become tradition, the season will once again culminate at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, from November 22-25, when a new champion will follow in the footsteps of inaugural winner Lee Westwood, 2010 champion Martin Kaymer and reigning European Number One Donald.
For all three past champions, the honour of winning The Race to Dubai is an accomplishment that sits proudly on their golfing CVs and is one they aspire to repeat.
Donald, who made history by also topping the US PGA Tour’s Money list last year, won three times on The European Tour in 2011 en route to winning The Race Dubai, capturing the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, the BMW PGA Championship and The Barclays Scottish Open.
He summed up the feeling of winning The Race to Dubai by saying: “I played extremely solid, consistent golf all year. Winning The Race to Dubai, I think, was a testament to my hard work and it was nice to see it pay off.
“It was a very proud moment in Dubai to wrap up The Race to Dubai, and finish Number One both on The European Tour and the PGA Tour.”
Kaymer’s Race to Dubai victory the previous year also capped a magnificent 2010 season for the German, who won four times including a maiden Major victory in the US PGA Championship.
After being crowned The Race to Dubai Champion, Kaymer said: "It was a fantastic year. All of the goals that I set for myself, for my career, happened in the year: to win The Race to Dubai, Number One in Europe, and to play The Ryder Cup, and to win a Major.
“As we walked up the 18th (at Jumeirah Golf Estates), the announcer was saying all the scores, the US PGA Champion and the Number One in The Race to Dubai, and it sounded pretty good to me. It was a very proud moment.”
Westwood had the honour of winning the inaugural Race to Dubai in 2009, holding off the challenge of Rory McIlroy to finish as European Number One for a second time in his career after winning the season-ending Dubai World Championship presented by DP World.
After lifting The Race to Dubai trophy, the Englishman made it plainly clear what his achievement meant to him: “I’m delighted to be stood here as Race to Dubai Champion and it’s got to be the best day of my golfing career.”
The challenge now facing all European Tour Members is to win the fourth edition of The Race to Dubai and join Westwood, Kaymer and Donald – the three most recent World Number Ones – on the prestigious roll call of past champions.
