And then there was one. The 2018 Race to Dubai is coming to an end this week in Dubai and the top 60 players gather in Dubai to decide the final winner of the season and the final rankings.
The Jumeriah Golf Estates Earth Course offers a long, but rewarding, challenge to the field. Driving distance and birdie conversion are key as players go back-and-forth with birdies and eagles. The greens are large, but fast and testing to read, especially from range. Length should be favoured over accuracy off-the-tee, whilst avoiding three putts can be the difference on the greens.
With that in mind, our stats guru has combed through the numbers and selected three players to include on yourFantasy teamthis week…
Favourite: Jon Rahm
It may be easy to pick the defending champion as the favourite but with Jon Rahm is even easier. The 23 year old capped off an amazing Rookie of the Year season in 2017 with a one-shot victory at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, going bogey-free for the final 35 holes. He drove for show and putted for dough, leading the field in Driving Distance (313.4 yards) and finishing third in Putts per Green in Regulation (1.65). And if 2017 was good, 2018 has been statistically even better. Rahm has improved his accuracy, improving from 56 percent of fairways last year to 62 percent this year, in addition to lowering his stroke average from 70.07 to 68.81. As for recent form, the Spaniard arrives in Dubai with five top five finishes in his last 11 European Tour starts, and two wins already in 2018. With no possibility of the Race to Dubai title lingering, Rahm will be playing only to finish the season with a victory.
Form horse: Haotong Li
Haotong Li will tee it up at the DP World Tour Championship for the third tee this week. He finished 30th on his debut in 2016, while two rounds of 67 over the weekend helped him finish in the top 15 here twelve months ago. Only three players hit more greens last year, meaning Haotong struggled only to convert birdie chances on the green. Knowing he had to add a little more long game consistency to his game this year, he has increased his average drive by ten yards in distance and 2.5 percent in accuracy. The Chinese superstar has finished in the top five in three of his last five starts on Tour, including a narrow play-off loss in Turkey, and is a win short of becoming the first Chinese player to win twice in a European Tour season. He is 21 under par for his last seven rounds on the Earth Course and is in the midst of the best form of his career. All signs point to Li being around the top of the leaderboard on Sunday night.
Wildcard: Ryan Fox
Whilst 2018 hasn’t been the year Ryan Fox would have been aiming for, it has been quietly impressive and he has a chance to finish it on a high here in Dubai. This will be his second appearance at the DP World Tour Championship, finishing in the top 30 last year with a final round 69. He was second in the field in Driving Distance, behind Rahm, and 16th in Greens in Regulation. Only a poor putter stopped him from being in the hunt over the weekend. The long-hitting Kiwi seems to possess the perfect game for Jumeriah Golf Estates, with a mixture of length and accurate wedge play. He is one of only six players on Tour top rank in the top 25 in Scoring Average, Strokes Gained Off The Tee and Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green. (PUTTING OK, 6th in PPG IN TURKEY). He’ll tee it up on Thursday on the back of five top 30 finishes in six starts and may very well be trending towards a big finish on the final weekend of the season.
There's three picks. Are they good enough to make your team?Pick now.
