Feature by Anand Datla
September 9, 2014: India’s golfers are struggling at the back end of The Race to Dubai, a season-long competition to battle for honours at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. The 2014 European Tour International Schedule features 48 tournaments in 26 countries spread across five continents. The winner of The Race to Dubai receives a shining Harry Vardon Trophy, and a seven year European Tour Card exemption. The prize from Dubai, a Category 1 Membership of the European Tour is comparable to the reward for winning tournaments such as The Open Championship, the US Open, the US PGA Championship and the Masters Tournament. Only the top 60 men on the basis of the season’s earnings from the European Tour qualify to travel to Dubai later this November.
The top Indian is Shiv Kapur, who is currently lying in 75th on the list of highest earning golfers on the European Tour, with earnings of €284,387. Kapur enjoyed top 20 finishes at both the Alstom Open de France (T18) and the 71° Open D’Italia (T14), but a missed cut at last week’s Omega European Masters halted his steady progress. The 183rd ranked golfer was also T22 in Made in Denmark and T27 at the Scottish Open over the past two months.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, the next Indian on the list, is languishing at 142nd in the Race to Dubai. Bhullar’s best came at the Russian Open where he finished T26 in an otherwise lacklustre season. Bhullar also missed the cut at his last two events – 71° Open D’Italia and the Omega European Masters to do himself no favours. SSP Chowrasia has enjoyed a relatively better season over Bhullar, but has only played nine events compared to 23 for Bhullar.
Golfers need to play at least 12 events to qualify for the Race to Dubai. Chowrasia finished T9 in the Made in Denmark event and T24 at 71° Open D’Italia, besides two other top 40 finishes. He will perhaps have to sustain his good form and earn some more top 10 finishes to give himself an outside chance of sneaking through to the grand event in Dubai. Chowrasia is currently 156th on the list.
Jeev Milkha Singh, the other Indian on the list needs nothing short of a miracle to resurrect his hopes of a spot in Dubai. The veteran has dropped to 846th in the Official World Golf Ranking and is 190th on the Race to Dubai after a series of disappointing performances this season. Singh has only made the cut in seven of nineteen starts and his best outing this season came at the Irish Open, where he finished only T38.
Henrik Stenson is the defending champion, having become the first man ever to perform the transatlantic double – by winning the Race to Dubai and the FedExCup in the same season. Rory McIlroy could emulate his feat if he can produce some magic in Atlanta and win again in November. The 25 year old leads the race by a massive margin, having accumulated €5,120,709 compared to €2,275,712 for the second placed Sergio Garcia.
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