Dubai: Henrik Stenson admits that winning a third consecutive DP World Tour Championship may be too much to ask this year given the number of players that also need victory in this event to secure the Race to Dubai title.
A total of seven players can win the European Tour money-list, and while top two Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett may not necessarily need to win the event to secure the overall series crown, five others — Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Byeong-Hun An — would benefit immensely from a victory in this season-ending event at Jumeirah Golf Estates starting Thursday.
“I’m excited about the opportunity of making it three in a row, but it’s not going to be easy, I know that much. I’ve got 59 other players who want to stop me dearly,” said the 39-year-old Swede, who at 16th in the Race to Dubai has no chance of claiming overall series honours even with an event victory this week.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to win a tournament like this no matter how the standings are. But of course, it’s going to be maybe even a little bit more focused on a few of those boys.
“It will be an exciting week for golf fans since the two leaders are only a thousand euros apart and there are a lot of things that could happen that will certainly not make them feel safe, because the five below them can jump them all with the win.
“For myself, much lower down [the money-list] I just have to try and focus. It’s a good week to try and make it three in a row and that’s exciting enough in itself.
“I just need to play really solid if I want to be up there again. I’ll go out, make the same plan and hopefully play somewhat close to what I’ve done in the previous two years, and we’ll see if we can give it a shot.”
