Nicolai Højgaard took a crucial step toward defending his DP World Tour Championship title by climbing into the top 70 of the Race to Dubai Rankings at the last possible moment.
The Dane arrived at the Genesis Championship, held at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, ranked 78th, knowing only the top 70 would secure a place in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. From there, the top 50 in the standings advance to the DP World Tour Championship.
Faced with the pressure to perform, the 23-year-old delivered, overcoming a lacklustre opening round of level par.
He rebounded with rounds of 69 and 70 before firing a superb 66 on Sunday, finishing ninth and climbing to 67th in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
He'll need another impressive result at Yas Links, Abu Dhabi if he is to stand any chance of securing his spot in the final event of the season at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where he won his first Rolex Series title last year.
"It's been an interesting week, it's gone by pretty quick," said Højgaard.
"A draining week because you know you've got to do something decent there to get to Abu Dhabi.
"I tried to hang in all week and do my best. The last two days, I sent some warning signs but we managed to get through it and then today I've played a nice round of golf, and made a few birdies coming in which I didn't do yesterday which was frustrating.
"I think it all came down to the first round, making a couple birdies and probably the most important bit of it all is I made birdie at 17 and 18 to get into level par.
"I just really wanted to get to the Play-Offs. Today I played a really good round under the gun and I'm just really pleased with it.
"I just want to play. It's one of those events (DP World Tour Championship) that I want to play every year for the rest of my life. It's one of my favourite events, I'm going to do my best to recover next week and try and have a good week in Abu Dhabi.
"I need a really good result at Abu Dhabi to get myself into Dubai, but the golf has been not too bad lately and if I can get myself to recover and loaded again, I'll be ready to give it ago."
