As the dust settles on Edoardo Molinari’s magnificent finish to The Ryder Cup qualification campaign, the Italian finds himself among the front-runners to win The Race to Dubai.
That captivating victory in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles – worth €282,772 – saw Molinari move to seventh in The Race to Dubai with season’s earnings of €1,513,428 and kept him in with a chance of succeeding Lee Westwood as Europe’s Number One at the Dubai World Championship in November.
Third placed Westwood remains a huge threat to the hopes of current Number One Martin Kaymer and his nearest challenger, Graeme McDowell, but Molinari certainly made the most significant move of the last week with his brilliant performance at Gleneagles.
There was, of course, other potentially telling Race to Dubai results in Perthshire.
Brett Rumford’s second place finish to Molinari ensured he jumped 12 places, from 41st to 29th, to guarantee a place in the season-ending Dubai World Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where the top 60 players will do battle for the US$ 7.5 million prize fund and the US$ 7.5 million Bonus Pool to be shared among the top 15 players.
Jamie Donaldson’s tie for third place alongside Ryder Cup qualifiers Miguel Angel Jiménez and Francesco Molinari ensured the trio made positive moves, while another top 15 finish from Stephen Gallacher in his homeland saw the Scotsman leapfrog Retief Goosen in the Rankings to 21st place.
Gallacher is now involved in an intriguing battle with BMW PGA Championship winner Simon Khan (currently ranked 19th) and BMW Italian Open champion Fredrik Andersson Hed (20th) to see who can finish the season as the highest placed Qualifying School graduate of 2009.
