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Björn Chasing Career - Best Finish in Race to Dubai
5 September 2011
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DUBAI (UAE): Thomas Björn is relishing the opportunity to make 2011 the best of his career after the Dane’s win at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles lifted him to eighth spot in The Race to Dubai.
His second victory of the year came after a dramatic five-man play-off with George Coetzee, Mark Foster, Pablo Larrazábal and Bernd Wiesberger and moved him up seven places in The Race to Dubai, having sealed his first win of the season at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy in February.
Now the 40 year-old has set his focus on consolidating his place in the top ten of The Race to Dubai and has even got one eye on a career-high finish by the time the season-ending Dubai World Championship presented by DP World comes around from December 8-11.
“It’s an amazing feeling to have won again in 2011 and hopefully I can head into the Dubai World Championship with a couple of more wins under my belt,” said Björn, whose best season on The European Tour came in 2000 when he finished in fifth place in the rankings.
“It feels pretty good to be in the top ten of The Race to Dubai and I suppose the goal now is to stay there and try to improve it and see how high I can finish at the end of the season.”
The Dane – who has a home in the emirates – also has a strong playing link with Dubai having gone toe-to-toe for four rounds with Tiger Woods before winning the 2001 Dubai Desert Classic.
Many of The European Tour’s players have now set their sights on the end-of-season Dubai World Championship presented by DP World at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, where the top 60 battle it out for the tournament prize fund of $7.5 million before the top 15 players in the final Race to Dubai rankings share a $7.5 million bonus pool, and Björn is no different.
“This is the first time that I have won over €1 million since 2006 so there is a bit of life in the old dog yet I suppose,” he continued. “I think all the players who are guaranteed a place in Dubai will be focussing on it more and more as we get close to it. It is a fantastic end-of-season finale for the players and we are very lucky to be able to be playing in such a prestigious event to end our season.”
Björn’s renaissance is significant. In 2009, he failed to make the year-ending Dubai World Championship finishing 91st in The Race to Dubai, while last year saw him make the event before ending the season in 56th place overall.
Englishman Luke Donald currently leads The Race to Dubai with €3,778,199, while Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel is second with €2,023,252, followed closely by US Open winner Rory McIlroy with €1,935,461.
Fans can get their tickets for the 2011 Dubai World Championship presented by DP World - held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council – by registering at the official website DubaiWorldChampionship.com.
