The European Tour's 2014 Final Series

[Silent]

Next week The Final Series on the European Tour will begin again. These are the last four tournaments of the season, all with big purses and offcourse with the final tournament in Dubai (hence 'The Race to Dubai'). Last year this is where Dubuisson put himself on the map with high finishes and the first win of his career in Turkey, which gave him a top 50 OWGR place and put him in the hotseat for the Ryder Cup already.

The tournaments:

Oct.30 BMW Masters, Shanghai, $ 7,000,000 purse (2013 winner: Fernandez-Castano)

Nov. 6 WGC - HSBC Champions, Shanghai, $ 8,500,000 purse (2013 winner: Dustin Johnson)

Nov. 13 Turkish Airlines Open, Alanya, $ 7,000,000 purse (2013 winner: Victor Dubuisson)

Nov 20 DP World Tour Championship, Dubai $ 8,000,000 purse (2013 winner: Henrik Stenson)

Current 'Race to Dubai' top 10:

1. Rory McIlroy

2. Sergio Garcia

3. Henrik Stenson

4. Jamie Donaldson

5. Thomas Bjorn

6. Martin Kaymer

7. Victor Dubuisson

8. Justin Rose

9. Joost Luiten

10. Mikko Ilonen

[boogielicious]

Isn't Rory skipping the first one or two?

[Silent]

Isn't Rory skipping the first one or two?

If I remember correctly, players have to play in at least 2 of the 3 first tournament in order to be allowed to play in Dubai. So he might skip one but not two. In fact he's confirmed to play the BMW Masters.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014086/news/newsid=231152.html

[Wansteadimp]

Rory has pulled out of the Chinese events to concentrate on the upcoming trial.

He will just play the DP World Tour Championship. His lead is so huge that he should still win the Race to Dubai.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/20/rory-mcilroy-horizon-court-case-tournament-break

[Silent]

Thanks @Wansteadimp , guess I didn't have the latest information.

I would have sworn you have to play at least 2 tournaments. Luiten had the same last year, he was injured but to secure his entry in DP World Tour Championship he hit one ball of the tee in Shanghai and then withdrawn from the tournament (so officially he did play). Myabe the rules changed, or maybe an excemption for top-10 players... can imagine you would want McIlroy to play no matter what.

Sorry for the wrong information btw @boogielicious

[Silent]

The final series explained:

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/news/newsid=238784.html

[Silent]

Entry list for the BMW Masters has been made public. Biggest names: Stenson, Rose, McDowell, Dubuisson, Donaldson, Bjorn, Gallacher, Luiten, Jimenez, Poulter and Molinari.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014086/teetimes/index.html

[Silent]

And Stenson just withdrew. The reason:

[boogielicious]

Good reason!

[Crim]

Congrats to Stenson.

Should be some exciting tournaments coming up. Beautiful courses, great subtle golf commentary. The more and more I watch the Euro Tour, the more I love it. The PGA's McGladrey Classic this weekend had so much filler, like a 15 minute convo with Davis Love III during the tournament. It bored me to death.

[Silent]

After day 1, Levy leads at -7, followed by Colsaerts, Wattel and Grillo at -6. From the big names McDowell did best at 5 (-5).

Unfort. I can't see anything live since it's all played in the middle of the night / early morning my time.

[Crim]

Jimenez at +5...ish. Ian Poulter and Chris Kirk are also over par.

I can't remember...is there a cut in this tournament?

[Silent]

No cut.

[Silent]

Colsaerts takes the lead after a -8 today (-14 total), followed by Levy at -13. Would be quite a tournament for Colsaerts to finally play good again, after quite a bad last 1,5 years. Luiten is somewhere in the middle at -3, not an impressive start. Poulter, F. Molinari, Jimenez, Larrazabal and Manassero can be happy there's no cut this tournament.

[Silent]

Unbelievable what happens here. Levy gives away a 4 shot lead after shooting +6 (!) today, but ends up in a playoff after all with Siem (who bogied the last two holes) and Fisher. So we will get a surprising winner, considering the strength of the field. Luiten finishes T13, a bogey at 18 trows him outside the top 10. Jimenez shot +16 (!!!) today, including a 13 at the ninth par 4.

[Silent]

Ooo and now Siem wins because of a chip in birdie. Amazing!!

[joekelly]

2 weeks ago Jimenez had eaten some bad seafood in Hong Kong and shot 75.  This week maybe he ate some bad dumplings  in Shanghai and shoots 88.  Shows how risky mainland China can be.

[Silent]

Next: WGC - HSBC Champions.

Some big names from both the PGA and European Tour will participate, including Watson, Kaymer, Reed, Scott, Rose, Fowler, Garcia, Donaldson and Luiten.

No cut.