McDowell focused on Race to Dubai

FOLLOWING Graeme McDowell’s third-place finish behind Adam Scott in yesterday’s weather-delayed conclusion to the Singapore Open the Ulsterman made further inroads into Martin Kaymer’s advantage at the top of the European Tour Order of Merit.

McDowell has headed straight on to this week’s penultimate event on tour – the Hong Kong Open – with another of his season’s goals very much within touching distance.

“All golfers have goals and, post Pebble Beach, my two main goals for the year were to play and win the Ryder Cup and then to win the Race to Dubai. I was lucky enough to get the first one done and the second one is the reason that I am playing five weeks in a row at the end of the season,” said McDowell, who has closed the deficit on Kaymer to €367,600 with just two counting events remaining to determine the money list.

With Kaymer opting to miss out on Hong Kong to arrive in Dubai as fresh as he possibly can, US Open champion McDowell has the chance to, as he put it yesterday, to “make inroads” on the German. The tournament has a top prize of €301,446, so McDowell – who has gone 1st-34th-3rd in his last three events – can take advantage of Kaymer’s absence.

“I have wanted to get to Dubai within touching distance of Martin and where a win in the tournament would mean I would win the Race to Dubai. That hasn’t changed,” said McDowell, who has risen to ninth in the latest world rankings to become the top-ranked Irish player, one ahead of 10th-placed Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy resumes tournament play in Hong Kong this week, in what is a strong Irish contingent bolstered by the presence of Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey, Paul McGinley and Shane Lowry. Pádraig Harrington has a week off before heading on to Dubai. For Lowry, this is a critical week. The Offaly man is ranked 62nd on the Order of Merit, two spots outside a place in the field for the season-ending Dubai World Championship which is confined to the top-60 on the money list. As things stand, Lowry is €21,055 behind 60th-ranked Soren Hansen and would probably need a top-12 finish in Hong Kong to secure his place in the field.

Meanwhile, Scott hailed a “dream” victory after cruising to an unprecedented third Singapore Open title yesterday after the 30-year-old Australian – who jumped from 41st to 20th in the world rankings – completed the last 10 holes of his fourth round after thunderstorms caused a five-and-a-half-hour suspension of play on Sunday.

Scott resumed with a comfortable three-stroke lead over the rest of the field but saw that disappear with dropped shots on the 10th and 14th holes. However, he fought back in his closing four holes with two birdies – including a fine putt from 10 feet on the 18th – to finish with a three-under 68 and became the first player to win the tournament on three occasions following previous wins in 2005 and 2006.

Singapore Open

The Serapong, Sentosa GC, Singapore (Gbr Irl unless stated, par 71), final round scores.

267 – Adam Scott (Aus) 65 65 69 68; 270 – Anders Hansen (Den) 71 66 65 68; 271 – Graeme McDowell 65 68 68 70, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 64 70 70 67; 272 – Kyung-nam Kang (Kor) 66 67 67 72; 273 – Ian Poulter 69 63 68 73, Jamie Donaldson 66 69 68 70; 274 – Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 66 71 71 66, Keith Horne (Rsa) 65 72 69 68; 275 – Chris Wood 63 73 71 68, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 69 65 70 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68 70 69, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 69 65 71 70; Other Irish: 279 – Peter Lawrie 67 71 68 73; 285 – Michael Hoey 69 67 76 73; 287 – Gareth Maybin 65 72 79 71, Shane Lowry 73 66 75 73.