Willett eager to make Race To Dubai interesting

Danny Willett is hopeful he can keep himself in the fight for the Race to Dubai with a good performance at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

The Englishman must finish inside the top 10 this week in Sun City to keep the fight for the European Tour’s order of merit alive, with Henrik Stenson having taken a commanding lead in the competition.

The Swede ended Willet’s seven-month stint at the top of the Race To Dubai standings in October and has since opened up an advantage of 252,163 points with two events left to play.

Stenson can win the Race To Dubai if he is victorious in South Africa and Willett does not finish in the top 10, but the Masters champion isn’t giving up the fight yet despite his recent struggles.

The 29-year-old has finished 75th and 68th in his last two outings but he hopes a return to the Gary Player Country Club will help him out of his rut, having claimed the 2014 Nedbank title while he finished fourth at the event last year.

“Me and Henrik have both had fantastic years, both picking up our first major and both had good showings elsewhere around the world,” said Willett, who was pipped to the Race to Dubai last year after Rory McIlroy won the final event of the season.

“Now it boils down to two events where I am back to chasing. I’m a little bit behind him so I’m going to try to make up some ground this week and hopefully try to make up ground next week, or fend him off and see how everything goes.

“We’ve both got pretty good track records around this golf course, as well, so it could be interesting.”

Tagged Danny Willett, European Tour, Race to Dubai