European Tour's double week
BY Bruce Young | Asian Tour | 2009 Hong Kong Open | Preview | 10 Nov 2009
The European Tour is in two places this week, the Hong Kong Open in Fanling in the New Territory region of Hong Kong and at Kingston Heath in Melbourne.
The Melbourne event does have the added bonus of Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy in its field although in terms of overall depth the Hong Kong event perhaps has the edge. Trying to asses that depth is difficult given what Woods adds to an event but with Westwood at 4, Poulter at 13 and McIlory at 17 the event boasts a good quality line-up
McIlroy, Poulter and Westwood headline the event but in what is the last event before the season ending Race to Dubai Championship next week, there is much to play for those on the fringe of inclusion in that event.
The top 60 on the European Tour money list will be eligible for the lucrative event in Dubai and so for a player such as Darren Clarke currently ranked 63rd this is a big week if he is to get a start in next week’s event.
Ian Poulter’s win in the recent Singapore Open leaves him a genuine chance to win again while Lee Westwood has been in amazingly consistent form of late and seems assured of being in the mix on Sunday.
If McIlroy was to win he would regain the lead in the Race to Dubai money earnings and set himself up well for a possible money list title at the end of next week’s event.
Francesco Molinari has had a good year in 2009 and having finished third in the event last year he deserves a lot of consideration as a potential winner. He is a much better player than he was twelve months ago and there would be few surprised if he was to win.
Thongchai Jaidee is the Asian Tour’s hope and Asian Tour regular in his earlier years Simon Dyson with two wins this season also has a chance.
Miguel Angel Jimenez is a previous winner of the event playing well enough to again be a factor.
The Australasians in the field are Danny Lee, Scott Strange, Mark Brown, Andrew Dodt, David Gleeson, Scott Hend, Darren Beck, Mitchell Brown, Kane Webber, Gavin Flint, Neven Basic and Unho Park.
