Stenson’s late surge has plenty of merit
HENRIK STENSON’S backnine birdie blitz has put him in sight of the European Order of Merit title.
The Swede trails leader Victor Dubuisson by eight shots after the third round of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
But he is poised to finish top of the order of merit after five birdies in the last seven holes helped him steal a march on his rivals.
He bogeyed four, six and 10, then made his move, which included chipping in from the greenside rough on the 16th.
He said: “I turned it around at least and, yeah, I have to be pretty pleased with the way we managed to play on the way home.”
The two-under-par round of 70 moved him to five under for the tournament, level with world No.2 Rory McIlroy, who earlier threatened one of his familiar surges to give himself a sniff of a chance to usurp Stenson.
That ended when the Northern Irishman found the water with his second shot on 18, and the eventual bogey left him four under for the day.
“Maybe I just was a little too aggressive with it and pulled it slightly, as anything left of that pin is going to go in the water, unless you hit it way past,” he said.
Danny Willett’s hopes of challenging Stenson in the money list have faded over the last few weeks and a four-over par 76 yesterday leaves him well out of contention.
Sweden’s Alex Noren posted a 69 to leave him tied for 13th overall at seven under. He needs a top-two finish in Dubai to be in with a shout of topping the money list.
While Stenson (above) has the honour of finishing as Europe’s No.1 in his sights, Dubuisson emerged from the tournament pack with an eight-under-par 64 which included seven birdies and an eagle from a majestic approach shot which gently spun back into the cup.
“Yeah, sometimes it goes in,” he said. “I made a lucky bogey on the next hole, so it kind of set it up.”
Rivalling the Frenchman – both for the tournament and individual piece of brilliance – was England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick.
His 66 included a monster eagle putt on the seventh, and seven birdies.