Race to Dubai contenders off together in Italy

golf: Top trio share tee time at Monza venue

The three leading contenders in the Race to Dubai will tee off together as the European Tour’s lucrative Rolex Series resumes at the Italian Open.

Standings leader Tommy Fleetwood will play alongside Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm, second and third respectively, in the first round at Parco Reale di Monza today.

The event has attracted a high-quality field with four other players currently in the top 10 – Alex Noren, Ross Fisher, Francesco Molinari and Bernd Wiesberger – also competing.

It is the fifth tournament of the new Rolex Series, a group of eight premium events in which the total prize fund is a guaranteed $7 million (currently £5.3m).

Fleetwood and Rahm are two of the previous winners in the series, triumphing at the French Open and Irish Open respectively in July. Garcia continues to fly high after his maiden major victory at the Masters in April.

Fleetwood arrives in Italy on the back of setting a new course record of 63 at Carnoustie, venue for next year’s Open, at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland last week.

Tyrell Hatton, the winner of that event for a second year in succession and up to 11th in the standings, is also in the field along with fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick (14th).

Other notable names include recent British Masters winner Paul Dunne, 2016 US Masters champion Danny Willett and European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn.

Rahm has his sights firmly set on winning the Race to Dubai, which culminates with the DP World Tour Championship in the United Arab Emirates next month.

He said: “It became a goal of mine once I learned that nobody since Seve (Ballesteros) in Spain has won it.”

Five Scots are in the field – David Drysdale, Scott Jamieson, Richie Ramsay, Stephen Gallacher and Marc Warren.