Rose on course for tour title to crown dramatic climax to season
Englishman leads field and money-list rival Fleetwood Gap is only two shots after both card 65s in title chase
If Justin Rose converts his 54-hole lead here today then he will not only join the European Tour legends who have won multiple Order of Merit titles, but in terms of staging the most staggering ending to a season, he will justifiably lay claim to having bettered them all.
And what would make the Englishman’s dramatic rise all the more remarkable, is that he was pushed all the way by a young compatriot in Tommy Fleetwood who simply will not recognise that he is beaten.
The pair both shot 65s here at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on a birdie-filled day when officials were rewarded for setting inviting pin positions. This is exactly the sort of spectacle one wants for the conclusion of a campaign and Rose and Fleetwood are playing the protagonist roles to perfection.
But while the utmost respect must go to Fleetwood – the 26-year-old who has shown such chutzpah in recovering from an opening 73 to climb to 13-under and within two of Rose – the world No6 looks to be operating on a different level to anyone else in the golf world at the moment.
Rose won the WGC HSBC Champions on his last-but-one start, the Turkish Airlines on his most recent start and should he prevail at this DP World Tour Championship, he will join Sir Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Rory McIlroy who picked up a hat-trick of European Tour titles on the spin.
Nobody would have given the 37-year-old a prayer going into Shanghai, particularly if it was known that Fleetwood himself would stage such a rousing denouement.
Rose was in 10th on the money list, more than 2.3 million points behind Fleetwood, who has led the Race to Dubai for most of the year, when he teed it up in the WGC event just four weeks ago.
Indeed, Rose trailed by 256,000 points coming into this week, but, although the permutations were and still are devilishly complex, he made it an easy challenge for himself, even brushing away the notion that should Fleetwood fail to triumph then solo second will do him. “Win and I don’t have to worry what Tommy does,” he said.
Rose won the final event – then the Volvo Masters – when he previously lifted the Harry Vardon Trophy a decade ago and he is hell bent on doing the same. The determination was written all over his face on the 18th, when he found the water guarding the left of the green with his second shot.
He had bogeyed this controversial par five on Friday and was not prepared to frit away another shot and indeed the outright lead. So he took his drop and enacted a nerveless up-and-down to ensure that he holds an advantage over Spain’s Jon Rahm and the South African Dylan Frittelli.
“You couldn’t have scripted it better really,” Rose said. “The way Tommy has fought back to two 65s after his first round has been amazing. He’s keeping it interesting isn’t he?
“But like I’ve said all week, I know what I need to do – to stay at the top of the leaderboard. However, if I slip up, he’s right there. Tommy’s done everything he needs to do on his end, so it’s a lot of fun.
“This is an opportunity to win three in a row and a second Harry Vardon Trophy and that’s the way I’m going to look at it.
“I don’t see much pressure on myself tomorrow. This is going to be a day just to go for it really. The course was there for the taking today.”
It took Fleetwood in the first seven holes, as he stumbled through the opening stretch in one-over. The race seemed almost over for him at that stage, but once again, he put his head down and kicked on. And he gobbled up the ground with stunning haste. Fleetwood was eight under for his last 11 holes.
“That’s what you’ve got to do – no point in moping,” Fleetwood said. “You’re never going to do it, are you, if you don’t have the actual mental capacity to tell yourself to keep going when you’re trying to win the Race to Dubai? I got on a streak there and I’ll take a lot of confidence into Sunday – big time.
“But it doesn’t seem to matter what I’m doing at the moment, because when you look at the leaderboard, we know who’s there. I am going to enjoy this, though. It’s going to be the biggest day of my career. This is what you practise for, this is why you play. It’s brilliant, isn’t it? Makes me smile.”