Kiwi banners McIlroy challengers

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — New Zealand’s Ryan Fox will lead the hunt to deny Rory McIlroy the honor of becoming only the second player in history to win both the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai in a single year.

Fox is in the finest form of his career and is the man world No. 1 McIlroy will have to watch as the $10 million DP World Tour Championship gets underway on Thursday.

The 35-year-old Fox has had a spectacular 2022, winning twice and securing four second-place finishes, most recently last Sunday in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

It saw the son of former New Zealand rugby union fly-half Grant Fox rise to 4,025.9 points, just 128.1 behind McIlroy, with 2,000 points for the winner this week.

The winner of the Race to Dubai gets $1 million from the $3 million bonus pool.

“Rory is the best player in the world,” Fox said.

“He’s obviously the favorite but to be in this position is great and I’ve got nothing to lose this week.”

Seven out of the top-nine players in the Race to Dubai — No. 3 Matt Fitzpatrick, No4 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 5 Viktor Hovland, No. 8 Shane Lowry and No. 9 Adrian Meronk — have a mathematical chance of winning the Race to Dubai.

Will Zalatoris (back injury), who is No. 6, and No. 7 Thomas Pieters (whose companion is expecting a baby) have pulled out of the championship.

Fox, ranked 24th in the world, will become the first New Zealander to finish a season as European No. 1, providing he finishes higher than McIlroy and none of the remaining players inside the top nine on the Rankings win this week’s event.