Graeme McDowell disagrees with outgoing European No. 1 Luke Donald who suggested the Race to Dubai should fall in line with the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup series to avoid a repeat of Rory McIlroy winning the Race to Dubai but with still events remaining.
Donald has urged the Tour to consider recalibrating the money list to avoid the sense of anti-climax that will be apparent at this week’s season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Graeme McDowell finds a unique seat at the 6th hole of the Jumeriah Estates course. (Photo – Jenny Matthews/www.golffile.ie)
Two weeks ago, World No. 1 Rory McIlroy guaranteed he would end the year in top spot on the European money list by finishing third in the Barclays Singapore Open, and in doing so, the 23-year-old took much of the gloss off the showcase in Dubai.
Donald, second in the world rankings after his victory in last week’s Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan, believes officials must find a way to ensure there is a blockbuster finish to the season.
“This week is a little bit more of an anti-climax than the European Tour would probably want,” he said.
“The tour may want to think about adding a scenario where that doesn’t happen and incorporate either a play-off system or some other way to make sure that it goes down to the wire.”
However Graeme McDowell has disagreed with his Ryder Cup winning colleague believing the current format does not need tweekeing.
“I still feel the format of the Race to Dubai and the season ending this week even though Rory has wrapped-up the money title is fine and doesn’t need changing,” said McDowell.
“You can’t deny anything Rory has done this year as he thoroughly deserves to be No. 1 in both the States and Europe.”
And the man in question, Rory McIlroy had no reason to want to see changes to the format.
“Of course not, I don’t want to see any changes,” said McIlroy.
“I played well during the FedEx Cup Playoffs this year and on the PGA Tour and felt a little hard done by, so playing so well and not being able to win that.
“So I think the format is good. You know, it’s a season-long race. That’s the way it is. Lucky for me I’ve earned enough money to not make it matter in the last tournament. I guess it is a bit of an anti-climax this week, but as I said I would love to pick up both of those trophies on Sunday.”
