DUBAI // Andy Sullivan will finish his year in Dubai the way he started it, by partnering Rory McIlroy in the final match out at the DP World Tour Championship.
The last time he played here competitively, at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February, Sullivan was drawn in the showpiece three-ball of the opening round.
Even though he had won his maiden European Tour title three weeks previously, in South Africa - and he would go on to win there again not long after - Sullivan was definitely the least luminous of that trio. Martin Kaymer was the other player in that group at the Majlis.
Happily for Sullivan, the former supermarket shelf-stacker from the English Midlands, he thrived as the meat in the sandwich of former world No 1s.
If he can match his effort back then, and better what McIlroy manages over the last 18 holes of the season, it will need something remarkable from the rest of the field for him to be beaten to the championship title.
Sullivan, at 16-under-par, starts the final round one stroke ahead of McIlroy, with Patrick Reed a further two adrift.
“It’s great,” Sullivan said of the finale with the world No 3. “There’s no pressure on me. I’m not expected to win, am I?
“I can go out there and play golf. No one is expecting me to beat him. I’m going to go out and play golf and enjoy watching Rory play golf.
“It’s just another day on the golf course. I have to try to go out there in as few shots as possible and see what happens.”
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Given his familiarity with the big stage, McIlroy will likely be disappointed with anything less than championship victory today.
It is not clear which is the main storyline and which is the subplot in Round 4, though. That is, whether the Northern Irishman can leapfrog his playing partner and claim the championship, or whether he can fend off the challenge of Danny Willett and finish top of the Order of Merit.
The latter seems a formality, now. Willett, who is tied-sixth on 11-under, has four shots to make up on the player who leads him by 1,613 points in the Race to Dubai.
Like Sullivan, McIlroy will be pursuing a fourth win of the season when they tee it up for the final time.
“It’s just a matter of trying to focus on myself, try and win the golf tournament and that’s all I can do,” McIlroy said.
His third-round 65 was the lowest the 2012 champion has managed around Earth Course, but he said it should have been as low as 61.
“I guess you can’t really walk off this golf course, especially in these conditions, and shoot 7-under and not feel good about yourself,” McIlroy said.
“But at the same time, I feel it could have been a lot better. It would have been nice to get a couple more, but I’m happy with 65.”
Reed, starting three shots back in third place, is bullish about his chances and has already thought of a suitable venue for the victory party.
“Hopefully we can close it off right and take the family out,” said Reed, the United States Ryder Cup star who started the event ranked 15th in the Race to Dubai.
“We are thinking of maybe going to the At.mosphere restaurant in the tallest building [Burj Khalifa]. That would be fun.
“The only problem is I’m scared of heights, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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