Henrik Stenson relies on ‘same plan’ as last two years in bid for third DP World Tour title

Henrik Stenson opens his DP World Tour Championship bid on Thursday aiming to make it three straight titles at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Henrik Stenson during the pro-am event prior to the DP World Tour Championship. Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images

The European Tour enters its final event of the season with this week’s DP World Tour Championship when the Race to Dubai winner will be revealed.

Henrik Stenson is the two-time defending champion of the tournament, which begins Thursday at the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, while Rory McIlroy is aiming to win his second successive Race to Dubai title.

Stenson, who is searching for his first win of the season, is currently ranked 16th in the Race to Dubai, but that looks certain to improve.

The world No 6 is a combined 56-under par for his last three visits to the Earth course, and has figured out a good game plan to tackle the Greg Norman-designed layout.

[Rory McIlroy has the hunger to win Race to Dubai at DP World Tour Championship]

“I’m excited about the opportunity to make it three in a row. It’s not going to be easy, I know that much,” said Stenson, who will try to make it back-to-back wins for Sweden after Kristoffer Broberg’s triumph in Shanghai.

“I’ve got 59 other players who wants to stop me dearly and I’m just going to go out and try to make the same plan and hopefully play somewhat close to what I’ve done the previous two years, and we’ll see if we can give it a shot.”

Also in the reckoning for the title is in-form Justin Rose, who holds the course record of 62 and who has finished second here twice.

The world No 5 from England, who can also win the Race to Dubai, said: “I have always enjoyed finishing the season here in Dubai.

“It’s a course that has been good for me and I really enjoy playing. I’ve played well here the last few years and I come in here with the exciting chance of trying to win the Race to Dubai.”

[Five players set to challenge McIlroy and Stenson at DP World Tour Championship]

It is a close battle for the Race to Dubai, with seven players — McIlroy, Danny Willett, Rose, Shane Lowry, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Korean An Byeong-hun — all in with a chance on Sunday.

However, only McIlroy and the second-ranked Willett are in control of their own destinies, meaning if they win the tournament, it doesn’t matter where everyone else finishes.

And with just 1,613 points separating them, whoever has a better finish between McIlroy and Willett, is guaranteed to win the Race to Dubai, and along with it a bonus of $1.875 million (Dh6.89m).

Willett had a chance to catch up with McIlroy in last week’s BMW Masters in Shanghai, but instead of finishing solo 28th or better, he finished tied 28th.

McIlroy will have the advantage of being fresh for the tournament since he did not play the BMW Masters, and has a phenomenal record at the Earth course, where the only time he did not finish inside the top-five in six starts was in 2011, when he was tied 11th.

[Pairings and tee times (UAE) for DP World Tour Championship — Round 1]

The other battle in the Race to Dubai is the honour of being called the Rookie of the Year.

An (seventh in the Race to Dubai), England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (14th) and India’s Anirban Lahiri (19th) are in contention for the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.

Only the top-60 players from the Race to Dubai qualify for the DP World Tour Championship, but with Sergio Garcia (27th) deciding not to play this week and South African George Coetzee (32nd) still recuperating from his broken ankle, No. 61 Stephen Gallacher of Scotland and No. 62 Alejandro Canizares of Spain have got into the field.

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