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$20 Million Race To Dubai Attracts Cream Of World Golf
Tuesday 04 November 2008 at 19:18
 A new era of European golf begins this week in the most unlikely of places; China.
Goodbye Order Of Merit, Hello Race To Dubai
The HSBC Champions event is the first in a new European season that has decided make some changes to the old Order Of Merit system and instead, after a vast injection of cash, we now have the 2009 Race To Dubai.
How Much?
The European season will now culminate at the $20 million Dubai World Championships where the top 60 players from the European Season will compete in a similar format to the USPGA's FedEx Cup.
Harrington Favourite For Race To Dubai
Consequently the outright market for the Race To Dubai reads like a who's who of golf. Three time major winner and 2005 Order of Merit winner Padraig Harrington is the general bookies favourite and is available at a best price 9/1 with Paddy Power.
2008 Order Of Merit winner Robert Karlsson is 11/1 with VC Bet to finish top of the pile again in 2009 and Sergio Garcia is a well backed 12/1 shot with Bet365 and Blue Square to become the first winner of this season long event.
US Stars On European Tour
The vast sums of money on offer has sparked interest from some of the top worldwide players and stars such as Camillo Villegas, (28/1 with Coral) Anthony Kim (25/1 with Totesport) and Phil Mickelson (18/1 with Paddy Power) have all signed up to become European Tour members.
Essentially this means they have to compete in at least twelve tournaments that appear on the European Tour register and three of those must be in continental Europe.
It Can Be Won By Not Playing Very Often
Players such as Ernie Els (18/1 Totesport) and Justin Rose (25/1 SportingBet) have won the old Order Of Merit when not playing much in Europe so there must be every chance that a “non-regular” will scoop the big prize now the money has been upped even further.
Kim Looks Good Value
Anthony Kim showed last year at the British Open how quickly he can adapt to unfamiliar conditions and the bookmakers may have underestimated Kim's desire to win this big prize. If he gets off to a good start in China 25/1 with Totesport for Kim to win the Race To Dubai could look a decent price.
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