PGA: Leading Race to Dubai Players Set To Give Couterparts Plenty To Think About

The Race to Dubai is proving to be very fruitful for its winners, at least if the first two installments are anything to go by. The inaugural winner, Lee Westwood, is now the world No. 1 golfer, while the 2010 winner, Martin Kaymer of Germany, won a first "Major" and finished the year off two places behind Westwood in third place in the rankings.

Interestingly, both men also finished third when the other won, meaning that they have yet to finish outside of the top three making them both huge contenders to win once again this year. Westwood in fact did incredibly well to finish third considering he played in eight less tournaments than Kaymer in 2010.

Certainly as the year slowly gets underway once again, Westwood and Kaymer will be the two of the very top players to follow not just in the Race to Dubai but in all the major golfing tournaments during the year.

Graeme McDowell, runner-up to Kaymer in 2010 but also a winner during the year of a "first major" taking the US Open back in June, would have also been a major consideration as the likely winner this year. However, the Ulsterman has elected to concentrate his efforts on the US PGA tour in 2011, which effectively rules him out.

Like Kaymer, McDowell won four tournaments last year and has shot up to No. 5 in the rankings. He has said that he will play the minimum number of tournaments required by the Race to Dubai, which means that he will be seen over here—a situation that also applies to other European superstars Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Luke Donald.

Rory McIlroy who was runner-up in 2009, had to be content with the 13th-place this time around, but he played far too often in America to have been a major contender. The good news for Europe however is that the young Ulsterman will be swinging his clubs this side of the pond this year once again and as such he has to be regarded as another major contender to finish on top. He is currently ranked No. 10 in the world but he has still to win a second European tournament, having not won since the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic.

McIlroy still has the tendency to go for the "wonder shot" when a more pragmatic shot would suffice, resulting very often in him scoring a bogey rather than a par and until he learns to control his exuberance he may remain just a major contender for the crown.

Other big headline makers on the European tour last year was of course the "Molinari Brothers" Francesco and Eduardo, who finished fifth and 11th respectively in the Race to Dubai and in 16th and 18th places in the world rankings.

The two Italians took the tour by storm last year, both achieving incredible consistency, although it was only Eduardo who won in Europe, which he did twice during 2010, winning the Scottish Open and the Johnny Walker. Francesco picked up the WGC—HSBC Championship in America.

Mention should also be made of Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the Open Championship who will be a regular on the European tour this year. He proved at St. Andrews that he has the game to be one of the best on tour; if he can become one of the most consistent, he would have a big chance of winning.

Robert Karlsson of Sweden has the ability as well; he was the last winner of the old style "Oder of Merit" in 2008 and finished in sixth place last year after winning the top prize in the Dubai World Championship tournament itself. Karlsson looked to be back to his consistent best towards the end of 2010 and if so he is another who could go all the way.

Overall, however, this author will be backing Westwood—he not only finished top of the world last year, but he also looked the part with virtually every aspect of his game in top-class working order.

It should be Lee Westwood, with either McIlroy or Kaymer as runner-up! The other prediction is that the leading protagonists in the Race to Dubai will all feature in the all four majors this coming year, giving the PGA Tour's leading names a run for their money yet again.