Stenson eyes Race to Dubai glory after Shanghai second

AFP: British Open champion Henrik Stenson leapt into pole position in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings after finishing tied second in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai Sunday.

The Rio Olympic silver medallist snared a crucial birdie with a snaky putt at the final hole to move to 16-under and a share of second with American Daniel Berger in the $ 9.5 million event, seven shots behind runaway winner Hideki Matsuyama.

“It was a sweet putt to make on the last,” he told reporters after a seven-under 65 to end a satisfying week in which he finished as the leading European in the event dubbed “Asia’s Major”.

“A nice way to finish with a bogey-free 65.”

Stenson’s 712,836 Race to Dubai points for tied second place enabled him to leapfrog long-time standings leader Danny Willett, who could only take away 38,721 points for finishing a disappointing 75th in the 78-man field.

Stenson’s putt also took him further clear of Rory McIlroy, who remains third behind Willett in the Race to Dubai.

“I could see Rory was going at it,” said Stenson of the Northern Irishman, who shot a six-under round of 66 at Sheshan International Golf Club on Sunday.

“So I just tried to keep up and it was nice to sneak that one in the last to go one ahead of him.”

Stenson now leads Masters Champion Willett by 261,387 points with three events remaining in Turkey, South Africa and Dubai over the next three weekends. McIlroy is a further 757,748 points behind the Englishman.

Willett will play in all three final events; Stenson has opted to skip Turkey and FedEx Cup champion McIlroy will play just the season-ender in Dubai.

“It’s going to be tight all the way to the end, and that’s the way we like it,” said Stenson, who won the Race to Dubai in 2013 -- the only time since 2012 that four-time major winner McIlroy has not won the European Tour crown.

“It would be nice to go into the last one knowing that if you win in Dubai, you win overall.”