Francesco Molinari is among the favourites, today, in South Africa at the Gary Player Golf Club in Sun City, where the Nedbank Golf Challenge is held, for a prize pool of 7,5 million dollars. The last match of the European tour, the one that will crown the best player of the year, will be next week in Dubai, where the top 60 on the continental money list will compete. For anyone aiming for a good yearly placement or even a podium, today's is the last call.
Molinari, who turned 35 yesterday, has a good chance of having an excellent match, because he is among the most expert players and higher up in the world order of merit (21st). In the European standings, the Turinese, who also plays steadily on the American tour, is ninth and certainly aspires to climb the standings, to arrive in the Emirates in pole position. For the moment, however, he cannot unseat the leader, Tommy Fleetwood, who is closely followed by the Englishman Justin Rose, who is ever closer to the top in the Race to Dubai, after last week's victory.
The Swede Alex Noren defends the title, already nine titles on the circuit and 16th in the world ranking. Numerous opponents able to compete for success: Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Ian Poulter, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Bernd Wiesberger, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Nicolas Cosaerts, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Kiradech Aphibarnrat. The Italians Edoardo Molinari and Renato Paratore are also on the track, fighting to access the final. Big absentees instead Rose, Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson.
