It’s advantage Justin Rose in the race to be Europe’s No. 1 golfer

Justin Rose fired a six-under 66 at the DP World Tour Championship to improve his chances of winning the Race to Dubai and finishing the season as Europe’s No. 1 golfer.

Two other players are still in contention for the No. 1 crown – Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia – but it’s Rose who has the advantage after the opening round of the European Tour’s season-ending event at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.

American Patrick Reed leads the tournament overall after a seven-under first round score of 65, but the English golfer is one shot back along with Australian Scott Hend in a tie for second.

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Garcia is a further four shots back on two-under while Fleetwood, who was paired with Rose in round one, had to settle for a one-over round of 73.

For Rose to clinch the No. 1 spot he must secure at least fifth outright with Fleetwood finishing below solo 39th and Garcia failing to win the tournament.

Back-to-back victories recently in China and Turkey have given the golfer a chance of winning the Race to Dubai. He knows he now has an “opportunity” to finish the season as Europe’s No. 1 golfer.

“It wasn’t really on my radar a month ago and that’s the perspective I have to keep,” says Rose, who is targeting a second Race to Dubai title having first claimed it ten years ago in 2007.

“This is an opportunity for me. It would be easy to start to think about it as being in my hands now but for me it’s still a bonus if I do it.”

There are two things on his mind this week: winning the golf tournament and winning the Race to Dubai. “If I do the first one, the second one will happen,” he says.

“I’ve just got to put together a really good final three rounds and do what I always do. Some weeks it happens and others it doesn’t but certainly right now things are feeling a bit easier than they normally do.”

Meanwhile Tommy Fleetwood went into the tournament in top spot of the Race to Dubai rankings and knows that anything can happen over the next three days.

“If you look in terms of the tournament, I’ve got to shoot something really low tomorrow and Saturday,” he told the European Tour website. “Then it will depend on how he [Rose] plays.

“But there are three rounds of golf, 54 holes are a lot of holes and anything can happen. It’s been similar to the last few weeks where I’ve not had great first rounds but climbed the leaderboard steadily. Just go out tomorrow and do my best.”

Race to Dubai permutations: who can finish European No. 1?

• Tommy Fleetwood: he will win the Race to Dubai providing he equals or betters Justin Rose’s result. If Rose finishes outside the top five and Sergio Garcia fails to win, Fleetwood will be crowned European No. 1 regardless.
• Justin Rose: he can win the Race to Dubai with victory this week and must finish at least solo fifth to have any chance. If Fleetwood doesn’t win, solo second will be good enough for Rose.
• Sergio Garcia: the Spaniard must win and hope that Fleetwood finishes outside the top 11 and Rose finishes solo fourth or worse.