Until this year only two ‘continental’ Europeans had finished as number one on the European Tour on more than one occasion: Severiano Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer. Now there are three, after Henrik Stenson signed a final round of 65 strokes in the DP World Tour Championship, won by Matthew Fitzpatrick (pictured), to secure his second Race to Dubai title (the first was achieved in 2013). Earlier this year, Stenson had also become the first Swede to win a Major, the British Open, and also won the silver medal at the Olympic Games.
“I’m very happy to have my name on this trophy once again,” he said. “It’s been a great year, the best of my career. I always thought it was going to be hard to top 2013, but I think I’ve done it this year, with the Open, the Olympics and the Race to Dubai again. So it’s been a great year and I’m delighted to have finished it this way.”
Recalling the names on the Harry Vardon Trophy awarded by the European Tour to the season’s number one, he added: “We have Ballesteros, we have Langer, we have Faldo, and then of course in the last few years we are more familiar with the names that won it; and Norman is there. It shows a lot of history. To win it once is very satisfying, and to win it twice is even more so. So it’s been a fantastic season, and it’s great to top it off like this.”
The other top prize on the final day of the season went to Englishman Fitzpatrick, whose birdie on the 18th gave him victory by a single stroke at the DP World Championship at Dubai. Tyrrell Hatton was ahead of him by one stroke on the 18th tee, but bogeyed the last hole.
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