Martin Kaymer became a winner again this weekend, but in electing not to add any more events to his playing schedule, he has effectively kissed goodbye his chances of beating Luke Donald in this season\'s European money list race.
And it now looks to be a straight fight between Donald and Rory McIlroy - since Sunday the World\'s No 1 and 2.
Kaymer\'s
TaylorMade R11 Irons victory in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, achieved with nine birdies on the last 12 holes, lifted him above McIlroy into second place on the European standings.
But Donald\'s lead is still massive - nearly £900,000 - and that is more than the first prize at the race-ending Dubai World Championship on December 8-11.
Kaymer is next in action for Germany at the World Cup in China on November 24-27 and then goes to South Africa for the Nedbank Challenge - not a European Tour event with no counting points - before travelling on to Dubai.
McIlroy\'s fourth place in Shanghai left him more than £985,000 behind Donald, but the Northern Irishman is playing
TaylorMade R11 Irons in the Hong Kong Open on December 1-4 as well as in Dubai and winning both tournaments could yet make him Europe\'s new number one.
Donald, already the leading money-winner on the PGA Tour in America this year, was absent last week while he awaits the birth of his second daughter.
He is only due to return to competitive golf at the Nedbank Challenge and may already know by then if he has, in fact, completed an unprecedented US-Europe money list double in the same year. (
TaylorMade R11 Irons)
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood, pushed down to third in the world because of McIlroy\'s closing birdie yesterday, currenty lie in fourth and fifth place respectively on the European table.
But Dubai is their next event on the circuit and that puts them out of the running.
TaylorMade R11 Irons
Kaymer opts out of Dubai race
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