Even from afar, Woods adds spice to European Tour's Race to Dubai

SHANGHAI (PA) -- Much has been written and is about to be written about the European Tour's "Race to Dubai" -- the system that used to be called, and still essentially is, the Order of Merit.

An exciting finish is in prospect with the top five of Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, new World Match Play champion Ross Fisher and Paul Casey separated by less than $435,000.

That might sound a lot, but first prize at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China this week is more than $1.18 million, and at the race-ending Dubai World Championship in two weeks' time it is almost $1.25 million.

And now an extra ingredient is about to be added. Tiger Woods can influence the outcome this week because he heads the field for the HSBC Champions.

But the world No. 1 can actually do more than influence matters. He could become the unofficial money list winner himself. And if he does, it would be for a staggering ninth time in 11 years.

Woods has never been a member of the European Tour and so his name has never appeared on the Order of Merit. But what a difference it would make if he was put on it regardless.

If that had been the case from the moment he turned professional, Colin Montgomerie would have only six Order of Merit titles instead of eight; Lee Westwood would still be trying to win it for the first time; and Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and Robert Karlsson would all have finished second rather than first.

Amazingly, Karlsson would have failed to top the table last year, a year when Woods stopped playing in June to have knee surgery.

The Swede accumulated $3.6 million in 23 events, while Woods earned just over $32,000 more from only five. He won the Dubai Desert Classic, the WGC-Accenture Match Play and the U.S. Open, was second in The Masters and fifth at the WGC-CA Championship.

The only player in the past decade who has been a true leading money winner in Europe was Ernie Els in both 2003 and 2004.

So far this year, Woods has picked up $3.1 million from seven official European Tour starts. That would put him fourth in the current standings and he has not just one, but two chances to finish on top again because he is also competing in next week's Australian Masters, a late addition to the Race to Dubai.

Woods' record in European Tour events is truly phenomenal. He has played 95 times, won 37 of them and had 72 top-10 finishes.

In money terms, his $46 million is almost $12 million more than official leading money winner Colin Montgomerie. And Monty has played more than 500 tournaments.

Copyright 2009 PA Sport. All rights reserved.