McIlroy looks to close gap to Donald in race for European money title

Rory McIlroy believes he can give Luke Donald a run for his money as the 2011 Race to Dubai enters the home stretch.

The Northern Irishman enters this week's WGC-HSBC Champions event $1.78 million behind Donald in the race to top the European Tour money list.

But with the world No 1 missing this week and likely to be absent for the next three weeks as he awaits the birth of his second child, McIlroy has a big opportunity to close the gap.

The $2 million McIlroy won in the unsanctioned Shanghai Masters last week didn’t count toward the money, list but McIlroy is hoping to stash more official cash in China this week.

"I am 1.3 million euros behind Luke," he said. "But I have got three big events coming up. I have got this week, the Hong Kong Open and the Dubai World Championship. So three more chances to really try to cut into his lead.

"With him not being here this week because his wife is giving birth to their second child, I feel like I have got a chance," he explained. "It would be fantastic to get another win, the second in two weeks and cut into that lead. It would be fantastic if I could get a littler closer to him.

"I obviously have not had as good a season as Luke because he has been the most consistent golfer in the world for probably the best part of 18 months," he added. "But if I can give it my all and really give it a good go for the next few weeks and even just run him close, I think that would be a good achievement in itself."

McIlroy added that he remained on close terms with Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler, the head of International Sports Management, with whom he parted company last week. To the surprise of many, McIlroy left ISM to join Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management, and McIlroy explained the switch.

"It's a decision I didn't take lightly," he added. "I thought long and hard about it and had a lot of chats with my mum and dad," he said. "Sometimes to go forward in your career you just need to make decisions.

"For four years I felt Chubby was the best guy and ISM were fantastic for me, but sometimes to progress you need to have a fresh view on things. It's about me trying to play my best golf and that's all there is to it," he added. "I feel like a new environment around me it might enable me to play even better and I feel like I'm moving on to the next stage of my career.

"Chubby's been there for me since Day 1 and it was very difficult for me. I remain very close to him -- it was a purely business decision and nothing personal at all," he said. "I've got all the time in the world for Chubby and everyone involved at ISM."