European Tour: DP World Tour Championship top 10 power rankings

The pressure’s on Tommy Fleetwood this week at the DP World Tour Championship. The 26-year-old Englishman extended his lead in the Race to Dubai with a top-10 last week at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, though No. 2 Justin Rose is within earshot and No. 3 Sergio García has a distant chance of catching Fleetwood.

“I’ve played brilliant all year. I think to be in with a chance of winning The Race to Dubai, it’s pretty special, really,” Fleetwood said at Sunday’s post-round press conference, as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “It’s not a burden. I don’t feel stressed about it. I don’t feel anxious. I just think it’s great that I’ve got the chance to win it, and a good chance.”

Until last year’s T9, Fleetwood hasn’t had a sterling resume in Dubai, but his game has transformed quite a bit in the past year or two to where he’s now one of the game’s elite ball strikers.

Fleetwood leads the European Tour by almost a full percentage point in GIR (77.3 percent). He’s also top-50 in driving distance, seventh in driving accuracy. He’s also a respectable 65th in scrambling. The putter is the only weak club in his bag (179th in putts per GIR).

This is uncharted territory for Fleetwood, who is trying to fend off veterans breathing down his neck. If he can post another top-10 he’ll put quite a bit of pressure on his chasers.

Last year at the Earth Course, Fleetwood closed strong for weekend rounds of 67 and 68.