Valimaki surges in Race to Dubai rankings after Oman Open win

Sami Valimaki rocketed up the Race to Dubai Rankings after sealing a first European Tour win with a dramatic play-off triumph over Brandon Stone on a thrilling final day at the Oman Open.

“I feel awesome!” said Valimaki, who picks up 460 Race to Dubai points with his triumph to surge up to 13th from 103rd in the Rankings. “I knew after the ninth hole that I had dropped down the leaderboard after my double bogey. I realised that I needed to card two birdies and I did that on the 16th and the 18th to make the play-off.

“I thought I was going to miss the putt on the last in regulation but thank god it went in the hole and gave me the chance to win the tournament. It’s great that more Finnish golfers are doing well in the sport and golf is getting more popular in Finland.”

Stone, who was searching for a fourth European Tour title, collects 305 Race to Dubai points for his runner-up finish which see him climb up to 18th from 69th in the Rankings.

Meanwhile, Adrien Saddier narrowly missed out on getting into the play-off by just one shot after making bogey on the 17th. The Frenchman, who also earned his European Tour playing privileges with a tied eighth finish at Qualifying School last year, banks 172 Race to Dubai points to surge up to 50th from 178th in the Rankings.

Mikko Korhonen and Guido Migliozzi finished a shot further back as they shared fourth. Both players collect 126.5 Race to Dubai points which see Korhonen jump up to 57th from 143rd while Migliozzi enters the Rankings in 73rd.

The top 50 players in the Race to Dubai Rankings will contest the season-ending $8 million DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from Nov. 19-22, 2020 where $3 million will be up for grabs for the winner, making it the richest first prize in world tournament golf.

The Race to Dubai, spanning 44 tournaments in 28 countries across five continents, is a season-long competition to crown the European Tour’s No 1 player.

Celebrating the global connectivity of Dubai and the European Tour, the list of champions since 2009 reads like a Who’s Who of modern-era greats, including three-time winner Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson with two titles, as well as Jon Rahm, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.

Formerly known as the Order of Merit, points are accumulated based on a tournament points system, with the five top-ranked players at the end of the season sharing a $5 million Race to Dubai bonus pool which includes $2 million for the winner.

Valimaki got his hands on European Tour silverware for the first time with a dramatic play-off triumph over Brandon Stone.

Valimaki drained a mammoth putt at the last to get to a tournament total of 13 under par and force a play-off with the South African before an extra three trips back down the 18th saw him crowned champion.

The duo couldn’t be separated after the first two extra holes before Stone found trouble with his second shot on the third hole which led to a bogey while Valimaki’s par was enough to seal a maiden victory.

Stone, who was searching for a fourth European Tour title, had sunk a monster putt of his own to get to 13 under par and set the clubhouse target before Valimaki forced the play-off in the Sultanate.

Adrien Saddier narrowly missed out on getting into the play-off by just one shot. The Frenchman, who also earned his European Tour playing privileges with a tied eighth finish at Qualifying School last year, dropped two shots over the first two holes before bouncing back with six birdies over the next 14 holes. But he fell just short of the play-off after making a bogey at the 17th to drop him down to 12 under par.

“It was tough out there today and starting bogey bogey didn’t help,” said the 27 year old. “The wind was really blowing really hard towards the end of the day. I made some nice birdies but unfortunately fell just one short.”