Henrik Stenson is targeting a fast start to the Turkish Airlines Open having seen his lead cut at the top of the Race to Dubai in China last week.
Stenson’s nearest rivals Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter all finished in the top five the WGC-HSBC Champions to make up ground on the Swede, who shared 31st position after recovering from a sluggish start with a superb closing round of 65.
It was a similar scenario at the BMW Masters the previous week, when Stenson’s closing 65 at Lake Malaren Golf Club only promoted him to tied 34th after he struggled initially with a wrist injury picked up in practice.
He is now hoping to kick-start his Final Series in Turkey and pull clear of the chasing pack once again, with his lead over McDowell standing at 6145,865.
“I’ve had eight rounds now competitive in the last two weeks, and three of them have been really, really good,” he said.
“It was just the putting the first two days last week that really let me down and I played well at the weekend.
“I put one good round together the first week in China, two the second, so hopefully three here and four next week in Dubai. I hope I’m heading in the right direction. Hopefully I can be a bit quicker out of the blocks this time and have a good week.”
Having already won the FedEx Cup on the US PGA Tour, Stenson can claim a historic double should he remain on top of The Race to Duabi after next week’s DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Stenson is expecting the outcome of the Final Series to go right to the wire.
“I always felt like it was going to be a tight race,” he said.