South African Golfer Otto speeds into Race to Dubai contention

Hennie Otto’s win at the SA Open Championship last weekend means the South African has all but sealed his place in next week’s Dubai World Championship presented by DP world.

The 35 year-old’s emotional win came thanks to a steady final round of 72 after he blitzed the field on Saturday with a seven under par third round of 65, helping him to a one shot victory over Berndt Weisberger and his second European Tour title.

Otto moved up 24 places in The Race to Dubai in the process, leaping into the all-important top 60 to boost his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Dubai World Championship presented by DP World to be staged at the Earth course, Jumeirah Golf Estates from December 8-11.

He now sits in 56th spot with just one tournament to go before the golfing season’s grand finale and while he is not playing this week’s UBS Hong Kong Open, it will take an unlikely alignment of outcomes this week for him to be ousted from the top 60.

Otto’s best season on The European Tour so far was in 2008, when his win at the Methorios Capital Italian Open helped him finish 37th in the Rankings, but qualification for the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World gives the Boksburg native a shot at bettering that finish.

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher, meanwhile, will need a good finish in Hong Kong if he is to seal his berth for Dubai next month after he was the one to make way for Otto in the top 60.

The Scotsman fell to 61st spot, just behind compatriot Paul Lawrie who will also be battling for the right to play at the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World at the UBS Hong Kong Open this week.

Steve Webster (62nd), Richard Green (66th) and Padraig Harrington (67th) are all European Tour winners going to Hong Kong in search of a high finish that would lift them into the top 60 this week, with Harrington, the three-time major winner, facing the lowest Rankings finish of his career.

As the countdown gets ever closer to the opening day’s play in Dubai, spectators looking to secure a place at the 2011 Dubai World Championship presented by DP World – held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council.