One man in Rory's way of PGA, Euro money feat

• By Ryan Lavner
• Oct 24, 2012 10:16 AM ET

For the second time in two years, a player is on the verge of capturing the money title on both sides of the pond. Justin Rose is in prime position to thwart Rory McIlroy’s historic feat, however.

Rose can overtake McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings if he finishes second at the $7 million BMW Masters and the Northern Irishman finishes outside the top 7. McIlroy, of course, has already wrapped up the money title in the U.S., earning more than $8 million in 16 events. In 2011, Luke Donald earned the most money on both the PGA and European tours, a feat made even sweeter because he needed to win the season-ending Disney event to overtake Webb Simpson.

Rose trails McIlroy by €437,334 ($567,116), but the deficit is far from insurmountable with the big-money events remaining on the Euro tour schedule, including the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“To be No. 1 of any tour around the world, especially the European Tour, that’s a huge goal and would be a huge honor,” Rose told reporters in Shanghai. “So it’s got my attention, obviously, the next few weeks.”

Rose won the season finale in 2007 to capture the money title, but says the achievement this year would be “more meaningful based upon there’s been a lot of hard work that’s gone on between 2007 and now. I kind of felt like it happened out of the blue that season.”