Thorbjørn Olesen is producing the form of his career that’s seen him rise up to third in the Race to Dubai after a tied-third finish in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. This gives him a fantastic opportunity of challenging for the Race to Dubai title at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 15-18 and making Thomas Bjorn’s European Ryder Cup squad to compete in France in September.

As well as this week’s fine result at Firestone where he earned 510,000 Race to Dubai points, the Dane finished tied-6th at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation and tied-second in the BMW International Open to catapult up the standings and give him a realistic chance of being on the plane to Paris when The 2018 European Ryder Cup team is fully announced on September 5 after his home event – Made in Denmark.

The 28 year old has competed in the last seven DP World Tour Championships with his best season coming in 2016 when he finished 12th in the Race to Dubai but he looks destined to surpass that this year as he now sits behind Masters champion Patrick Reed and Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari in the standings.

“It was nice to have a good finish here,” said Olesen after posting rounds of 71, 67, 68 and 64. “We go every week to try and win, obviously, and that’s the focus. It’s the last Major next week and I would love to play well and have a good result.”

Reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood finished tied-14th with Matt Kuchar, who’s set to make his DP World Tour Championship debut later this year with compatriot Xander Schauffele who was the runner-up at last month’s Open Championship. Fleetwood rose up a place from fourth to third in his quest to defend his Race to Dubai title.

Rory McIlroy, who won this WGC event in 2014, came close to lifting the title again finishing tied-sixth to climb up a spot to fourth in the Race to Dubai. The Northern Irishman will be hoping to continue this rich vein of form at next week’s PGA Championship where he’s looking to secure his first Major triumph in four years.

England’s Ian Poulter will be disappointed to have finished tied-10th this week after being tied-second going into the final round but it’s helped him move from 32nd to 27th in the Rankings and has propelled his chances of creating more history in the Ryder Cup as Team Europe look to win the title back from the USA.

The Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways was also on this week with other European Tour stars competing but it was India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar who sealed the title.

This week’s Race to Dubai tournament is the US PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club near St Louis.

The DP World Tour Championship takes place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 15-18.