McIlroy currently trails Donald, who is playing in the non-scoring Nedbank Challenge at Sun City in South Africa this week, by €1,131,512 and would need to triumph in Hong Kong and in Dubai next week to have any chance of being crowned Europe’s Number One for 2011. The pressure is also on a number of players who need a strong performance in Hong Kong to guarantee a place in the field for the Dubai World Championship, with only the top 60 in The Race to Dubai qualifying for the big money European Tour climax. "Having a chance to shoot 59, it has to be one of the best rounds I’ve ever played," Poulter recalled in Hong Kong on Tuesday. World No 2 Rory McIlroy is also expected to feature in the stellar field as the Northern Irishman seeks to maintain his excellent form at Fanling where he finished sixth last year and second in 2009. The colourful Englishman blazed to a spectacular 60 in the second round of this Euro-Asian co-sanctioned event last year at the New Course at the storied Hong Kong Golf Club on his way to a one-shot victory over fellow Englishman Simon Dyson and Italian teenager Matteo Manassero. Ian Poulter will this week revisit the scene of the lowest competitive round of his career when he defends his title at the UBS Hong Kong Open at Fanling. "I like the course. I like that it’s not very long and you have to think your way around it, playing positional golf. The greens are small and pretty true, and if you get the putter going you can shoot some good scores. It’s just a nice blend. It’s old school." "The other was in Italy when I went very low. They were certainly memorable rounds of golf." "I putted very well. And when you do that and start seeing balls go in, it takes the pressure off the rest of your game. Being relaxed on the tee shots, relaxed in the middle of the fairway, it makes the rest of it pretty easy. It’s all about getting your game going - that’s key to holing putts and taking the pressure off." "It’s a nice week. You play a lovely golf course and you go back in the evening to a great hotel and fantastic restaurants. Hong Kong just has a good vibe." His confidence has been boosted sky high by the final-round heroics he and Justin Rose produced in Sunday’s sensational final-round foursomes at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China where their 9-under 63 rocketed England into second place behind this year’s winners USA. The 22-year-old will, however, be under pressure for he needs to win this week to have any chance of overhauling Luke Donald at the top of The Race to Dubai in next week’s season-closing finale, the Dubai World Championship. It was the tenth of his 11 European Tour victories, and he is now heading back to Hong Kong looking for a 12th title in the right frame of mind.
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