DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Let’s be honest, Bernd Wiesberger wouldn’t have topped most lists to end 2019 as European Tour No. 1. Austrian golfers just don’t do that.
This one can, and make history in the process.
The 34-year-old Vienna native is in pole position to end the season as winner of the Race to Dubai and lift the Harry Vardon Trophy. Wiesberger has a 722.8-point lead over Tommy Fleetwood at the top of the points list, with Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry and Matthew Fitzpatrick also in with a shout to end the year top of the European food chain.
Wiesberger can join greats such as Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Greg Norman, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari with another four good days.
Again, Austrian golfers are not supposed to do this.
Wiesberger has already put his country on the map with seven European Tour wins, three this season. He’s already Austria’s most successful golfer. However, aside from himself and former Vanderbilt player Matthias Schwab, most golf fans would struggle to name five Austrian Tour pros on the fingers of one hand.
Before Wiesberger came along, Austrian success was limited to players like Martin Wiegele, whose only European Tour win came in the 2010 St Omer Open, a bottom of the food chain event. Marcus Brier won twice in the noughties and now plays on the European Senior Tour.
That’s four of those five fingers with prizes to anyone who can name a fifth Austrian Tour pro without using a search engine.
That’s not to deride Austrian golf. After all, we’re not talking a strong golf nation. According to a recent 2018 KPMG participation report, there are just 160 courses in the entire country, and only 108,733 registered golfers.
“It would be a first, obviously,” Wiesberger said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had an Austrian winner of the Race to Dubai or the overall ranking at any point. Personally, it would be obviously a huge achievement for me after growing up watching European Tour golf and watching legends like Seve, Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie who won so many times in a row at the time when I started getting into golf. It’s something that looked a long distance away, but obviously much closer now.
“I’m very, very lucky right now in Austria with not only myself playing well this year but also Matthias doing a great job, and almost catching a couple titles this year. Yes, good times for Austrian golf.”
Wiesberger will be worthy of the European number one title if he does go on to finish atop the Race to Dubai. A wrist injury caused him to miss the end of last season, yet he has three 2019 victories. He moved back to the top of the Race to Dubai when he won the Italian Open in October. He has led the title race ever since.