The Englishman is just one player who can overtake the absent Rory McIlroy at the top of the money list with a strong display in Shanghai
After last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions, the European Tour remains in China for the $7m BMW Masters – the penultimate event in their season-ending Final Series.
Rory McIlroy is skipping the tournament, meaning his position at the top of the Race to Dubai is vulnerable.
The below five players, featuring some of McIlroy’s nearest rivals, should flourish at this week’s par-72, 7,594-yard course Lake Malaren course in Shanghai.
Willett closed with a final-round 62 to tie for third at the WGC-HSBC Champions last week – his eighth top-10 of the season.
More importantly, the Englishman moved to within less than 75,000 points of McIlroy and a finish of 28th or better this week could usurp the Northern Irishman.
Willett has never finished outside the top 30 at the BMW Masters and will be targeting his third victory of what is already his career-best season.
11/2 – Justin Rose
Rose is attempting to win his second successive tournament on Chinese soil after triumphing at the UBS Hong Kong Open last time out.
Refreshed after a two-tournament break, the Englishman – who is fifth in the order of merit – is likely to overtake McIlroy with a second-placed finish or better.
Rose has two top-six finishes in two BMW Masters appearances and is 29 under par for his eight rounds.
16/1 – Branden Grace
Grace, who is sixth in the standings, must triumph this week if he is to overtake McIlroy.
That would be the South African’s third victory of the year after the Alfred Dunhill Championship and Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, while he also has four other top 10s.
Grace tied for fifth at the HSBC Champions last week and has won in China before, clinching his third Tour title at the Volvo China Open in 2012.
22/1 – Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick’s nine top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season is more than any other player – some achievement for a rookie.
The latest was recorded at the HSBC Champions – his first ever WGC event – while the Englishman tied for third in Hong Kong last month.
Fitzpatrick is one more impressive performance away from moving into the world’s top 50 – a position that would secure his place at the 2016 Masters if he remains there at the year’s end.
33/1 – Peter Uihlein
Uihlein is returning to the form that made him the European Tour Rookie of the Year two years ago.
The 26-year-old American tied for sixth at the Turkish Airlines Open last time out and was inside the top 15 in Hong Kong the week before.
Uihelin has an impressive record on Chinese soil – tying for fourth and eighth at the Shenzhen International and Volvo China Open respectively this season – and shared fifth in his only appearance at the BMW Masters two years ago.
