JUSTIN Rose is hoping to cap an excellent year by winning the European Tour’s Race to Dubai title this weekend.

The 33-year-old will lift the Harry Varden Trophy as the European Tour’s top player for a second time if he is able to win the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

2013 has already been a career-defining year for Rose, who achieved his lifetime ambition by winning his first major championship, the US Open, in June.

It would have been easy for the former Robert May’s School pupil to relax after that victory. Instead, he has remained remarkably consistent, with a series of top-five finishes – the most recent at the Turkish Airlines Open last weekend – leaving him second in the Race to Dubai standings heading into the final event.

Victory at the DP World Tour Championship, which gets under way in Dubai today, would see him overhaul current leader Henrik Stenson and clinch top spot for the second time in his career.

Rose won the title in 2007, when it was known as the Order of Merit, but he admits that coming out on top this year would be more meaningful.

“I think 2007 came a bit out of the blue,” he said. “It was a bit of an anomaly. I think this year has been built on a lot more solid foundations and therefore means maybe more.

“It’s a big goal and it’s a goal that only presents itself as the season progresses. At the beginning of the year you can dream up winning it, but it only really becomes an option once you’ve played some good golf.”

Rose, who was this week awarded honorary life membership of the European Tour, lies 213,468 points behind leader Stenson but will be assured of victory if he wins at Jumeirah Golf Estates this weekend.

Second place could also be good enough – as long as the event is not won by Stenson, Graeme McDowell or Ian Poulter, while, in theory, Rose could finish as low as fifth and still top the standings.

Rose’s chances are helped by the fact that Stenson is struggling with a wrist injury – and the former Robert May’s School pupil will get a first-hand look at his rival’s form when they play their first round together today.