European Tour: Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship power rankings

No one owned the fall portion of the European Tour schedule quite like Tyrrell Hatton did. The Englishman’s October wins at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Italian Open were sandwiched first by top-10s at the Omega European Masters and the British Masters and then with four straight top-20s at a WGC and three Race to Dubai Final Series events.

In short, Hatton played out of his mind through November before giving himself a well-earned vacation until going 3-0 in last week’s EurAsia Cup. Golf is a fickle game where it can be tough to reenergize after extended success and/or time away from competition.

Until Hatton gives us a reason to think he won’t keep playing well, I’ll roll with him. Hatton’s only 26, so his best golf is almost certainly still be ahead of him.

Some of his best golf is also behind him at this event.

Hatton’s short resume in Abu Dhabi began in 2014 and reads: T10, T6, T46 and T13. Not too bad.

He led after 54 holes last year before a Sunday 75 hushed those plans.

"“Greens are perfect. They always are here,” Hatton said in 2017 as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “It’s always nice coming back. It’s one of my favorite events of the year. Always look forward to it.”"

Hatton finishing 2017 116th in driving accuracy could be troubling, but he’s excelled in escaping trouble when he needs to at 30th in scrambling and 38th in putts per round.