Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 2019: Power Rankings

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 21: Tyrrell Hatton of England looks on from the second tee during the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 21, 2018 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /

Eventually I’m going to get to a player who’s actually won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. For now, we have another player who’s played well here without a trophy to show for it.

Tyrrell Hatton hasn’t missed this event since debuting in 2014 and is 5-for-5 making the weekend. His worst result was a T46 in 2016, which pales in comparison to a T10 in ’14, T6 in ’15 and two top-15s in recent years.

Suffice it to say, but the 27-year-old Englishman should feel comfortable on the grounds this week.

“Greens are perfect. They always are here. It’s always nice coming back,” Hatton said during the 2017 tournament. “It’s one of my favorite events of the year. Always look forward to it.”

A winless 2018 did little to move Hatton out of the stable of top European players. Two wins in 2017 and three top-threes last year helped him make his Ryder Cup debut this past October.

He closed out 2018 with nine top-30 finishes in a row, which includes his near-miss at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (T2) where he almost went back-to-back-to-back.

All of Hatton’s strokes gained stats from 2018 are favorable. Pertaining to this week, he’s 24th in birdies and 14th in strokes gained putting. While not among the biggest hitters, Hatton hits it far enough to be in the game this week.

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