European Tour: Omega Dubai Desert Classic Preview
By Matt Coles
The second week of the European Tour’s desert swing sees the field move a couple of hours down the road for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
From Abu Dhabi on Sunday afternoon for the finale of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA to Dubai for Thursday’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic, those playing in both have had to travel just 80 miles northeast to the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
This will be the 31st edition of the tournament, which was first hosted in 1989. The Emirates Golf Club has hosted all bar two of those events, with the 1999 and 2000 editions played at the Dubai Creek Golf Club.
In 1989, it became the first European Tour event to be held on the Arabian Peninsula, of which the Tour has now grown to accommodate six events, including last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA, the first Rolex Series tournament of the new season.
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The par-72 Majlis course will provide a tough test for the 132-strong field this week, with World No.17 Bryson DeChambeau coming in as the defending champion.
The American took the title by a record seven shots last year, as he also posted the record low score for the event, finishing the week at -24.
He will aim to retain a title for the first time in his short career this week, but the likes of Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Rafa Cabrera Bello, and Haotong Li, all previous winners of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, will tee it up at Emirates Golf Club this week.
The likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Bjørn, and Stephen Gallacher have all won this event since the turn of the Century, along with big names, including Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, with the former World No.1’s both having taken this title twice in their careers.
Looking at this year’s field, and there are some very strong groupings for the opening two days of the event, with last week’s victor featuring alongside two winners of this event.
Lee Westwood, who now leads the Race to Dubai following his victory at the first Rolex Series event of the season, will play alongside 2007 Omega Dubai Desert Classic winner Henrik Stenson, and the defending champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Louis Oosthuizen will play alongside the English duo of Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Wallace for the first two days, while Sergio Garcia and Danny Willett, two previous winners of the ODDC, will play with British Open champion Shane Lowry on Thursday and Friday.
Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Victor Perez, all three finishing inside the top ten in Abu Dhabi on Sunday afternoon, will play together, while Ian Poulter, Rafa Cabrera Bello, and Martin Kaymer complete another all-European trio.
The action gets underway at 07:10 (GMT+4) on the opening two days, with a two-tee set-up for the 132 players, who will be looking to make the cut come Friday evening.
Next. European Tour Power Rankings: Omega Dubai Desert Classic. dark
Selected Tee Times (* indicates 10th tee start):
- 08:00* & 12:20: Henrik Stenson (SWE), Lee Westwood (ENG), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
- 08:10* & 12:30: Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG)
- 08:20* & 12:40: Sergio Garcia (ESP), Danny Willett (ENG), Shane Lowry (IRL)
- 12:20 & 08:00*: Ian Poulter (ENG), Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP), Martin Kaymer (GER)
- 12:30 & 08:10*: Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Victor Perez (FRA)
- 12:50 & 08:30*: Thomas Bjørn (DEN), Matthias Schwab (AUT), Erik van Rooyen (RSA)