European Tour Reports

Find out about the hottest golf events taking place on a green near you! With reports on some of the most important events from the European and PGA Tours

“The giants of golf are coming!”

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship – held from January 26 to 29 – will attract many great players to the emirate to compete for the Falcon Trophy and for the $ 2.7 million prize money. With three reigning champions at the start, the hosts rightfully advertise their championship with headlines like ‘the giants of golf are coming!’

Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel, US Open Champion Rory McIlroy and Open Champion Darren Clarke will be among the ‘giants’ that Abu Dhabi is welcoming to the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The list of confirmed entries is long and impressive, including Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer, the defending champion and three-time Falcon trophy winner and Englishman Lee Westwood. Even Tiger Woods is expected to come over to Abu Dhabi to tee off at the HSBC Golf Championship for the very first time. Abu Dhabi is thrilled to welcome Woods, with 14 Major wins, 71 PGA Tour wins and holding the record for most consecutive number of weeks as the world’s top-ranked player. Englishman Paul Casey will not go to Abu Dhabi, as he was forced to withdraw. Casey, a two-time Abu Dhabi winner, suffered a dislocation of the right shoulder while snowboarding.

“A great way to begin the year”

Most players view the HSBC Golf Championship as an event that everyone would like to win once. As Rory McIlroy was quoted by the European Tour website: “Abu Dhabi is a great way to begin the year. Every year the field gets stronger and stronger and the championship gets harder to win. I finished second last year, so I’m hoping to go one better this time. I think there will be some truly great leader board tussles over the weekend.”

This championship has the quality to finally give Abu Dhabi its ´popular golf destination´-status, where great golf events are held. The field and the venue are fitting for the aspirations of the organizers, who hope to attract a lot more than the 40,000 visitors of the event in 2011.

Kaymer in 2011: convincing

It was Martin Kaymer who lifted the Falcon Trophy on the final day in 2011. The German won the title for the third time in four years with a convincing performance. Kaymer entered the final round with a 5 shot advantage over Rory McIlroy. A final round of 66 resulted in a new tournament record score of 24 under par to beat McIlroy by eight shots!

The Abu Dhabi Golf Club is extremely excited about its course (design: Peter Harradine), calling it "an oasis of tranquillity carved out of the desert". The club definitely offers one of the most luxurious golf resort experiences in the Middle East. The 27-hole layout weaves through undulating terrain that features pockets of palms, ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as seven spectacular saltwater lakes.

Next week we´ll cover the Qatar Masters, until then read about:

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Comments

peter o reilly

27 January 2012 20:43

Whats up with Rory, all handicap golfers know you can not brush sand off the fairwayand when I played Abu Dhabi in October I was reminded of this rule by my golf buddy. I hope it does not cost him come Sunday