The European Tour’s desert swing begins with a serious statement of intent at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with two of the world’s top four players – Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson – headlining an all-star cast alongside defending champion Rickie Fowler at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club...
REWIND
Rickie Fowler produced two moments of magic to hold off late charges from Thomas Pieters, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson to win his second European Tour title.
The American held a three-shot lead at the turn but while he made seven straight pars on the back nine, McIlroy came home in 31 with an eagle at the last and Stenson came back in 32 to sit one shot behind the leader in the clubhouse.
Fowler was not to be outdone, though, and he chipped in on the 17th to open up a two-shot lead, with a par at the last enough to keep him at 16 under and hand him a one-shot victory over Pieters, who birdied the final hole.
Fowler had earlier holed from a bunker for an eagle on the eighth immediately after a double-bogey on the seventh had cut his advantage to one on a dramatic final day at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
The victory followed Fowler's triumph at the 2015 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and made him just the second American to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after Chris DiMarco claimed the inaugural title in 2006.
BITE-SIZED HISTORY
Celebrating its 12th consecutive edition in 2017, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, has quickly established itself as one of the early season’s must-watch events, regularly attracting many of the world’s most accomplished and exciting golfers to the Middle East.
The inaugural championship was won by Chris DiMarco before Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer dominated the event for five years in a row, with Casey winning twice and Kaymer securing a hat-trick of titles from 2007-2011.
There have been five different winners’ since 2011 – Robert Rock, Jamie Donaldson, Pablo Larrazábal, Gary Stal and Rickie Fowler.
HSBC – a huge supporter of golf through their sponsorship of both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the WGC-HSBC Champions – began their title sponsorship of this week’s event in 2011.
THE FIELD
What a cast. Two of the world’s top four in the form Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson as well as number ten Alex Noren, Masters Champion Danny Willett and a host of the most dynamic and engaging personalities in world including defending champ Rickie Fowler.
From that distinguished group above, Willett, Johnson and Stenson are all current Major Champions, while in total there are seven Major Champions, 80 European Tour winners, four European Tour Number Ones and two former World Number Ones.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Golf Club specialist Martin Kaymer, is seeking to join one of the European Tour’s more distinguished groups of players to have won the same event on four or more occasions. Having triumphed here in 2007, 2010 and 2011, Kaymer would be amongst some serious names as a four-time champ including Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods.
THE COURSE
The Abu Dhabi Golf Club is among the stand out golf facilities in the Middle East region. The 27-hole layout, managed by Troon Golf, weaves through undulating terrain that features pockets of palms, ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as seven spectacular saltwater lakes.
The par-72, 7,583-yard Championship course provides a strong challenge, with 18 holes of lush fairways, strategically placed bunkers and generous greens.
Each year, TCA Abu Dhabi, in conjunction with Championship organisers IMG and Abu Dhabi Golf Club, introduce improvements to the course to keep challenging the world’s best golfers. This year, the players will find a few new strategically positioned bunkers and a new 18th tee, which has been elevated to the left of the old tee and gives a new and more challenging perspective to the closing par five.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The field for the 2017 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship boasts seven Major Champions, 80 European Tour winners, four European Tour Number Ones and two World Number Ones.
• Three of the current four Major Champions are competing: Danny Willett (Masters Tournament), Dustin Johnson (U.S. Open Championship) and Henrik Stenson (The Open Championship).
• Defending champion, Rickie Fowler will attempt to become the second player, following Martin Kaymer (2010-11) to make a successful defence of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
• Fowler will also aim to become the first American to win the same regular European Tour event in back-to-back years since Tiger Woods (2001-02 Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe).
• The 2015 winner, Gary Stal, was eight shots behind at the start of the final round two years ago. This was the largest final round winning comeback of the 2015 season.
• Martin Kaymer has already won in Abu Dhabi in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Should he win for a fourth time, he would join an elite group of players to win the same official European Tour tournament on four or more occasions. They are: Tiger Woods – eight wins in the WGC–Bridgestone Invitational and seven wins at the WGC–Cadillac Championship; Tom Watson – five wins at The Open Championship; Bernhard Langer – five wins at the German Open. Four time winners are: Seve Ballesteros (Open de France), Sir Nick Faldo, (PGA Championship), Tiger Woods (US PGA Championship), Bernhard Langer (German Masters), Mark McNulty (German Open), Miguel Angel Jiménez (UBS Hong Kong Open) and Charl Schwartzel (Alfred Dunhill Championship).
• Martin Kaymer has a wonderful record at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Apart from his three triumphs he was runner-up in 2009, third in 2015 and tied sixth in 2013. He made his debut in 2007 and has played a total of 36 rounds, with a stroke average of 68.88. From those 36 rounds he is a total of 112 under par with 30 of those rounds under par and 23 in the 60s.
• Dustin Johnson will be making his first appearance in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. This event will represent his first appearance in a European Tour event in the UAE and his seventh appearance at a regular European Tour event.
Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher will be playing in his 500th official European Tour event. He becomes the fifth Scottish player to reach the milestone, following Sam Torrance, Colin Montgomerie, Gordon Brand Jnr and Paul Lawrie.
• In the 2012 event the par three 12th hole witnessed three holes-in-one. They were by Sergio Garcia and José Manuel Lara (both round one) and Graeme McDowell (round four). This was only the third time in European Tour history that the same hole witnessed three or more holes-in-one in the same tournament. The first two were at the second hole during the 1991 Fujitsu Mediterranean Open, which saw four aces, and the fifth hole at the 1990 PGA Championship, which saw three aces.
