World Number One and reigning Race to Dubai champion Rory McIlroy will make his first competitive appearance of 2015 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which this week celebrates its tenth anniversary.
One of nine Major Champions in a star-studded field, McIlroy will be keen to maintain his impressive record in the US$2.7 million tournament, the first of three events which comprise the ‘Desert Swing’.
McIlroy has finished runner-up three times in Abu Dhabi – in 2011, 2012 and behind winner Pablo Larrazábal of Spain last year – so the 25 year old Ulsterman will be confident of shedding his bridesmaid’s tag and adding to his nine European Tour titles this week.
Perhaps the only player in the field who feels more at home in Abu Dhabi Golf Club is US Open Champion Martin Kaymer, the man who pipped him to the title in 2011.
Having lifted the Falcon Trophy in 2008, 2010 and 2011, Kaymer – who has spent much of the winter practising at The European Tour Performance Institute in neighbouring Dubai – has his sights set on creating further history in the Emirate.
Should the German prevail for a fourth time, he would become only the fourth European – after his friend and mentor Bernhard Langer, the late, great Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Miguel Angel Jiménez – to win the same European Tour event on four or more occasions.
Amongst those standing in the way of Kaymer’s quest for a quartet of victories are his Ryder Cup team-mates Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, the respective World Numbers Two and Six who formed such a formidable partnership in the foursomes and fourballs at Gleneagles.
Stenson, who is returning to competitive action for the first time since winning the 2014 season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, has a brace of runner-up finishes to his name, including in the inaugural Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in 2006.
Rose, meanwhile, will be looking to avenge his near-miss in 2012, when he led going into the final round but was overhauled by Jamie Donaldson.
Another big draw card is Rickie Fowler, who will make his debut in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship after a supremely impressive season in 2014.
The United States Ryder Cup player, who finished in the top five of all four Majors last year, has not appeared in a regular European Tour event since the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, where he finished in a tie for eighth place.
Fowler is bidding to become the second American to win the tournament, following his compatriot Chris DiMarco’s success in 2006.
Other notable names in the stellar line-up include Larrazábal, the defending champion, and The European Tour’s newest winner Andy Sullivan, who notched his maiden victory in last week’s South African Open Championship.
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