Ahead of the 2017 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, europeantour.com takes a closer look at the stunning Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with 2014 winner Pablo Larrazábal giving us the inside track.
The Spaniard finished one shot clear of Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson to secure his third European Tour title, shooting an impressive final round of 67 to triumph in the Middle East for the first time and move to a career high of 53rd in the World Rankings.
It’s with fond memories that Larrazábal returns to the Peter Harradine-designed course, which opened in 1998 and has hosted every edition of this tournament since its inception in 2006.
Situated in the desert, the course combines slick greens, ominous water hazards and often stifling temperatures, proving a genuine test of a golfer’s stamina as much as their ability.
Who better, then, to talk to us about the feeling of succeeding around Abu Dhabi GC and what to look out for than four-time European Tour winner Larrazábal.
Winning in 2014
“I love to play against the best in the world and beating them is a satisfaction that’s very special. Beating Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson down the stretch was something I’ll remember all my life.
“I played with Miguel Angel Jiménez and Rory in the final round. Miguel is a friend of mine and someone that I played a lot of practice rounds with when I came on tour, so I know him well. I also played a lot with Rory when I first started out. I’ve been watching Rory challenge on many Sundays since 2008, so I knew that if I followed both of them and played as well as they did I’d have a good chance.
“They’re very aggressive players and they made a lot of birdies. In a tournament where there were many people close to the lead it was going to be very hard. Miguel started fast, with a lot of birdies, and then Rory started to pick up some shots and then I started to make some in the middle of the round, so it was very fun.”
Key holes
“You have to play the par fives well, like all courses, but the par fives here are reachable, so you need to make a score on them.
“However, the fifth (a 468-yard par four) and the ninth (a 456-yard par four) holes are two of the toughest. The main reason is they’re both quite long, but nine is the toughest hole of the two and I’d say the hardest on this course. The 16th is tough too, with a difficult tee shot to watch out for.
“If you make level par through five, nine and 16 for the week, you’re going to have a lot of chances. They are very tough holes.”
The greens
“The greens are fantastic and some of the best we play on. They’re very fast and true. Normally over the weekend they are super, super fast. If you’re putting well you’re going to have fun, but if you’re struggling on the greens you’ll struggle big time.
“This place is always in great condition, though. Coming to these conditions in Abu Dhabi after being cold back in Europe is awesome.“
The rough
“The rough is normally very thick, long and tricky. It also grows through the week.
“Normally on a Monday and Tuesday you can’t see a lot of growth, but the rough grows big time here. It can grow half a centimetre a day, so it makes things much tougher.”
How it played last time out
The 2016 champion Rickie Fowler bettered Larrázabal’s 2014 winning total of 14 under par by two shots last year, thanks in large part to a bogey-free Saturday when he made seven birdies.
Larrazabal’s view that anyone negotiating the fifth, ninth and 16th holes in level par or better would be doing well certainly proved true for Fowler. Over four rounds, the American played the 12 holes in three under par, compared to the Spaniard’s two over par score during his winning year.
The ninth hole, chosen by Larrazábal as possibly the hardest, was the second toughest last year and indeed the hardest in the year he won. In 2016, none of the top four – Fowler, McIlroy, Thomas Pieters and Henrik Stenson - posted a birdie there, with the quartet recording a combined score of three over par for the week on that particular hole.
