• American Chris DiMarco, the defending champion, was playing in his first European Tour International Schedule event, outside the Majors and WGC tournaments in the 2006 Championship.
• DiMarco was the second player to win a European Tour event in 2006, playing on a sponsors invitation. The first being, Kevin Stadler at the Johnnie Walker Classic.
• DiMarco is bidding to become the fourth American to successfully defend a European Tour title. The other three are: Bob Byman (1977-78 Dutch Open); Tom Watson (1982-83 Open Championship) and Tiger Woods (1999-00 US PGA Championship, WGC Invitational; 2000-01 WGC – NEC Invitational; 2001-02 Masters Tournament, Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe; 2002-03 WGC – American Express Championship; 2003-04 WGC – Accenture Match Play; 2005-06 Open Championship, WGC – Bridgestone Invitational, WGC – American Express Championship)
• The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship is the eighth Order of Merit event on the 2007 Schedule and includes 22 players who were victorious on The 2006 European Tour International Schedule.
Within the field, eight players have already claimed a title in the Gulf – they are: Thomas Björn (2001 (Dubai Desert Classic), Andrew Coltart (1998 Qatar Masters), Robert-Jan Derksen (2003 Dubai Desert Classic), Chris DiMarco (2006 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship), Richard Green (1997 Dubai Desert Classic), Paul Lawrie (1999 Qatar Masters) and Colin Montgomerie (1996 Dubai Desert Classic) and Henrik Stenson (2006 The Commericalbank Qatar Masters)
