By Will Pearson, europeantour.com
in Abu Dhabi
Ahead of the first event in this year’s ‘Desert Swing’, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, europeantour.com goes inside the ever-present host venue Abu Dhabi Golf Club with the help of The European Tour’s finest.
Former World Number One Martin Kaymer triumphed here in 2008, 2010 and 2011 while Henrik Stenson holds the course record of 62 – set in the inaugural year in 2006.
Pablo Larrazábal, of course, is the reigning Abu Dhabi champion, while Rory McIlroy has finished runner-up on three occasions and Justin Rose came second in his only other appearance back in 2013.
Good men, then, to assess the various merits and perils of this fine golf course.
Set in the shadow of the imposing falcon clubhouse and spread over 162 hectares of land, an oasis of verdant green carved out of the Abu Dhabi desert, the course is gently undulating and features many indigenous plants and shrubs plus seven saltwater lakes.
Indeed, water features on no fewer than ten holes with a host of damp danger lurking on the second, fourth, sixth, seventh, ninth, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes.
Designed by Peter Harradine, who also sculpted Doha Golf Club, home to next week’s Commercialbank Qatar Masters, the course opened in 2000 and will this week play at 7,600 yards and to a par of 72.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
A number of the greens at Abu Dhabi Golf Club have been enlarged in the build-up to this tenth anniversary edition of the revered tournament either to provide additional pin positions or bring the aforementioned water firmly into play.
The putting surfaces on both holes two and four have been substantially to the right closer to the water and also, perhaps most noticeably, on the lovely little par three 12th where an unwanted dip in the drink is considerably more likely than in previous years.
Elsewhere, the green on the 11th has been slightly extended at the back right to provide a new hole location while the 16th fairway has been re-designed with a fresh set of fairway bunkers.
“I particularly like the new 16th,” said defending champion Larrazábal. “Now, to carry the bunker that is nearby the fairway is easier. Before it was only for the long hitters. And yes, it is still a tough tee shot. But before if you go to the bunker, to the middle of the bunker, you had a chance with a six iron or a seven iron to putt the ball on the green.
“Now there's three, four small bunkers and if you go to one of them, it's tough to get near the green. It makes the golf course a little bit tougher, because there will be pins nearby those lakes, but still, I would say this is one of the top two of the best golf courses we play on this tour outside the Majors and outside the World Golf Championships.”
Launch Pad
For many of The European Tour’s Great and Good, the season begins in sun-drenched Abu Dhabi, year-in, year-out.
“I think this is my eighth year in a row starting the season off here, so I'm pretty familiar with the place and looking forward to another strong start to the season,” said World Number One McIlroy. “I know they have made a few changes to it, but it's a golf course I've always felt comfortable on, and that suited me, and I've played well here in the past.
“It's a perfect place to come out and to prepare for the season. A lot of the guys get here the week before, and try and dust the cobwebs off their clubs after the Christmas break and try and shed a few pounds after all the eating and drinking.
“But it's great weather, it's a great golf course, and they get a great field each and every year. So to be able to start off your season and test yourself against the best players in the world, it's really tough to get that anywhere else.
“It's been a great tournament for me starting off the year, and obviously you can see with the strength of the field this week, a lot of people think the same way.”
After lifting the Falcon Trophy three times since the tournament’s inception, Kaymer clearly concurs with his Northern Irish counterpart.
“My first tournament for The European Tour has been here for the last seven, eight years,” said the US Open Champion. “I think this is the eighth year I've played now since 2007, so not quite from the beginning, but for the ninth time now and I've had a lot of success here. It's always a good start to the season.”
Rose, who finished second to Jamie Donaldson in 2013, added: “I think it's a really good place to start the season. Good golf course, it's good in condition. You get reliable conditions out here in the Middle East which I think is very important when you're trying to get a read on your game early in the season.
“I think the prestige of beating the world's best is a huge reason why we play tournaments and this week is no different. I think quality of field, quality of golf course are probably the two driving factors for coming here.”
Green Fingers
Kaymer, who has averaged a stellar 68.89 from his 28 rounds played at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, says success on the greens is the secret to success here.
“I think the key was always that I putted really, really well on those greens,” he continued. “It was not very difficult for me to read the lines. Sometimes you have golf courses where the greens really suit your eye and you don't need to think much, you don't doubt yourself if you pick the right line.
“That was I think the main thing why I played so well, and I didn't miss many fairways in the past. I hit a lot of fairways, I think 11 or 12 fairways per round, you know, and the golf course was a lot shorter in the past. And if you putt well with a lot of fairways, it's tough to shoot a bad score!”
Sweet 62?
In addition to the changes made to the layout this year, the course has been considerably modified since the first few editions, such as when Sweden's Stenson fired his unmatched course record 62 back in 2006.
Prior to the 2012 edition, the fairways were narrowed, more bunkers were added and, significantly, the rough was grown out, meaning the winning scores are much lower these days.
Can anyone match the former European Number One's heroics this week?
"Well, I don't know if I'm biased, but I'm sure it must have been harder to shoot 62 in 2006!" laughed Stenson. "The course has changed quite a bit. There are a few holes that are longer and there's a few more bunkers. It's definitely been updated and made tougher as we go along.
"Some of the later years when we played here, the rough has been very, very thick and it wasn't as thick back in 2006. So the setup is harder and the course is harder.
"But so has the game of golf and the quality of golf and the players and so on. So I wouldn't say that it's impossible to shoot 61 or to tie the course record. But it's definitely harder to do it now than it was in 2006. See how honest I am, right?!"
