The DP World Tour brings the curtain down on the 2023 Desert Swing this week as the Ras Al Khaimah Championship returns for its second edition at Al Hamra Golf Club.
Nicolai Højgaard defends his title while Ryan Fox, Adri Arnaus and Jens Dentorp - all previous winners of other events at Al Hamra - join 2023 season winners Dan Bradbury, Thriston Lawrence, Adrian Meronk, Ockie Strydom and Victor Perez in the field.
If you have not done so already, you can sign up to play the official 2023 DP World Tour Fantasy game and submit your six-man team before round one gets under way on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/
The 2023 season-long winner will win a trip to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next year, enjoy a lesson with a DP World Tour professional and a round of golf on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. For more information on this amazing prize and others, read here.
Favourite - Ryan Fox
The New Zealander was last week presented with the Seve Ballesteros Award - the accolade given to the man voted Player of the Year by his fellow professionals on the DP World Tour - and he achieved his best result of the new campaign to boot. After a 2022 that saw him claim two wins, four second-places and four other top tens en route to finishing second in the Rankings, he is beginning to rediscover that spark in 2023. He was right in the mix heading into the weekend in Abu Dhabi before a disappointing third round and finished in the top 20 last week in Dubai. As the highest-ranked player in the field and with a win over this layout at last season's Ras Al Khaimah Classic, it's little surprise he has been selected by almost 60 per cent of players so far this week.
Form horse - Julien Brun
With less than 15 per cent of players selecting the Frenchman so far this week, you could be forgiven for putting him down as the wild card rather than the form horse but don't be fooled. The 2021 European Challenge Tour graduate comfortably kept his playing privileges last season - helped by a tie for 13th at this event - and has clearly brought some confidence into the new campaign. He achieved a career-best finish when he came third in Mauritius before Christmas and last week had a best Rolex Series result, finishing fifth in Dubai. He has doubled his career top tens in his last four events and you could be getting a hop on your rivals if you put him in your team.
Wild card - Pádraig Harrington
Some may say a three-time Major Champion can never be a wild card but at the start of the year even Harrington himself revealed he would only play regularly on the DP World Tour if he proved he could compete, with a successful over-50s career already under way. Well prove it he did with a fourth-placed finish in Abu Dhabi that saw him in the mix right until the very end. He opened with an 81 in Dubai but we can all have a bad day and like the champion that he is, Harrington followed up with a 65 on day two. A 16th win would make him the oldest victor in DP World Tour history and he finished in the top 30 at this event last season - write off Pádraig at your peril.
