Course Overview: After 16 years at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship moved to pastures new last year and we head back for a second look at Yas Links again this year.
Listed as a 7,425 yard Par 72, the course is a typical 36/36 setup with 4 par-5s and 4 par-3s. Sub-400 yard Par-4s followed by mid-length Par-5s open both sets of 9 and should allow players the opportunity to get off to a positive start before the course bites back with some more stringent holes. The 646 yard Par-5 18th is the longest on the course and played as the 5th-toughest hole last year.
Designed by Kyle Phillips (think Kingsbarns, Bernardus Golf and Verdura in Sicily) and opened in 2010, this course falls into the links-style category as all modern imitations do, however with its exposed fairways, fescue and pot bunkers, it certainly does a fair impression of a links, especially when the wind blows. Paspalum grass has been used from tee to green.

Tournament Stats. We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship that will help to shape a view on players who traditionally play well at this event.
As noted above, the event moved to its current venue last year so event history needs to be considered accordingly: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader Stats | Combined Form/Event Stats.
Predictor Model. Our published Predictor Model is available here. As always you can build your own model using the variables available.
Winners & Prices. 2022: Thomas Pieters, 40/1; 2021: Tyrrell Hatton, 12/1; 2020: Lee Westwood, 90/1; 2019: Shane Lowry, 60/1; 2018: Tommy Fleetwood, 20/1; 2017: Tommy Fleetwood, 60/1; 2016: Rickie Fowler, 16/1; 2015: Gary Stal, 150/1; 2014: Pablo Larrazabal, 125/1; 2013: Jamie Donaldson, 66/1; 2012: Robert Rock, 150/1; 2011: Martin Kaymer, 8/1, 2010: Martin Kaymer, 14/1.
For full winners’ odds on the DP World/European Tour by tournament going back to 2010 click here.
Weather Forecast. The latest weather forecast for the Abu Dhabi region is here.
Clear and sunny conditions with temperatures peaking in the low70s Fahrenheit are expected, with far lighter winds than 12 months ago the expectation. Thursday looks to be the toughest day wind-wise with 10-15mph forecast, before the breeze tails off over the weekend.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors. Looking at the traditional stats for the top 5 finishers last year at Yas Links gives us a few clues as to what may be required to succeed around these parts:
- 1st: Thomas Pieters (-10); 317 yards (23rd), 69.6% fairways (10th), 79.2% greens in regulation (1st), 86.7% scrambling (1st), 1.89 putts per GIR (59th)
- 2nd: Rafa Cabrera-Bello (-9); 303 yards (62nd), 50% fairways (67th), 70.9% greens in regulation (45th), 71.4% scrambling (5th), 1.76 putts per GIR (9th)
- 2nd: Shubhankar Sharma (-9); 301 yards (65th), 55.4% fairways (54th), 75% greens in regulation (20th), 61.1% scrambling (16th), 1.70 putts per GIR (1st)
- 4th: Victor Dubuisson (-8); 310 yards (46th), 62.5% fairways (31st), 79.2% greens in regulation (7th), 60% scrambling (23rd), 1.84 putts per GIR (45th)
- 4th: Viktor Hovland (-8); 318 yards (19th), 55.4% fairways (54th), 80/6% greens in regulation (5th), 64.3% scrambling (12th), 1.82 putts per GIR (25th)
Greens are large here at Yas Links and GIR numbers were really quite consistent across the whole field 12 months ago, despite the wind. With the majority of the field finding between 70-80% of greens in the requisite number, how players performed on and around the greens determined the shape of the final leaderboard.
Of the top 5 finishers, Victor Dubuisson produced the worst Scrambling stats at 23rd in the field; eventual winner Thomas Pieters topped that category which ultimately helped him over the line. Pieters topped GIR too, which meant that he could get away with a relatively poor putting week, however 2nd place finishers Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Shubhankar Sharma ranked 9th and 1st for putting average respectively.
Strokes Gained: From a Strokes Gained perspective, the same 5 players performed as follows:
- 1st: Thomas Pieters: T: 2nd; A: 23rd; T2G: 1st; ATG: 12th; P: 30th
- 2nd: Rafa Cabrera-Bello: T: 55th; A: 36th; T2G: 26th; ATG: 4th; P: 3rd
- 2nd: Shubhankar Sharma: T: 66th; A: 8th; T2G: 45th; ATG: 56th; P: 1st
- 4th: Victor Dubuisson: T: 38th; A: 9th; T2G: 12th; ATG: 21st; P: 22nd
- 4th: Viktor Hovland: T: 8th; A: 19th; T2G: 4th; ATG: 32nd; P: 27th
Key: T: SG Off the Tee; A; SG Approach; T2G: SG Tee to Green; ATG: SG Around the Green; P: SG Putting.
The Strokes Gained stats tell a similar story to their traditional counterparts, with Pieters excelling from tee to green and around the green, whereas the two runners-up ranked 3rd and 1st for putting.
Other elements to note from last year’s renewal related to scoring, or lack thereof. Thomas Pieters made just 13 birdies and an eagle over 4 rounds, offset by 5 bogeys, and it was a similar story for the other contenders with just one player in the field reaching 20 or more birdies.
Par-5 scoring, which is often so critical in professional golf, was undoubtedly less important here at Yas Links 12 months ago with Pieters shooting -5 on the long holes on aggregate and none of the top 5 finishers going deeper than -8 for the Par-5s cumulatively. Those who minimised bogeys as much as possible and took the occasional chance gravitated to the upper end of the leaderboard as the tournament progressed.
Incoming Form: All 11 winners listed below had recorded a top-10 finish in their previous 4 starts and that trend can be extended back for all of Kaymer, Casey and DiMarco’s victories also, so a positive form line looks like a good starting point this week, even if that form inevitably extends back to the end of last year:
- 2022: Thomas Pieters: 35/16/54/MC/18/9/9/39/MC/16/1/15
- 2021: Tyrrell Hatton: MC/25/16/5/MC/1/3/28/7/MC/23/8
- 2020: Lee Westwood: 55/4/MC/28/MC/MC/MC/60/56/10/6/38
- 2019: Shane Lowry: MC/12/15/12/MC/6/MC/34/2/14/35/30
- 2018: Tommy Fleetwood: 27/28/61/MC/25/6/20/23/10/21/6/3
- 2017: Tommy Fleetwood: 16/49/10/7/13/15/4/37/22/14/9/3
- 2016: Rickie Fowler: 30/2/10/30/MC/1/4/12/25/17/3/5
- 2015: Gary Stal: 18/51/70/39/MC/66/19/32/33/23/MC/5
- 2014: Pablo Larrazabal: MC/MC/MC/MC/MC/9/17/8/5/53/26/MC
- 2013: Jamie Donaldson: 60/36/7/50/9/21/MC/6/16/42/9/16
- 2012: Robert Rock: MC/MC/25/MC/70/28/33/38/8/9/12
Event Form. To balance the clear correlation between current form and success in this event over the past 11 years, before Tommy Fleetwood retained his trophy in 2017, the previous 6 winners hadn’t mustered a single top-10 between them in this event prior to victory, so for all of Casey and Kaymer’s domination, a sparkling event history doesn’t look to be an absolute pre-requisite.
That said Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton each had a top-4 finish to their name in Abu Dhabi, albeit quite distant, and Thomas Pieters had 3 top-5 finishes at the previous venue before we moved here to Yas Links:
- 2022: Thomas Pieters: MC/4/2/MC/5/16/30/41
- 2021: Tyrrell Hatton: 10/6/46/13/15/MC
- 2020: Lee Westwood: 2/MC/64/17/MC/8/MC/16
- 2019: Shane Lowry: 4/MC/MC/MC
- 2018: Tommy Fleetwood: MC/MC/19/MC/MC/1
- 2017: Tommy Fleetwood: MC/MC/19/MC/MC
- 2016: Rickie Fowler: 66
- 2015: Gary Stal: MC
- 2014: Pablo Larrazabal: 42/43/11/MC/39
- 2013: Jamie Donaldson: MC/23/50/21/11/30
- 2012: Robert Rock: 59/47/MC/MC
In recent years we’ve had one or more single-digit chances in attendance, however with Rory McIlroy keeping his powder dry until next week and others opting to play The American Express over in the States, we don’t have the same dynamic here this time around.
Maybe that’s just as well given that the history of short-priced chances doesn’t read well here: 2013 McIlroy (5/1), Woods (15/2); 2014: McIlroy (6/1), Stenson (8/1); 2015: McIlroy (4/1); 2016: McIlroy (4/1), Spieth (9/2); 2017: Johnson (6/1), Stenson (7/1); 2018: Johnson (5/1), Rose (8/1), McIlroy (8/1); 2019: Dustin Johnson (6/1), Brooks Koepka (9/1), Tommy Fleetwood (10/1); 2020: Patrick Cantlay (8/1), Brooks Koepka (10/1). Tommy Fleetwood (10/1); 2021: Rory McIlroy (6/1), Justin Thomas (13/2); 2022: Collin Morikawa (15/2), Rory McIlroy (8/1), Viktor Hovland (10/1) – these well-fancied players all failed to get over the line in Abu Dhabi.
The other consideration of course is that this is a big-money, big-status Rolex Series event. For reference, Rolex Series winners, in chronological order, are as follows: Noren, Fleetwood, Rahm, Cabrera-Bello, Hatton, Rose, Grace, Rahm, Molinari, Olesen, Noren, Knox, Stone, Rose, Westwood, Willett, Lowry, Rahm, Wiesberger, Willett, Wiesberger, Hatton, Fleetwood, Rahm, Westwood, Rai, Hatton, Fitzpatrick, Hatton, MinWoo Lee, Horschel, Morikawa. Pieters, Hovland, Schauffele, Lowry and Rahm. Very few surprises in there in the bigger scheme of things.
Last year’s renewal at Yas Links is the only piece of course form we have to go on this week, however with lighter winds forecast I’d expect slightly more forgiving conditions and a lower winning score 12 months on.
My selections are as follows: