After a week off, the DP World Tour returns this week, with Rory McIlroy the big name in the field for the penultimate event of the season, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Rory McIlroy will be looking to secure his fourth victory of the year worldwide, while also increasing his lead at the top of the Race to Dubai standings. McIlroy has already won the Harry Vardon Trophy on five occasions and currently sits more than 1,500 points ahead of second place Thriston Lawrence.
It is a strong field for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, with nine of the top 10 players in the Race to Dubai featuring.
And the event has attracted some notable winners down the years. Tommy Fleetwood has won twice, while Tyrrell Hatton triumphed in 2021. Rickie Fowler is also amongst the tournament’s previous winners.
Eddie Pepperell suggests there’s been a ‘strange’ change made to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in recent years
The tournament itself was elevated into a Rolex Series event in 2019, and moved from Abu Dhabi Golf Club to Yas Links ahead of the 2022 event. And it seems that not everyone has been a fan of the changes.
Speaking on The Chipping Forecast, Eddie Pepperell suggested that the decision to move the event to Yas Links was slightly baffling given how enjoyable the tournament had been at the previous venue.
“Strange championship, the way that’s evolved. I only played Yas Links last year. And obviously the Abu Dhabi Championship used to be at the start of the year, a week before Dubai. It had a great field, or a very good field, played at Abu Dhabi National Golf Club I think, which is a tremendous golf course. And then, went to Yas,” he said.
“And look, I like Yas Links as a golf course, but it just never had much atmosphere at all. And as a championship, it felt massively diminished, which, given the prize fund went from $2 million a few years ago to $7 or $9 million, it’s weird to be there and witness that.”
An important period for the DP World Tour
The DP World Tour has a fantastic opportunity to shine over the next couple of weeks, with the large majority of the PGA Tour’s best players rarely appearing at this time of the year.
Unfortunately, the DP World Tour has been the biggest loser since the arrival of LIV Golf. There are greater incentives to play on the PGA Tour, and the top 10 players on the DP World Tour each year earn cards to go and play stateside, so the European Tour has lost a lot of star-power.
It is still not quite the star-studded field the event has attracted in previous years, and it seems that some feel that the change of course has also done the tournament few favours.
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