Bradley Bawden enters this week’s Abu Dhabi Challenge knowing a good performance is required for him to keep his all-important final spot into next week’s Hainan Open.
Currently sitting 70th in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings, the Englishman is the final man currently inside the bubble to enter the Final Swing, with both the Hainan and Hangzhou Opens offering increased prize funds and Ranking points.
Bawden says he is fully aware of what is at stake as he prepares to tee it up for the first round on Wednesday.
“For sure it’s playing on my mind a little bit,” he said. “I know where I am in the Rankings, and I know what I need to do to get to China, but I’ve got a good game plan and I’m going to try and execute.
“I’m going to be nervous, we all are, but I’m going to give it my best shot and try and embrace the feelings. If you’ve got a good game plan and know how you’re going to attack the week, you’ve just got to go and execute and do the best you can.
“It would be great to extend my season. I started this year with very limited starts and I’ve managed to play half a season and extend my season which is great. I’m looking forward to the opportunity this week.”
Entering the 2026 season Bawden had only a handful of guaranteed starts, having lost full status at the conclusion of the 2025 campaign and failing to make the 72-hole cut at DP World Tour Q-School Final Stage.
But back-to-back finishes of 21st at the Swiss Challenge and third at the Interwetten Open in Austria saw the 29-year-old shoot up to 41st in the Rankings, earning him more starts across the second half of the season.
Bawden has been pleased with the solid level he has maintained through these starts, earning two more top-20 finishes since Austria to leave him on the cusp of reaching the Final Swing.
“I’ve just been really consistent,” he added. “I’ve been working on the same stuff for eight or nine months now and it’s starting to come through in my golf.
“It’s been a bit of mental game, bit of swing technique, bit of intention with my short game.”
Bawden has memories of past success at the Abu Dhabi Challenge to take into the 2026 edition, having earned a seventh place finish in 2024.
Rounds of 63-69-65-64 saw the Englishman to a 19 under par total, giving him confidence that he can find similar success this week.
“It was a bit of everything two years ago. I hit the ball well, got it in play off the tee, then if you’re in the fairway you can attack some of the pins so if I can do that again I should be okay.
“Acclimatising to the heat has definitely been the challenge so far but I’m starting to get used to it now and finding my own process of how to deal with it. I’ve been drinking lots of water, a lot of electrolytes, a lot of food and making sure I’m sleeping when I’m not playing. Energy is a massive advantage this week so I’m going to try and do that.
“We’re all going to give ourselves chances but I think if you can hole the putts I reckon you’ll have a good chance of being near the top of the leaderboard at the end of the week.”
The first round of the Abu Dhabi Challenge begins on Wednesday to give qualifiers for the first China event an additional day to travel. Bawden tees off at 11:40am local time alongside Jerry Ji and Victor Sidal Svendsen.
