Following the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA, the fifth event of the season and the first in the Middle East, the European Tour heads 90 miles north for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. As always, Emirates Golf Club will play host to some of the game’s top players in what will be the 30th staging of the tournament. In the last three years, Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia have both won here before going on to win the Masters Tournament.
Ahead of the action getting under way, our stats guru has scoured the form book to select three players to keep a close eye on this week.
Favourite: Rafa Cabrera Bello
Rafa Cabrera Bello loves Dubai. Not only is the man from the Canary Islands a resident in the emirate, he also has a victory to his name in this tournament. His win in 2012 was his second on the European Tour and is just one of many excellent performances at Emirates GC. He hasn’t finished outside the top 11 since 2015 and has a second place finish in 2016 in that time, too. A top six last season, which included a Saturday 64, suggests that his fourth win could well come at one of his favourite spots.
Cabrera Bello has 28 under par rounds out of 32 at this track and all the signs are pointing to another good week for the Spaniard. The fact he arrives in Dubai off the back of a top 11 finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA will give him even more belief that another win is on the cards.
Form horse: Louis Oosthuizen
If Louis Oosthuizen has started this season as he means to go on, it could be a very successful year. In three European Tour appearances this season, Oosthuizen has yet to finish outside the top seven. He took victory at the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg in December, his ninth win on Tour, and has followed it up with two more strong results. A tie for seventh in the Alfred Dunhill Championship before Christmas was followed by outright fourth in Abu Dhabi last week, meaning he comes into this week a man in serious form.
The 36 year old’s best result at this event was third 11 years ago, but his strong form of late suggests he could be in line to match or better that this week.
Wildcard: Alexander Björk
The first win might be the hardest, but following it up is no mean feat either. However, Alexander Björk is making all the right moves towards claiming his second victory on the European Tour. The Swede won the Volvo China Open last April and went on to claim six more top 20s in the 2018 season, including a runner-up finish at the British Masters and a share of eighth at the HNA Open de France.
Björk made his Emirates GC bow last year and came away with an impressive tie for sixth, before following it up with three more top 20s in the Middle East, including a top 12 finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. It’s also worth noting that the 28 year old finished first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (1.226) last season, so has the capability to be a real threat when dialled in.
Those are three players to look at, but you have to pick five.Choose your Fantasy Race to Dubai team now, before the tournament starts on Thursday.
