Field in Focus: at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

Field in Focus: at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

europeantour.com takes a closer look at the field taking to Abu Dhabi GC for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship from January 26-29.

In the field are:

97 European Tour winners

In what is the strongest field ever assembled at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, a plethora of European Tour winners will on Thursday take to the links at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Over three quarters, or 97 of the 129 players on show this week in the United Arab Emirates have previously tasted European Tour victory, with European Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal – who secured his maiden title at the 1986 European Masters –  the longest-serving European Tour champion in the field, joining the Tour’s most recent victor, South Africa’s Branden Grace, who sealed his place at the first event of the 2012 “Desert Swing” with back-to-back wins at the Joburg Open and last week’s Volvo Golf Champions.

If you were to exclude the Major championships, 2010 Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie holds the most amount of European Tour victories of anyone in the field this week in Abu Dhabi, having claimed 31 championships over the course of a stellar career, while star attraction Tiger Woods’ Major-bolstered haul totals a stunning 38 tournament triumphs on The European Tour.

12 Major Championship winners with 28 Major titles

6 players in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings

4 World Number Ones

Luke Donald has played custodian to the coveted World Number One spot in the Official Golf World Ranking since his thrilling play-off victory over compatriot Lee Westwood at the 2011 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last May, a stint totalling 34 weeks at the pinnacle of professional golf, while the previous three holders of golf’s top spot are also in residence this week in Abu Dhabi.

Current Number Two Westwood has had two streaks as World Number One, totalling an accumulated 22 weeks as the best-ranked golfer in the world, while Kaymer was World Number One from his runner-up finish at the 2011 WGC –Accenture Match Play Championship until he was usurped by the aforementioned Westwood after 8 weeks, following the Englishman’s victories at the Indonesian Masters and Ballantine’s Championship in the spring of 2011.

Then there is, of course, the inimitable and formidable presence of a certain Tiger Woods, whose 623 week stint as World Number One dwarfs that of any other player in the history of the Official Golf World Ranking.

26 different nationalities represented

14 of the top 15 in the 2011 Race to Dubai

1 former champion

Germany’s Martin Kaymer will be hoping to continue his love affair with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship when he tees it up on Thursday, as the 2010 US PGA Champion will be looking to win the event for the third time in succession, and the fourth time in five years, having also hoisted the trophy in 2008.

If Kaymer was to be successful in retaining the championship then he would join a select band of players to win the same official European Tour event three years in succession. The other players to achieve this feat are: Ian Woosnam (1990-92 Monte Carlo Open), Sir Nick Faldo (1991-93 Irish Open), Colin Montgomerie (1998-2000 PGA Championship), Ernie Els (2002-04 Heineken Classic) and Tiger Woods (2005-07 WGC – Cadillac Championship and WGC – Bridgestone Invitational).

9 of the top 10 in the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

Ryder Cup players and captains