Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Fantasy DP World Tour ones to watch

All players of our Fantasy game need to know ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship - the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs.

To play Fantasy DP World Tour, click here.

The closing phase of the season is upon us with the players who have perfomed best over the course of the Race to Dubai season set to battle it out for the biggest prize of all.

The top 70 tee it up this weeks at Yas Links, with the top 50 on Sunday night heading on to the season finale at the DP World Tour Championship where Europe's Number One will be crowned.

Rory McIlroy currently leads the way as he goes in search of a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy and fourth in a row but three-time winner in 2025 Marco Penge and a host of other stars could yet chase him down.

The Rolex Series returns in the UAE and it is still All To Play For.

From insight into the week’s most-picked players among Fantasy managers, to our ones to watch, we run the rule ahead of Thursday’s deadline to pick your team.

Who are the most picked players?

There is nothing to seperate Ludvig Åberg and his Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton, with the pair picked by 61% of players.

Such is the calibre of the field, there is a great spread in terms of selections with Alex Noren - a Rolex Series winner at Wentworth Club earlier this season - and Matt Fitzpatrick also neck and neck for popularity, both featuring in 57% of teams.

Robert MacIntyre - one of eight members of the 2025 European Ryder Cup team teeing it up - rounds out the top five, picked by 55% of players.

Who are our ones to watch?

Here, we pick out three players in action this week who are worth considering for your Fantasy team selections.

Favourite – Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy is favourite most times he tees it up and this week is no different as he goes hunting a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy and fourth in a row. With a career Grand Slam completed at the Masters and an away Ryder Cup win in the books, the Northern Irishman has already proclaimed this the best season of his remarkable career and it’s easy to see why when you factor in a home victory at the Amgen Irish Open and huge wins at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and PLAYERS Championship. He’s also missed just one cut at this event in 13 appearances, finishing runner-up four times and third five times, including last season at Yas Links. Need we go on?

Form Horse – Tommy Fleetwood

If there has ever been a criticism levelled at Fleetwood, sometimes by the man himself, it’s that he doesn’t win enough. Well he has completely blown that notion out of the water in recent months with victories at both the Tour Championship – his first PGA TOUR win - and last time out at the DP World India Championship. Those two individual triumphs sandwiched a four-point performance in Europe’s Ryder Cup win and solid weeks at Wentworth and in Scotland. A two-time winner of this event with four top fives in his last six starts worldwide, the affable Englishman could easily give his legions of fans even more to cheer this week.

Wild Card – Rafa Cabrera Bello

It says a lot about the quality of field this week that a player of Cabrera Bello’s quality can be classed as a wild card but he is back on the up after a disappointing 2024. He has made it to the Play-Offs playing on a career money exemption and makes a record 16th appearance in an event he loves. Since his debut in 2009, he has missed just one cut with five top tens, two of those coming at Yas Links where he finished second in 2022. Add in a recent tie for third in Ireland and four consecutive made cuts and Cabrera Bello looks like one to watch.

What can I win?

Sign up and now be in with a chance of winning some great rewards!

• 2x season tickets to a DP World Tour event

• 1x £250 DPWT merchandise voucher

There are plenty of prizes on offer throughout the 2025 season including the Ultimate Prize courtesy of DP World which includes:

- Flights to Dubai for two people

- Accommodation in Dubai for two people

- Private lesson from a top DP World Tour professional on the Earth course driving range

- Two ball on the Earth course the day after tournament play finishes

- Two General Admission Season Tickets for the 2025 DP World Tour Championship

Those that finish second to fifth in the season long competition will also receive a range of DP World Tour Store vouchers. There will also be prizes to be won on a weekly and monthly basis so no matter how well you start or when you sign up to play, you will always have the opportunity to win.

Looking back - Genesis Championship

While he was a runner-up at this event in 2018 - admittedly at a different venue - Junghwan Lee had only previously made five DP World Tour appearances so was a relatively unheard commodity for many.

This was reflected by the South Korean featuring for just 696 Fantasy players, equating to 2.06% that week. With his victory, he won 208 points.

Our Favourite - and that our Fantasy players too - Hideki Matsuyama finished in a tie for seventh, Form Horse Joakim Lagergren finished in a tie for 50th, while Wild Card Casey Jarvis ended the week in a tie for 54th as he missed out on qualifying for the DP World Tour Play-Offs.

Season so far - 2025 DP World Tour Fantasy Top 10 player rankings