Rory McIlroy is gunning to secure the Race to Dubai title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links this week but faces plenty of competition from the 70-man field
Rory McIlroy is gunning to secure the Race to Dubai title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links this week but faces plenty of competition from the 70-man field Rory McIlroy is gunning to secure the Race to Dubai title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links this week but faces plenty of competition from the 70-man field
Rory McIlroy headlines a strong field at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in a bid to win his sixth Race to Dubai title, but he will have to overcome a number of big names to add win No. 4 of the season to his CV.
McIlroy has once again dominated the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit and is within touching distance of winning the crown for a third season in a row. A successful week in Abu Dhabi would see him win the Race to Dubai title a week early for the second year in a row.
A packed field however will be on the hunt to ensure McIlroy’s imminent crowning is delayed by a week at least, with the top-70 players in the rankings alongside the Northern Irishman at Yas Links.
Arguably the biggest challenge McIlroy will face this week is that of his Ryder Cup teammate and LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton. Hatton has spent the majority of his season on the LIV setup, having followed in the footsteps of J on Rahm in joining Legion XIII earlier this year.
The Englishman was forced to turn his attention back to the DP World Tour in recent months though, having been required to play four events by the end of the year to keep hold of his Tour membership and remain eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
Two months on from his comeback at the British Masters, Hatton has ticked off his four-event quota, and has done so with a victory too, after winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. This was his second win of the season after prevailing at LIV Nashville, and with a previous triumph in this event, he will fancy his chances this week.
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Elsewhere another past champion in Tommy Fleetwood will be gunning to pip McIlroy this week. Like his countryman Hatton, Fleetwood has an impressive record in Abu Dhabi, having won the event twice in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018. Fleetwood heads into the first playoff event of the two-week venture fifth in the rankings.
A fourth European Ryder Cup member will also be in the field in Shane Lowry. The Irishman won alongside McIlroy at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA Tour earlier this year and will be out to land his first win on the European circuit since winning the BMW PGA Championship in 2022.
The Ryder Cup representation does not stop there, with Nicolai Hojgaard also a part of the Abu Dhabi field this week. The Dane has spent the majority of his season in the United States, having earned his PGA Tour card last campaign. Hojgaard will be looking to win his third title in the Middle East, having won the DP World Tour Championship in 2023 and the Ras Al Khaimah Championship a year earlier.
McIlroy will be forced to bat off two Hojgaards with Nicolai’s twin brother Rasmus in the field. The other Hojgaard is looking to follow in his sibling’s footsteps by securing his PGA Tour playing rights, and a victory in Abu Dhabi this week would go a long way in helping book his spot.
When it comes to LIV Golf, Hatton is not the only man representing the breakaway league. One of LIV’s most in-form players in Joaquin Niemann will tee it up at Yas Links, having enjoyed the best campaign of his career in 2024. The Chilean was pipped by Jon Rahm to the LIV Order of Merit crown, so will no doubt be out to end his year with some silverware in the Middle East.
Joining Niemann and Hatton from the LIV setup is Adrian Meronk. The Polish star was crowned 2023 DP World Tour Player of The Year – voted by his fellow players – before defecting to LIV days later. He will be out to prove he still has what it takes against the Tour’s best when teeing it up at Yas Links.
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