Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 16 January 2008 / Leave a Comment

Betfair's golfing guru TQ previews the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, where the European Tour finally gets into full swing...

If you are a fully paid up member of the European Tour then you are clocking up some serious air miles these days. This week the tour starts its Middle East swing with the Abu Dhabi Championship. A relatively new addition to the tour, this event attracts a top-class field and is certain to be a permanent fixture in most leading players' schedules.

For the third year running the course has been lengthened and now plays a full 7,500 yards. Word from the area suggests that it has been unusually wet recently and with strong winds also forecast you can expect the course to play both long and tough. The kind of combination that I feel actually makes the job of finding a winner that bit easier.

The start of a year can be a tough time to judge a player's form but the professional standard of the game now suggests that very few players will turn up for an event underprepared. However, tournament sharpness is not something that can be taken for granted and is a box I would like ticked on my selections this week.

Henrik Stenson ticks plenty of boxes this week and he is my firm outright fancy. He played in the Mercedes-Benz Champs a couple of weeks ago and although he was well off the pace he had a decent final round and in racing terms he may have needed the run. Let's not forget that KJ Choi finished tied with Stenson in that event and then went on to win the Sony Open last week. Stenson has finished second and eighth here in the last two years and having lived in Dubai for a few years is well aware of what awaits him in terms of acclimatization. A monster hitter and a great iron player Stenson could go on to much better things this year. Take him at [16.5] to win this event and you will see the rewards come Sunday afternoon.

With such a quality field assembled there is plenty of value throughout the market and a couple of savers would be advised. Martin Kaymer is the first to catch my eye at attractive odds of around [65.0]. Kaymer is the finest young talent on the European Tour and in many ways reminds me of Stenson. He is a big strong player with a tremendous ability to tame a course. I think he is a cert for the Ryder Cup side and he may well start his points rolling this week.

Delving really deep into the market for some value I have to recommend a small saver on Gregory Havret. He is a guy who enjoyed a successful 2007 and has a tendency to play well at this time if year. Another player who lived in Dubai for some time he will be well prepared for this event and at [240.0] he is worth a small investment.

To be successful at golf punting you really do have to put your homework in. Past player results, past tournament results and all relevant player statistics are all things that need to be digested on a weekly basis. You also have to keep an eye on good players out of form and for any sign that they may be on their way back. This week's man to watch is David Howell, he is [180.0] to win a European Tour event that he would most certainly have been less than [20.0] for in any of the past few years. Watch out for the man from Swindon because he will be back and it's important that you read the signs and take full advantage for when he does strike form.

I am a big fan of Howell but the question mark that has often been raised about him is his ability to finish a tournament off. Is he too nice? I wouldn't argue that he certainly gives that impression but surely nice guys can win tournaments too. Clearly Tiger Woods is a nice guy off the course and a mean tournament winning guy on it, but there aren't many like him. What do you think, can you be a nice guy and a major winner? Nick Faldo has recently accused many of the European players of being too friendly. Is this genuinely one of reasons why Europe has struggled to produce major winners in recent years? I go along with Nick, after all he is rarely wrong!

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comment: