Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Scott can shine on day one

Dave Tindall
19 January 2022
4:00 min read

Adam Scott can hit the ground running

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The DP World Tour heads to Abu Dhabi and Dave Tindall has three picks to be First Round Leader at Yas Links...

"It looks gentler for the morning wave so I'm going to pick three players with early tee-times."

Weather forecast for Yas Links: Friday is a brutal day in terms of wind and it could blow a little in round one with the afternoon starters facing gusts of around 15-18mph. It looks gentler for the morning wave so I'm going to pick three players with early tee-times.

Side with Scott

The first round in the first event of the calendar year is obviously hard to predict so let's look at what we do know.

The tournament moves from Abu Dhabi GC to Yas Links and, given the forecast and style of track, it would be no bad thing to side with someone with a good Open record.

Step forward Adam Scott, who had three straight top fives in that event in the previous decade and, as we know, should really have won at Royal Lytham in 2012.

Scott's two wins in the Middle East both came in Qatar and a whole bunch of Open types have succeeded at windy Doha. Paul Lawrie, for example, is a two-time Qatar winner.

Ideally, we also want a player who has a reputation for starting the new campaign fast and Matt Cooper has done the legwork here in his outright preview.

Matt notes that Scott has twice won on his first start of a new year and added a further five top seven finishes on top of that.

Scott got to the Middle East early this year so has been putting in the practice. If that translates to the course, he's well worth a punt to shine from his 07:40 tee-time.

Lee can leap into early contention

Getting another Aussie on board is no bad thing in a links-like test and I like the look of Min Woo Lee too.

The youngster is a little more match-fit than some of his rivals having contested last week's Australian PGA Championship where he finished fourth.

Lee was ninth after 18 holes there and that was the third time in his last four starts that he's ended day one in the top 11.

Wind back a little further and he was the first-round leader at September's Italian Open after laying down a 64.

He didn't seem to get on with the previous course, Abu Dhabi GC, so should relish making a fresh start here. A top four in last year's Dubai Championship is comforting and Lee has what is hopefully the ideal early tee-time - 07:50.

Jump in for JB

JB Hansen finished last season in hot form and I'm hoping the magic hasn't gone.

Notably, he did a lot of his best work in events in the UAE and fuelled those good finishes with fast starts.

The Dane was the first-round leader at November's Dubai Championship (63) which he went on to win and then started out with a 67 in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship which put him second on the R1 leaderboard.

Those two November tournaments were his last two starts in 2021 while he was also fifth after round one in October's Andalucia Masters.

Hansen gets underway at 08.00.

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