Dubai Desert Classic First-Round Leader Tips: Harding can start fast

Dave Tindall
26 January 2022
4:00 min read

Justin Harding can get off to a hot start again in Dubai

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The DP World Tour stays in the United Arab Emirates and Dave Tindall has three picks to be First Round Leader at the Dubai Desert Classic...

"Harding was a handy tied 25th in Abu Dhabi on his 2022 opener last week, starting the final round in 11th place. Prior to that he'd posted a top-six finish in early December's South African Open."

Each-way terms: 1/5 odds, 6 places

Weather forecast for Thursday: It's the day you'd hope it to be in Dubai: lots of sunshine and modest winds between 5mph-9mph. It's only 61 degrees for the very early starters compared to 77 by mid-afternoon but overall it's hard to seen any sort of advantage for either wave so I'll pick freely without any tee-time bias.

Harding can make an early move

Justin Harding has some strong desert pedigree having won the Qatar Masters in 2019 and he's also made his mark in this event.

The South African was seventh on debut in 2019 when closing with a brilliant 63 and last year he opened with 66 to sit third after round one.

That shows an ability to go low on this track and I'm hoping he can do it in round one again.

Harding was a handy tied 25th in Abu Dhabi on his 2022 opener last week, starting the final round in 11th place.

Prior to that he'd posted a top-six finish in early December's South African Open.

The 80/1 looks a good price for Harding, who heads out at 13:00 from the 1st.

Side with Stenson

To begin with, this looks like a pick from several years ago.

However, the Swede would have been more 25/1 for FRL rather than the 75/1 being dangled here.

Stenson has a bunch of great form in Dubai (where he was a resident for a long time). That includes a win here in 2007 that forms part of a five-year stretch of consecutive top 10s while he also went 6-2-6 from 2016-2018.

He's also been inside the top 10 after 18 holes on five occasions.

Of course, Stenson isn't the golfer he was as shown by seven missed cuts in his last 13 events.

But let's not forget that he was being mentioned as a possible Ryder Cup contender not so long ago after back-to-back top fours in August (Czech Masters and European Masters).

I also really like the fact that he finished with an eye-catching 65 in the final round in Abu Dhabi last week.

Stenson tee off at 08:30.

Choose Charl

I'll also go with another Major winner seemingly past his best!

Remember this is 18 holes not 72 and these guys can still turn it on over a single lap even if stringing four good ones together is getting harder.

Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters winner, opened with a 67 in Abu Dhabi last week to sit ninth after day one. He was 11th with a round to go following a Saturday 68 but dropped to 39th.

Still, there were some encouraging signs in his first start since November.

Schwartzel was also runner-up in the 3M Open as recently as July after finishing day one in ninth.

He hasn't played this event since 2010 but back then he ended Thursday as the first-round leader! Going further back he was also 6th and 8th after day one in two of his other six appearances.

Also a former R1 leader in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, let's see if Schwartzel can make another hot start in the desert.

The 95/1 shot is an early starter from the 10th at 07:40.