Ras Al Khaimah Championship Each-Way Tips: 33-1 Neergaard-Petersen primed for breakthrough

• Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen has a great chance of triumph

• Another Dane, Hamish Brown, enjoys playing in the Middle East

• Frenchman Ugo Coussaud is another desert specialist

The presence of Ireland's Padraig Harrington in this week's field got me wondering.

The 53-year-old has kept himself fit as a flea so he can continue to make the odd excursion onto the main tour while racking up the wins on the Champions Tour (he's currently up to nine).

Also set to tee it up is the 20-year-old Spaniard Angel Ayora who's had a fine start to his professional career and many believe he can, at the very least, be around at this level for a long time.

"How much has changed since Harrington's first start on the then-European Tour?" I asked myself.

It was the 1995 Smurfit European Open at The K Club and he ended the week missing the cut while taking the same number of strokes as his experienced compatriot Eamonn Darcy.

Darcy was a competitor on the very first European Tour in 1972 and his first start was in the Penfold Tournament in which Max Faulkner played.

Faulkner was not, like Harrington and Darcy, Irish but his greatest achievement was winning the Open at Royal Portrush in 1951 and he first played in that championship in 1934 aged 17.

Abe Mitchell also played in that Open and made his debut in the 1911 championship in which Willie Park Jr. bid farewell to the event - and it was, of course, his dad (Willie Park Sr.) who won the very first Open in 1860 and father and son competed against one another in the early 1880s.

Harrington to Darcy to Faulkner to Mitchell to Park Jr. to Park Sr.: the history of competitive professional golf in Europe - all 165 years of it - covered by the overlapping careers of just six players.

But enough of the whimsy. Let's crack on with this week's picks.

Main Bet: Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen each way @ 33/1

The last 12 months have been impressive for the 25-year-old Dane.

He'd served notice of his ability with seventh place in the 2023 BMW International Open shortly after turning pro and added five Challenge Tour top 12 finishes before the year was up, but it was in the Middle East in late spring 2024 that he started his push for graduation to the main tour.

Having won in India, he was seventh in the Abu Dhabi Challenge and then won the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach.

He claimed Battlefield Promotion with a third second tier win in September and ended the season posting five top 20s on the main tour before bidding farewell to the Challenge Tour with second place in the Grand Final.

He was eighth in the Australian PGA Championship before Christmas and tenth in the Dubai Desert Classic last week.

That's solid Middle East form and he can add to it this week on a course that should suit his strong driving.

He didn't thrive in the Team Cup two weeks ago but just being there was a sign of what is perceived of his potential and the way he bounced back last week was impressive.

His compatriot Olesen will be tough to beat, as will another former winner Ryan Fox and David Puig likes this part of the world, but there's more each way value in Neergaard-Petersen.

Next Best: Hamish Brown each way @ 100/1

The last each-way preview of 2024 and first of 2025 were a little unlucky.

In the former, we supported the Dane Hamish Brown at 70/171.00 and he tied the halfway lead before drifting back to T16.

In the latter our 225/1226.00 shot David Micheluzzi shared the first round lead before heading backwards - and then he carded a superb final round 65 to finish tied eighth, missing a four foot birdie putt on the last to fall short of a place.

Both were in the running this week but the Dane gets the nod.

He took a shine to this part of the world early last year, opening with a 64 in the Abu Dhabi Challenge and finishing fourth at Saadiyat Beach in the UAE Challenge.

He won in Czechia during the summer, in China in the autumn, and was second in Scotland in August.

He had struggled in the Danish Golf Championship in August - his first start on the main tour - and did so again when making his first start in his rookie year, carding a first round 75 at Leopard Creek but he bounded back with good rounds of 66-67.

Then came that effort in Mauritius which, if he's good enough, will have taught him a good lesson.

Final Bet: Ugo Coussaud each way @ 90/1

The Frenchman had a solid rookie campaign on the main tour and he can build on that at a layout he has shown a bit of form on and which should suit.

In the UAE he's finished second at Doha and T15 at Abu Dhabi (both designed by Peter Harradine as this week's course has), been second at Saadiyat Beach, finished T12 at The Royal in Bahrain, was T30 on his DP World Tour Championship debut and was sixth at Yas Links in November.

When he was T34 in this event last year he carded opening and closing rounds of 67 which were among the best of the two days.

His putting stats late last year, and on 2025 debut in Dubai last week, were among the best of his brief career at this level. He can go well this week.

Now read Steve Rawlings on the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.

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