Team Cup preview: 6/1 Fleetwood can fly again in Abu Dhabi

• GB&I take on Continental Europe in Ryder Cup warm up

• Tommy Fleetwood can lead the GB&I victory bid

• Young Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen can thrive on debut

Golf has a long and proud history of appalling tournament titles but most often they are notable for their absurdity.

There was the Korn Ferry Tour's Christmas in October Classic, a baffling name under any circumstances but which upped the ante by taking place in, wait for it, August.

Or the LET's World Ladies Championship, a strikingly bold moniker for an event with just three of the world's top 100 players in it.

And let's not forget the inaugural edition of the Challenge Tour's Indoor Golf Group Challenge which defied nominative determinism by being reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather.

To this list of mayhem can be added a new title, one that is not so much preposterous as breathtakingly banal.

Yes, welcome everybody, to the Team Cup.

The history

The notion of Europe's players competing in a warm-up for the Ryder Cup stretches back to the start of this century and, while it was often half-hearted, Luke Donald had no doubt that he wanted to revive the idea and two years ago it took little time to establish that he was correct.

The result was largely irrelevant, what mattered more was creating an atmosphere conducive to success. In his latest Worldwide Golf column Donald wrote: "A new documentary called Una Famiglia gives fans a glimpse into the unique 'one family' culture of Team Europe which has been instrumental to our success in the Ryder Cup. This culture has been forged over many years and has been passed down from generation to generation of European Ryder Cup players, underpinned by our ethos that the Ryder Cup is about being part of something bigger than yourself."

Of the Team Cup he added: "It gives vital experience of team matchplay. It also gives me, some of my vice-captains and the tour staff the opportunity to spend time with these players and embed them into the 'one family' culture."

The course

Abu Dhabi Golf Resort hosts as it did in 2023 and it was also the old home of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. It's a long track at 7,648 yards and, like Doha and Al Hamra, a Peter Harradine design. Winners there included Martin Kaymer (three times), Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood (twice each), and Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry, Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton.

The format

Unlike the Ryder Cup there is no guessing on how much a player will be involved. In the Team Cup everyone played four times. There are five fourballs on Friday, two sets of five foursomes on Saturday and 10 singles on Sunday.

Team Great Britain and Ireland

Justin Rose (Ryder Cup W-L-H record of 14-9-3) is gaining experience for the future by taking over the captaincy duties from Tommy Fleetwood (7-3-2). Throw in Tyrrell Hatton (5-4-2) and there is a strong, experienced core at the heart of the team.

Of the others, Aaron Rai and Matt Wallace are perhaps most likely to make this Ryder Cup team given both have won on the PGA Tour. Jordan Smith and Laurie Canter will need to convert more winning opportunities, realistically Paul Waring got in this week off a golden fortnight at the end of last year, while Matthew Jordan and Tom McKibbin might be viewed longer term options (although the latter could be a good fit for the course).

Team Continental European

The Continental Europeans experienced core goes no further than the veteran captain Francesco Molinari (5-4-2). Thorbjørn Olesen (1-1-0) and Nicolai Højgaard (0-2-1) have played one Ryder Cup apiece but it doesn't compare to the three Englishmen and the Italian for depth.

The Euros may have more future Ryder Cup performers beyond the top echelon, however. Olesen and Højgaard are among those possibles, as is Nicolai's twin brother Rasmus. 2025 might be too soon for them but Niklas Norgaard Moller and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen shouldn't be discounted. The team is completed by Molinari's rejuvenated compatriot Matteo Manassero plus the French trio of Matthieu Pavon, Antoine Rozner and Romain Langasque.

The outright result

The European captain Molinari is looking to go back-to-back and - quirky fact alert - he played on three Ryder Cup teams, all of them winners. That run of success is almost certainly coincidental but the difference between the two teams may well be less than the prices suggest (and the rumours of Tom McKibbin's imminent departure to LIV might easily add grit to the smooth running of the GB&I team). Nonetheless, the gap between price and chance is insufficient to suggest backing the Continental Europeans.

Top Combined Points Scorer - Tommy Fleetwood each way 6/1

The winner of four points in Europe's Ryder Cup Paris triumph in 2018 and three points when they grabbed the Cup back in Rome, the Englishman also won three of his four points in the first edition of this match two years ago. He also really likes the course. It was his victory there in 2017 which heralded confirmation of his return to the big time after a period of poor form. He successfully defended the trophy in 2018, was second in 2020 and sat third after 54 holes in 2021 (finishing T11th). Although no longer captain he'll be a leader on the course and not one of his team-mates will sniff at being paired with him.

Top Continental Europe Points Scorer - Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen each way at 7/1

The Dane was in no rush to join the pro ranks and he played some decent match play golf as an amateur, reaching the final of the prestigious Western Amateur and winning three of four points when representing the International team in the 2022 Arnold Palmer Cup (Ludvig Aberg won 2.5 points that week). Last season he earned Battlefield Promotion to the DP World Tour with three Challenge Tour wins and landed six top 20s in nine main tour starts at the end of the year. The five Danes could really enjoy themselves this week and Neergaard-Petersen offers a touch of value.

Now read Steve Rawlings on the Sony Open.

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