Hero World Challenge 2022: Course and current form stats

• Rahm to remain hot in The Bahamas

• Tiger makes first tournament start since July

• Small greens at Albany

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With Christmas just under one month away, the elite of world golf will be teeing-up at the annual cash bonanza, better known as the Hero World Challenge.

With $3.5m to be shared among 20 competitors, the tournament is hosted by 15-time major winner Tiger Woods and raises money for the former world No 1's charitable foundation.

Tiger is a late entry for this week's event and if he finishes higher than 20th, it will probably be viewed as a good week for the 46-year-old world No 1,277.

The tournament does not affect the FedEx Cup standings, although the winner will still pocket $1m, while the player finishing 20th and last will collect a bumper pay-day worth £100k. There are, however, World Ranking points at stake.

Course Characteristics

Designed by Ernie Els and opened in October 2010, the course has plenty of sand, while combining links and desert features into the same layout.

Albany's Bermuda grass greens are significantly smaller than the PGA Tour average, while its fairways are reasonably generous. Water comes into play on just five holes.

This will be the seventh time the tournament has been staged at the Albany Resort, which is located close to the south-east coastline of New Providence island.

New Providence, the most populated of the islands that make up The Bahamas, is approximately 130 miles from the metropolis of Miami on Florida's south coast.

Latest betting for this week's Hero World Challenge

Stroke Averages

All-Time Albany Averages
Average .... (Rounds)
67.38: Jon Rahm (8)
69.00: Tony Finau (12)
69.38: Justin Thomas (16)
69.67: Xander Schauffele (12)
70.05: Jordan Spieth (20)
70.31: Tiger Woods (16)
70.38: Kevin Kisner (8)
Min. No. of Rounds = 8
Only those competing this week are included in table.

Three To Watch

Tommy Fleetwood: Returned to the winners' enclosure recently in South Africa, and will head into his final event of the year in high spirits.

Tony Finau: Runner-up here in 2018 and winner of the Houston Open earlier this month.

Jon Rahm: May well be the player to beat in The Bahamas. The Spaniard is finishing the year strongly, following a brace of victories on the DP World Tour and is back up to No 5 in the World Ranking. Is a former champion at Albany.