Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2020: Your form guide ahead of this week's event at Emirates Golf Club

Another week in the Persian Gulf for the European Tour, which has travelled around 70 miles north to set up camp at Emirates Golf Club, host venue of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Although the field is not quite as strong as the one which teed-up in Abu Dhabi, there are still eight members of the world's top 30 in attendance.

Tommy Fleetwood, who tied for second on Sunday, is the 'top seed,' followed by Louis Oosthuizen, defending champion Bryson DeChambeau and last year's Open winner Shane Lowry.

Fleetwood is one of a number of in-form golfers who have continued where they left off at the end of 2019.

The Englishman's last three starts reads 1-2-2, while Oosthuizen is currently enjoying his best run of results for a few years.

Five of his last six events have been top-10s and, in his most recent 12 outings, the South African has only once slipped outside the top 20.

Although he has missed the cut on his last two visits to the Emirates, he did stand on the podium here as long ago as 2008.

New World High For Englishman

Up to a career-high World Ranking of 24 is England's Matt Fitzpatrick.

The 25-year-old from Sheffield is developing into one of golf's most solid performers, and is already a five-time winner on the European Tour.

Since his last win during the autumn of 2018, there have been half-a-dozen runner-up finishes, including one on the PGA Tour.

As for those with a strong course history, read Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson.

Check out latest betting ahead of this week's Omega Dubai Desert Classic

With the exception of Poulter, the other three are former champions at the Emirates where you rarely end up with a shock winner.

The most recent massive outsider to triumph here was Robert-Jan Derksen 17 years ago, and there's unlikely to be another one this coming Sunday.

Andy Sullivan, without a title since 2015, is slowly finding some better form while South African Shaun Norris followed a strong autumn in the Far East by posting a tie-for-sixth in Abu Dhabi at the weekend

Flat Track

The Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club navigates its way through sand dunes and has water coming into play on 10 holes.

The fairways have few undulations and are reasonably generous in width, while the greens are largely flat and uncomplicated.

Over the years, champions at Emirates have tended to hit the ground running.

Since 2000, 15 of the tournament's 19 winners have been within three shots of the lead after 18 holes.

Sixteen of these 19 have been no lower than tied-third at the half-way stage, while the last seven champions have all held the outright lead heading into Sunday's concluding round.

Course history suggests that a big hitter, with a hot putter, will always stand a chance at Emirates, where good weather is the one other ingredient required to turn this tournament into a birdie-fest.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves