Ras al Khaimah Championship: Talented twins worth trying in tricky new event

Tournament History

After two brilliant events to kick off the year on the DP World Tour - the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Dubai Desert Classic - the third leg of the Middle East Swing is the first edition of the Ras al Khaimah Championship.

With most of the world's elite appearing in the fourth edition of the Saudi International (which I'll preview later), nobody inside the world's top-50 is present so it's a bit of a comedown after the last couple of events and it's a tricky tournament to assess.

Venue

Al Hamra Golf Course, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Course Details

Par 72, 7325 yards

Designed by Peter Harradine, the Al Hamra Golf Course is new to the DP World Tour but it was used three times on the Challenge Tour between 2016 and 2018.

Al Hamra was the venue for the twice only staged Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge in 2016 and 2017 and it also hosted the Challenge Tour Grand Final in 2018.

Jordan Smith beat Jose-Filipe Lima by a stroke with a 20-under-par total here in 2016 before Sweden's Jens Dantorp got the better of Poland's Adrian Meronk in extra time 12 months later, after the pair had finished on -15 in the second and final edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge.

And at the 2018 edition of the Challenge Tour Grand Final, Adri Arnaus shot 17-under-par to finish the week a stroke in front of Victor Perez.

According to the course's website, Al Hamra meanders around four inter-connected open water lagoons merging seamlessly with the water of the Arabian Gulf.

The website also states that there are only gentle elevation changes as the terrain moves around the lagoons rising and falling from plus one to plus eight metres.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports, starting at 8:30 on Thursday.

Previous course form needs to be respected

Although Al Hamra was only used three times in total on the Challenge Tour, course form held up nicely.

Victor Perez finished seventh and second here, Jose Filipe Lima has been sixth and second at Al Hamra, Max Orrin seventh and sixth, Jack Senior has finished 11th and sixth and Matt Cooper's each-way fancy, Romain Langasque, finished sixth in 2016 and fourth two years later.

There isn't an abundance of evidence to suggest that form at other Harradine-designed tracks is going to be worth exploring in detail but Perez has also finished second at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club - which has hosted the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship until this year - and Matt's outside fancy, Marcus Kinhult, finished third at Doha in 2018. Doha hosted the Qatar Masters up until 2019.

Is there an angle in?

The three winning scores here have ranged between 15-under-par and 20-under so it's clearly not a tough test and with little wind in the forecast until Sunday we can expect to see another birdie-fest.

A hot putter is highly likely to determine the outcome but it's never easy to predict who's going to putt well from one week to the next so it's a tough tournament to get a hold of.

Anyone that's performed nicely in the desert over the last few weeks is worthy of consideration and if they've putted nicely that's a big fillip.

In-Play Tactics

Up with the pace is usually the place to be in the desert and Adri Arnaus won the Challenge Tour Grand Final wire-to-wire in 2018 but the other two events at Al Hamra suggest a fast start isn't imperative.

Jordan Smith sat tied for 25th and four off the lead after round one in 2016 and Jose Filipe Lima, who finished second, had been six back and tied for 53rd after the opening round. And Jens Dantorp came from even further behind, trailing by six after round one and by five at halfway.

Market Leaders

Ryder Cupper, Bernd Wiesberger, is the class act in the field. The world number 62 has won eight times on the DP World Tour and he contended strongly in the Dubai Desert Classic last week until the final round when he fell from fifth to 24th.

The experienced Austrian ranked only 77th for Strokes Gained Putting last week so he's going to have to improve considerably on the greens this week to justify favouritism.

The next three in the betting - Jordan Smith, Adrian Meronk and Romain Langasque - all have strong course and current form.

Smith was 12th at the Abu Dhabi Championship two weeks ago and ninth last week in Dubai, Meronk was fourth in Dubai and Langasque has begun the year with a 12th in Abu Dhabi and an 18th in Dubai. All three have strong and obvious claims.

Selections

Last week's beaten playoff protagonist, Richard Bland, ranked second for Strokes Gained Putting last week and Finland's Kalle Samooja, who often plays well in the desert, topped the stats so they were carefully considered and but after much consideration, I'm going to take a small chance on the 20-year-old Hojgaard twins, who have drifted to above 40.039/1 this morning.

Both Rasmus and Nicolai have shown an aptitude to low scoring events and both are capable of bursting into life after a slow start to the year. Nicolai has missed both cuts so far but the reigning Italian Open champ ended 2021 with a second in Portugal and a fourth in the DP World Tour Championship and Rasmus, who's started 2022 with 20th in Abu Dhabi and a 47th in Dubai, is just too prolific to ignore with three DP World Tour titles to his name already.

Selections:
Rasmus Hojgaard @ 42.041/1
Nicolai Hojgaard @ 44.043/1

I may have one more for the Find Me a 100 Winner column and I'll be back later with previews for the aforementioned Saudi International and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter