Having hacked my way around a sodden golf course in Belfast at the weekend and still managed to record a fully merited 2&1 victory alongside an overworked partner, I’ve felt like a pure winner for the last few days.
The sore back and runny nose might not give off those vibes, but it was well worth it to see two very unhappy faces handing the hard-earned prize of a pint over on Saturday evening.
The prizes on offer in the DP World Tour over the next two weeks would buy far more than a pint – even at city centre prices – with the Race To Dubai title being handed out on Sunday week after the big finale at the Tour Championship.
Before then we have the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the wonderful Yas Links, where eight of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team tee it up from Thursday in the hope of pocketing a huge winner’s cheque.
With just these two events in the United Arab Emirates to come, Rory McIlroy holds a healthy lead as he seeks a seventh Order of Merit success, which would move him within one of Colin Montgomerie’s record.
The Holywood man has had a stellar 2025 to date, with his Masters victory followed by a memorable Irish Open triumph at The K Club, while he played a huge role in Europe’s win at Bethpage Black at the end of September.
The world number two has only played once since then, at the DP World India Championship, when he finished in midfield as Tommy Fleetwood took the title, as predicted in this column.
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That pair lead the betting in Abu Dhabi, where 66 of the eligible top 70 players are taking part, with McIlroy a best-priced 13/2 (AK Bets) as he seeks to bring to an end a strange record in this event, which moved to Yas Links from Abu Dhabi GC in 2022.
He has been second in this championship four times over the years and third another five times, including last year, but has never hoisted the trophy.
And yet McIlroy has won seven times just down the road in Dubai, and there is a chance his full focus will be on next week’s event at his beloved Earth Course, where he will be the defending champion.
Fleetwood won at Abu Dhabi GC twice, will be brimming with confidence and could take some stopping at this week’s venue, which as the name suggests is a modern attempt to mimic old-school links tests in Scotland and Ireland.
Yas Links runs along the shoreline of the Arabian Sea and has loads of undulations which make it a stunning course, but this week it will not have the winds that defend a true links track.
This could turn into a shoot-out like last year when Paul Waring won at 24-under, although that victory was the most recent sign that true links form does stand up to the test.
Designer Kyle Phillips has also turned his hand to Kingsbarns in Scotland, one of three courses used each year in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and 2023 Abu Dhabi champion Victor Perez is a former winner on the east coast of Scotland.
It is that crossover form that leads me to think Tyrrell Hatton might be the likeliest victor this week, and he is well worth a bet at 9/1 as he seeks to follow Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre in winning since the Ryder Cup.
Indeed, the quirks of the global calendar mean four last-time-out winners are towards the head of the betting here, with Open de Espana champion Marco Penge – second in the Race to Dubai standings – and Sunday’s stunning Hong Kong Open victor Tom McKibbin also prominent.
All of them may have to perform well to get the better of Hatton, who loves links golf and loves the Midle-East, a potent mix with this week in mind.
The Englishman has won the Alfred Dunhill three times and was second to MacIntyre last month, while he is a former Abu Dhabi champion, albeit at the former venue in 2021.
He has contended strongly in each of the three renewals at Yas Links as well, despite voicing his dislike at the layout on debut in 2022, when he finished sixth.
A seventh followed in 2023, before he was second to Waring last year, when the event moved to November of the first time from January.
Hatton played a big role in Europe’s Ryder Cup win after defying expectations by qualifying automatically despite spending most of his time on the LIV Tour.
He has made the most of his DP World Tour outings, notably winning in Dubai in January, and it would be no surprise if he repeated the feat in neighbouring Abu Dhabi so he just has to be backed, even at 9/1.
European Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre should give a good account of himself in Abu Dhabi (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
Meanwhile, I find it hard to get away from MacIntyre as well, and think he has to be on the list at 14/1 here as his game goes from strength-to-strength.
The Scot has had a fine 2025, finishing second in the US Open and just missing out to Scottie Scheffler in the BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup play-offs, and he finally got the victory he deserved at the Alfred Dunhill.
That completed a double in his homeland, after winning the Scottish Open in 2024, and with three Open Championship top-10s – including seventh at Royal Portrush this year – there is little doubt MacIntyre is a links specialist.
He hasn’t quite been in the mix at Yas Links yet but top-20s in each of the last two years suggest the world number seven isn’t far away from getting the hang of it and he has all the tools and imagination to go well, while he can whole plenty of putts if this does become a birdie-fest.
A slightly cold putter just about stops me putting up Shane Lowry again after his third in India, and he owes Yas Links one after being in the top-three after 54 holes on each visit without completing the job.
He is of interest at 25/1 but having put up two towards the head of the betting, I’ll take a flier on veteran Rafa Cabrera-Bello at 150/1 with Boylesports.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello loves Abu Dhabi
The Spaniard is not the force of old but can still shine on a going week, as he did when third in the Irish Open two months ago.
That result is the main reason he crept into this week at 70th in the rankings, a position he held after a strong weekend in the Genesis in Korea 10 day ago, where Cabrera-Bello finished 14th.
There are smatterings of recent form, but it is his Abu Dhabi pedigree which really makes him of interest, with his runner-up finish at Yas Links in 2022 followed by 10th a year later.
In all, the 41-year-old has finished in the top-20 in seven of his last eight visits, so it might be an idea to back him at 16/5 (Betfred) to replicate that, but I’m hoping he can go a bit better.
A Dubai Desert Classic winner way back in 2012, he was also second by the Arabian Sea in Qatar in 2016, and won the Scottish Open on a Phillips design at Dundonald in 2017, so he could be overpriced at 150/1.
If the Spaniard happened to win at those odds, we could possibly afford more than a pint, even at city centre prices.
HSBC ABU DHABI CHAMPIONSHIP SELECTION
Tyrrell Hatton, 9/1 (Paddy Power);
Robert MacIntyre, e/w, 14/1 (Sky Bet)
Rafa Cabrera-Bello, e/w, 150/1 (Boylesports); top-20 finish, 16/5 (Betfred)
