Watch the featured groups from the third round of the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, featuring Rasmus Højgaard, John Parry and Mikel Lindberg, plus Tyrrell Hatton, Jayden Schaper and Romain Langasque.
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As the pressure mounts, the heat rises. Rory Maroy, number one. Marco Penge, number two. Five Rolex Series winners on one worldwide tour. It is a fifth gold star for children. But Chris welcome to a new world eagles. Just mark the champion for the second time at the BMW. Two Rolex series events on the race to Dubai remain. The final call to stand among giants. The falcon awaits. The heat is rising. This is the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Yes. And welcome to the weekend of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as the DP World Tour playoffs begin here at Yas Links. Rory Mroy has two tournaments to stay on top of the race to Dubai rankings and try and win the seasonl long race for the seventh time in his career. It’s the fourth of five Rolex Leg series events at feature groups this morning for you. First up, it is going to be Michael Lindberg, the Swede with Rasmus Hoygar from Denmark. And this man, John Perry, 38 years young, back in the winner’s circle at the end of last year, beginning of this season in Maitius. And look at him flying on the Race to Dubai, ranking seventh. He is. It’s been an excellent year, an excellent comeback for John Perry, who last year was on the Hotel Planet Tour, won three times to earn his promotion, and now looks like he’s set for one of those dual cards and possibly a season on the PGA Tour in the United States. Dom Holly alongside Jamie Spence and Nicholas Kouls. We’re just a stones throw away from the Formula 1 circuit, the Yas Marina circuit, and Ferrari World. there just over the road and then we skip over and this is the front line Jamie here at Yas Links. Yes, it’s what we’re going to feature this morning. It’s a stunning piece of land for a golf course and car Phillips has done a great job. Weave your way through the sand dunes. 258 under par the front nine compared to 158 on the back nine. So the front nine is where you make your score. Second hole is the easiest hole on the golf course. 16 eagles on that and we saw an albatross there from Aaron Ry. and then it weaves its way through the dunes. The third hole is a pretty good hole, but this sixth hole’s the only hole over par, Niko, on this front line. Yeah, and it’s no surprise uh you know, we we’ve played this back in the day where the conditions were a lot windier and it caused a lot of trouble. Uh and and there’s no surprise that it still does a little bit when the conditions are as easy it is now. You know, it’s a it’s a tight a drive or probably the tightest fairway to find and a couple of spicy positions to be found on the green. Little bit of breeze once again out there this morning. Uh it’s quite cool at the moment. I think we’re going to get similar to what we had yesterday in that the wind will be uh fairly well it’ll be a factor out there this morning and then it’s going to die down in the middle of the day and then it’ll pick up and change direction as well this afternoon. Aaron Ryan, Tommy Fleetwood, both Rolex Series winners who are tied for the lead heading into the weekend here in Abu Dhabi. Marco Penge is the closest rival to Rory Mroy. They played together over the first couple of days. The bragging rights to the younger Englishman Penge Mroy in the group at eight underpar. See what happens. fivetime Rolex Series winner. He’s going to be in our our second feature group. They go off in around about an hour and 20 minutes time. Tier at six underpart. A lot to do if he’s going to win the Abu Dhabi championship for second time in his career. He’s going to be playing with young Jaden Schaper of South Africa and with the Frenchman Raman Longas. If you’re joining us for the first time, then uh well, look at the uh the picture on the right hand side there. That is that’s a fairway back there. That’s not a very large green. It’s in absolutely wonderful condition. And game five will be getting underway very shortly. Perry Rasmus Hoyard and Michael Lindberg who’s impressed you Jamie this season. Yeah, I I think he’s a very exciting player to watch. He’s 32. He’s he’s been around the block a bit. played the Hotel Planetour, but he’s found something this year and I I followed him on course a couple of times. Yeah, he gives it a good hit. Really good hit off the tea. Almost ready to go. Looks like John Perry is going to take driver at this short par four as he swooshes away down there. We can hand you over to our official starter Alistister Scott on that first T. This is game number five on the tea from England. John Perry. Perry opened up with a round of 69 including an Eagle two at the fifth. Followed up yesterday with a round of 72. He was going nicely but made a triple bogey eight at the last. might be a bit close to these right bunkers. Oh, it’s perfectly fine. Just misses it on the left hand side on the tea from Denmark. Raasmus Hygore. It’s been a real mixed bag, hasn’t it, from Raasmus? We saw him on on Thursday for birdies, four bogeies. He’s a little bit better yesterday. round of 69. So he’s three under heading into the weekend. But he is a kind of murial player, isn’t he, Jamie? He can blow a little bit hot and cold. Yeah, it’s not a bad way to be out here. Actually, when he is hot, he wins. So just an iron down here. Pin at the front. So whatever he hits down there, it’s only a little gap wedge for his second off. A nice up slope. on the tea from Sweden, Michael Lindberg. 6873 for Lindberg to this point. You played with him at all, Nico? Yeah, I played with him a few times and I agree with Jamie. The the the Swedish guy has a lot of game and I think like it’s slowly shaping up. He’s maybe slowly understanding what needs to be done out here to be a bit more successful than what he has been on paper. Yeah, he’s been on and off the the DP World Tour on the Hotel Planetour for the last few years. And as Jamie said, he’s 32 years of age now, but you do you do not often. You sometimes get that, don’t you? Players just find a little something. There are some late developers out there. Well, not everyone is a a teenage superstar. Yes, Michael Lindberg there in our first feature group. He’s 71st on the race to Dubai, so he needs a really good couple of days to get into that top 50. It might just be withoutin grasp, but uh you never know. Shoot 64 this morning. It’s possible. Yeah, he will need something low, won’t he? He’s going to climb a lot of places and there are a few guys who are higher than him on the rankings who are going a little bit better. It’s the fourth time we’ve been at Yas Lynx. That’s not too far away. The Shake Zed Grand Mosque lights up at night. Well worth a visit. So is that Ferrari World with a super fast roller coaster. Well, that’s where Nico was last night, chilling out at the Louv Abu Dhabi. Highly recommend it. Highly recommend the Louv. Little bit of a different experience at Warner Brothers World. Been there too a few times. Been there with the kids. Also highly recommend it. Yeah, it’s a real uh playground here at Yas Island, isn’t it? Growing year by year. It’s kind of the entertainment center if you like, isn’t it? especially for families in Abu Dhabi. And of course, at this time of the year, it’s absolutely wonderful. It’s all getting a little dark, a little wet, and a little cold back home in the sort of northern European parts. Whereas here, we’re we’re going to top out at around 33° C today. Pleasantly, warm without being too oppressively hot. Interesting pins first couple of holes. That’s the view of the second hole. The front pins I think will cause more trouble. We sort of highlighted this pin on the second yesterday saying it’s going to be quite difficult and they all made eagles. So, um they’re trying to hide the flags away this week. Uh but unsuccessfully so far. But I think the front pins will just challenge you a bit more, Niko. Yeah, you were talking about the second here. I mean, it’s just the the the slopes that are at the front of the green. You know, you can run you can run the ball up onto the green, but but to find the right weight on certain of these spins that are at the front end will be uh will be a little bit challenging. Well, back to the first hole and our feature group. I think he’s had to pinch himself at times, hasn’t he? Over the last 12, 18 months or so. John Perry, he was one stage down on the back down on the third tier of European golf, having won out on the DP World Tour. He lost his way, but he’s fought his way back. And interesting, Rob is caddy there. They stuck together over the last he came through the Hotel Planet Tour with John and they’ve stuck together and uh it’s great to see that success. People stick together, work it out, come back. It’s quite quite quite story. Now Raasmus second shot into the first 133 like a 50° wedge. It’s a pin that’s only five on you. You can tell he wasn’t really going to mess with that front edge there. He can get close. There’s a little bit of a slope just right behind the hole. You see he’s not quite satisfied with himself there. Yeah, first up you you probably want to hit something quite hard, don’t you? On the first few holes. It’s quite a fiddly little shot. Look at this. He’s got here little humps and hollows. I’m not sure he can pitch this on the green and stop it. No. Yeah, I think so. Jamie, you know, this is where, you know, the feature of this links are are going to we might see a bit more of it today with balls, you know, playing, you know, rolled on the green. And I mean, this is definitely here an exercise of playing the ground. So, how are you both seeing this shot? I would try and pitch it a couple yards short on the fairway and hopefully get a bit of spin on the second bounce. It’s all dependent on the lie whether you feel it’s going to spin or not. Yeah, a great you would take a club, put the the club behind a ball and see what can I do with this. That’s the Oh, he’s done well. That’s done really well. Look at that. That’s quicker, isn’t it? Uh, that’s releasing. It’s firmer. That’s good. Now, Parry, well, he’s got an issue here cuz he’s got a couple of sprinkler heads in the way. So, you know, what you you’re having a good season. What do you Well, you’ll take it on, would you? Yeah, why not? Look at that. Yeah. Well, if you want to if you want to have a confirmation that the fairways are pretty tight, they are. Fairways like they’re running about 10 on the stem at least. They never stop moving. Those sprinklers could be a bit of an issue, couldn’t they? If someone’s going to hit those, maybe they’re a bit further back than you think. Slowby greens. Very much a feature of Yas Links. This Kyle Phillips design, the man behind Kings Barnes, they’ve got quite slloy greens up there. It’s a wonderful layout. 17th green. You play over the water from the tea there. 16 a strong par four. 15. The toughest hole on the course. What were you saying, Jamie? Only three holes are playing over par. Yeah, that’s right. On the whole of the golf course, only one this nine. That’s the sixth. The eighth hole is actually playing three spot on for its par and a couple of holes on the back nine. So, bit the weather’s been so good and the course in Great. Yeah. Well, when you think that a couple years ago Thomas Peters won a 10 under just because he was blowing a two club wind and I think that most of our viewers that play golf in the British Isles would know that when you play a link course you know just a two club win just changed absolutely everything. It became a little bit more difficult yesterday afternoon I was watching doesn’t need much a win right putter difficult to tell which is the green which is the fairway. Green’s around 12.2 two, which is pretty quick. Yeah, I agree with you, Jimmy. I think that these couple of sprinkler heads there will get some action this morning or throughout the day. That wouldn’t be a nice way to start your day in a wet shop on a sprinkler head. There’s a few players I can think of that uh could be quite fun watching that. It’s funny because the first person I thought of was you. I know. Why me? Why me? Why does this stuff only happens to me? No one’s ever been able to answer that question. Raasmus. Now the greens are definitely quicker than yesterday. They’re 12.2, but down the hill they’ll be putting a lot quicker than that. So nice to get the pace on this part. You want to give it a chance though because these players are chasing now. It’s interesting. 87th from this sort of distance. I always thought Raasmus is a a great sort of mid to long range putter up. He’s just not been quite there this week, has he? Yeah, it was a very average first round. He was really struggling off the tea on a golf course that really offers a lot of space um yesterday. Three under is yeah signs of improvements but when you’re a player of that caliber it’s just not good enough to be three under after two rounds. Let’s be honest. It must have taken a lot out of him the Ryder Cup trying to get into the RDER Cup team as well. He was on the bubble wasn’t he for quite a long time there at the end and got in that sixth spot. So that takes it out of you I think. So maybe just recovering from those exertions. Good chance for Lindberg here. Disappointing part. Just a misread from Lindberg. He did have a reputation at one stage of being quite hard on himself. I know some people thought that that was maybe the thing that was holding him back in his career. I would say every pro out is quite hard on himself. You got to be drive yourself on. Not too much there. Richard Sterling, what a turnaround for him over the last couple of months. He was in danger of losing his playing rights, but he popped up and finished third at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. a result which pretty much assured him his place here in Abu Dhabi. Now he uh like Michael Lindberg trying to climb inside the top 50 and ensure passage to the season finale of the DP World Tour Championship over to the par five second the shortest of the par fives here at Yas Links. Yeah, Jamie mentioned is u the hole that’s playing the easiest of all week just avoid a couple of bunkers on the right side. A lot of guys have gone way past this and the only difficult part of this green is the slopes that you find on this green and we’ve had a pin that was you know the back right in between those two slopes which was or we thought was going to be a bit challenging but are we uh are we saying the same thing about this pin position here Jamie? Uh I don’t know what to say now after Ry made albatross here yesterday. I I do think that the red arrows are going to come into play because anything that gets with past the hole with a little bit of pace will will finish at least in in the last third of the green. Well, and I think it’s firming up a bit as well. So, might not be so easy to stick it on the front. Mind you, they’re good drives only going with 8 n it more room down the left than you think here on the second just hide the fairway. He’s he’s got an extra bit of speed when he wants it. Perry, I think, you know, having spent, you know, my year playing out here, I think it was obvious that, you know, pretty much being assured of going on the PGA Tour next year, the position he was in, he he’s trying gradually to go quicker and quicker, trying to find that maybe five more or 10 more yards in carry, which is very useful to have when you go and play on a PGA tour. Or what do they say? An extra mile an hour is equivalent to two extra yards. Yeah, this guy here has got a few uh a few kilometers, a few Yeah. mile per hour in the tank. Well, let’s compare. It was 168 ball speed for parry. It’s a bit early in the morning. You be 85, 87. I mean, that’s those are the numbers. I mean, when you’re in your 20s and you’ve grown up with this modern equipment, you know, you need to be over 180, 182. And a lot of these guys are averaging 85 and more. Well, this will be interesting cuz it gives it a cloud in Berg. Yeah. The width of that swing there. 181. Not as fast as Raasmus, but uh there’s plenty there. Don’t stop there. Go and get down the bottom. Raasmus has just got that easy power though, hasn’t he? Well, he’s got big levers. He’s got long big arms and you know that that helps to create the lag and the power. We’re nearly there, aren’t we? uh towards the end of the race to Dubai season just the playoffs to come here in Abu Dhabi and next week in Dubai. It’s been quite the year. It always is, isn’t it? We’ve had the major championships. This is the fourth of five Rolex series events. We finished with two in a row gold star events. That is we started with the global swings. John Perry topped the opening swing rankings after his victory in Maitius. We moved into the bat nine, those iconic nine tournaments. Abu Dhabi this week, Dubai next week over the Earth Course of Jira Golf Estates for the DP World Tour Championship, the climax of the season. Rory Maroy won there last year and collected the Harry Van Trophy for the sixth time in his career. At the moment, he’s on course for number seven. He’s 441 points clear of Marco Penge. Till Hatton is uh what another what’s that 800 points further back but huge points available in these last two playoff events. So any one of those players and any one of these could potentially win the Race to Dubai title. Although a lot of them will rely on Rory Maroy and maybe Marco Pench going backwards. Seems unlikely. Good season for Elvis Smiley, the Australian lefty. Didn’t have a card for the DP World Tour at the start of the year and then he won the first event. There’s Raasmus in 30th position. Two runners up finishes on the DP World Tour in his last four starts, including on home soil at the Danish Golf Championship where he was overhauled on Sunday by Marco Penge. Tommy Floodwood up to 26th after his win in India couple of weeks back. Tommy a fancy he if he wins here he’s going to make a huge jump. Yeah, absolutely. And then the golf course he loads both courses very well but next week he’s based there. So and he just looks I’ve never seen him playing as well Fleetwood. He’s got his mind in the right place. He won the FedEx finals. just if he holds a few but if his putting is six out of 10 I I just think he’s going to keep shooting 68s. Yeah, that breakthrough win in the United States was uh a big big deal, wasn’t it? I know he was was trying to play it down and said, you know, I just got to keep saying all the usual things. Got to keep playing well and eventually it’ll come. But he had a few heartaches. He had a few near misses, didn’t he? Especially the one at the Travelers where Kee and Bradley came through and won that. Yeah, but I think every every great player has gone through that. I remember you as a kid watching Nick Fick Fo play and he he totally changed his game because he just couldn’t get over the line and he wanted to and then he came back. Look what he did. I think when you get in your early 30s, you’re in your prime of your of your game in terms of physique and how you cope with things, how you um manage yourself as well on the golf course. Well, you you you also understand yourself better and you know, I mean, it’s it’s very rare. I mean, these are just exceptions of guys in their early 20s that come out here and and really dominate. You know, the there’s only a handful that have done it in history. So, like you said, the the years of experience and managing yourself and how to prepare and and know the course as well makes a makes a massive difference in the end result. Three good drives. Hoyer with the advantage of the team. It’s going to be John Perry first to play. It’s going to be interesting to see, you know, what Perry does in comparison to Lindberg and and Horard who are big hitters. So, they spin the ball a lot more than John Perry would. See, they’re talking about a skip. So there is a possibility that we see this ball playing up the slope at the front end of the green. He’s played a lot of golf already this year. John Perry 30 tournaments to uh to date. That’s a lot of golf. Lot of tournament golf. I think he’s going to pitch just short and try and just get a bounce. Oh. Oh. Oh. Hanging by fingernails. You know, you might play the skip up, but it it take it still takes a little bit manipulation. And if you if you play a high shot into that bank on the shoulder green, I’m not so sure it would actually skip up as much as as much as needed. So you maybe still want to flatten if you play the skip up, which might not be the case here. That’s no more than a nine. He’s going to carry this all the way, but he hates it. It’s come out of it. Did about as well as it was going to do really that one. Why do players come out of shots? Is you get down to the bottom, you realize you’re not in the right position. Just slightly out of sync. Yeah. Well, it could also be I don’t want to go left and just basically just leaving it right as as as simple as that. We’ve all done it. I mean, here when you’ve got a short arm like this, there’s hardly a breath of wind. You know, this is just a matter of execution and visualization and believe into into the picture that you’ve portrayed in your mind. So, it’s it’s really just a matter of showing up. Yeah, left is a danger. There’s no doubt about it. He’s aiming up just left of the flag. Little bit of a holder. That’s good. That’s right on it, isn’t it? Not an easy putt from there. That’s just three very average golf shots, let’s be honest. Coming from such a short range, there’s nothing difficult to hit the shot down the line. I mean, I understand, you know, leaving it short or long, but not really that far off line. Haven’t ventured over there yet to Ferrari Worlds. This is this is the famous air pin. You know, where the world championship was played a couple years ago was a debatable decision. World Championship of what? Well, Formula 1 airpin, you know, lose everything. I beg your part. Yeah. Well, they finish every season, don’t they? Didn’t in Abu Dhabi. Have you been? Do you Are you a Formula 1 fan? Yeah, I’m a Formula 1 fan, but I, you know, I’ve just recently moved here a year ago and every time I’m not here when when the Formula 1’s in town, but uh but yeah, it’s an incredible facility. Yeah, it’s one of those, you know, new modern circuits that are very easy to get in and out of as a spectator, which is not the case when you go to older venues in in Europe, whether it’s Monza Spa or Budapest or stuff like that. But yeah, he has a given statement. Do I follow the Formula? You follow Formula 1? I follow virtually every sport except uh Formula 1 and tennis. The only two I don’t watch as I can’t watch them all, can I? It’s funny because they’re the first two on my list. Oh, well, there you go. Yeah. How are we sitting next to each other? I don’t know. Yin and Yang, gentlemen. NFL, rugby, football, and golf. NFL. Love my NFL. American football. Really? It’s funny. It’s been It’s become quite popular in the UK. Love NFL. Very popular in the UK. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. They have about four games on a on a Sunday to all the all the NFL. Yeah. I I I can’t even follow the thing. I I I I know nothing about American football. We can’t follow everything, can we? No, I don’t watch the games, but I have enjoyed a couple of series. The quarterback series. That’s fascinating insight. I guess it’s a bit like drive to survive, isn’t it? Full swing. Anything that will get fans engaged in your sport. It’s fascinating when you go behind the scenes, isn’t it? And you see what what goes actually goes into it, the mindsets of all these great sportsmen. And I was boring Nico this morning with America’s team, the gambler and his cowboys. Jerry Jones, the story behind the uh the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise. That is well worth a watch. This looks like this could have a bit of peace from this angle. Well, at least the thing you don’t have to worry here is really the the much difference in pace from the fairway to the grain. Yes. It’s not going to jump, is it? Through these amazing aprons of the greens. I mean, they’re quick. You’ve really got to be so precise. He’s looking at a blade of grass. Get this ball going over. This has come in nicely. Good touch and a certain birdie for John Perry out on the lagoon. Where’s the rope? Or is he just riding the wave? I know. Yeah, he’s just riding the wave. Yeah. Yeah. So, they pull you with the rope, you find the wave, and then you drop the rope. Yeah. Yeah. And stay and stay with the with the wave. This has got a bit of break on it. Up and over that. that ridge halfway. He’s got to go over that. You go left to right. But uh difficult part to get within a few feet there. I I just I think when you’re in this position, you know, there’s obviously no cut in this event. You all you’re doing is looking up. You you’ve got to just try and hold all the shots really, not worry about the next one, especially on these greens. I still think the pace will be difficult to find on this one. He knows that if he hits this a little hard, it’s going to, you know, swing by a long way past the hole. Uh-oh. Steady, steady, steady. It’s not too bad, actually. No, I thought I thought it’d be quicker actually past the whole He’s kept his card on the PJ tour as well. Rasmus couple of good weeks over there in their full series. So, he’s in a great spot wherever he wants to play. Roy Mackoy the favorite in the fantasy DP World Tour picks this week. Tommy Fleetwood, the form. Rafa Cabera, the outsider. I think if you do well in that uh DP World Fantasy, you can stand a chance of uh of getting a trip to the DP World Tour Championship and one or two other goodies as well. So uh obviously you got to play well. You got to top the league. You pick six players at the start of every week. You pick a captain, they earn double the points, so choose wisely. You were talking about him keeping his card in America and you know he has the luxury of playing wherever he wants. The only question you have to ask yourself is where do you start your season? I mean you finish up here in the Middle East. Do I go on the West Coast swing in the US or do I start in a familiar surrounding in the Middle East here where you’ve got a couple of great events to play in that invitational and Dubai Desert Classic? Well done. Yeah, runner up last year in the EP World Tour Championship. So maybe he’s got his eyes on that one. Find a better game before next week. He is that sort of player, isn’t he? Yeah, you mentioned that before when they’re they’re a bit streaky. Yeah, him and his brother, they they kind of have the similar pattern like when when they get hot, they of course extremely good. Um, and I think that it will make a difference in the long run if their their average week would become just a little bit better. Lindberg taps in. I mean, listen, he’s kept his playing rights for next season. That was number one job for him and uh he’s done it comfortably. So, I expect to see him here again next year. Opportunities are there if you’re good enough. Well, that’s what’s happening at the business end of the leaderboard. Day three of the Abu Dhabi HSB C. I put my teeth back in. HSBC Championship. It is the penultimate Rolex Series event this season. Had some good ones as well, haven’t we? Cheryl Hatton holding a good part two to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic right at the start of the year. Chris Gotup holding off Rory Maroy to win the Genesis Scottish Open. And then Alex Noran prevailing in a playoff at Wentworth to win the BMW PGA Championship for a second time. Look at the third hole. Quite a big fairway if you most players are deciding a little fairway metal down the right hand side there. You can take on the bunker, but early doors not so sure at 290. However, look where the flag is. It’s almost in the lagoon. some pin that. So fairway is a must, but if you’re too far back, that’s some pin to get to. So they might be tempted here with the driver. There are quite a few holes where you have options, aren’t there? You have an option off the first, the third here. Certainly over at 14. Saw that yesterday. Some players taking that on with driver 10. I still think the percentage of hitting the fairway is is is higher with what John Perry is doing here. You just play in the corner, especially when there’s no wind. I mean that the longer club that you’re going to have is is maybe a nine, maybe an eight to to to a back pin. I mean, we’re talking about high caliber golf here. So, eight iron is still a scoring club. He’s got a sevenoot in the bag. Paris, his favorite club. That looks quite worn that one. That might be it. You only got one if you want. A lot of guys using seven woods. Tommy’s got a nine wood. Sunday. I’m not sure they’ve got the loft that we normally associate with a ninewood. It’s a bit stronger than that. But even so, there there’s quite a lot of variation in players bags these days. I can’t see you carrying a ninewood, Nico. No, nine maybe not. But I mean, it does come across very Andy on certain type of golf course, especially when you play golf courses where the rough is really high. long long golf course with high rough. That’s where those seven and nine woods comes into play because you can hack it out of the rough very easily and still travel a certain distance. It’s just a rescue position. Would either be a 19 or 21 degree model. So why would you have a seven and nine wood as opposed to a lofted rescue? What advantage do they give you? I I think it’s just choice. It’s just the way the club looks. I mean, a rescue and an hybrid is is is an hybrid. It sits really in between an iron and a and a fairway wood. And you know, take somebody like Miguel Jimenez, who’s an exceptional fairway wood player, doesn’t have a rescue in the back. He keeps with his fivewood, seven wood, because it’s the same family of clubs. I think Tommy was saying when he when he puts the hybrids down, he feels he’s going to hook them, which is why he gets a more conventional wood, lofted wood, because he can hold it off more. So, it’s just how it looks to you and how it plays to you. Safely in the fairway. Michael Lindberg, they all birded that second hole. So, all three players have moved to four under in this group. particularly Lindberg. He needs a he needs a low Saturday round, then a low Sunday round if he’s going to climb top 50 and make it into next week. John Perry, of course, he’s got one of those PGA Tour cards at the moment, but there’s a lot of competition for them. He would love to nudge himself up, but I think it’ll be tough for any of them to catch Marco Benge and claim that top card which comes with a couple of extra starts in some of the signature events. But the higher up you can get, the more starts you may get on the PGA Tour. It’s amazing. You get one of the cards, but you want to get one of the top cards, not just a card. I should have taken it at the start of the season. Well, it’s going to be fun watching Tur watched him yesterday afternoon. It was fun. sort of couple of double bogeies on the back nine. Yeah. Par fives as well. Yeah. Yeah. He’s got an issue with that 18th, doesn’t he? The 18th is winning at the moment. 24 passing the 11th as well. Which is very unusual for Terra. I actually wonder if it’s ever happened in his career. I wonder if he’s uh got a full set of clubs. He’s he’s he is who he is. Gerald Hatton, he’s just such a talent. The thing that is incredible is that you watch him on screen and you think like it’s really boing, really hard inside, but he can switch back on so quickly. Very clever, isn’t it? I know, but honestly, like, you know, when you follow, you know, comments about Ter on social media and everything, like a lot of people make fun and get and he gets criticized for it, but I think it needs to be applauded in some way to be able to get back on the seat as quickly as he does. Monty was like that. Monty used to sort of, you know, get very upset over a shot, but he boom, he was on the next one. He didn’t carry it forward. It’s quite a skill. They always say you need a short memory when you play golf, but unlike us, I mean, two or three holes or or maybe a whole afternoon, brooders. I I like players who’ve got passion and and, you know, wear the heart and the sleeve. I like that. It’s man-made. Uh Yas Island. They’ve done quite the job, haven’t they? So, Lindberg and Parry in the fairway. Rasmus Hygar’s just pushed his T-shot here at three. So, it’ll all be lie dependent for him. Only 155 yards to go. And he’s got the better angle. You can just about see the pin way left of that TV tower just right of John Parry’s hat away in the distance. Maybe eight time maybe a little seven for John Perry and safe shot. not challenging the pins so far with his two iron shots. If you feel comfortable playing a right to left draw here, this is perfect. And the only thing that’s difficult is you can’t really see the definition of the left hand side of the green where the trouble lays. But if you can picture the shot in your mind, you know, maybe sometimes have that thing to to aim at at the back of the green. Really helpful. Let’s see if he tries to draw spin this a little. Maybe strike. maybe not really feeling what the ball is doing in the air, not threatening long, which is not great. All these little things play a factor in the execution of a shot. Yeah, out the rough. Uh just a wedge here for Rasman. Say just a wedge. It’s a good wage from this distance for him. But uh coming out of the rough, he can’t risk going long really. It could jump on him a bit here. Leaning means it’s going a bit right. Good shot out of there to control that. Best of the three still going through his putting drills. Stir hat. What’s that little gizmo for? Uh, it’s a it’s um a putter path um you know sketch on the on this piece of plastic that you lay on the putting green and then at the front where he’s pulling out is a gate, you know, to make sure that the ball starts online. Um so there’s different models depending on your arc of your of your putter path. You know, some some guys are a lot straighter, some guys are a little bit open and closed. So there a couple of different It amazes me how the players of the past like a Bobby Lock who was a great putter and a Gary player and players that I used to watch as a kid how they put without all these gizmos. I I find it incredible how they must have been incredible players. Jack Nicholas Gra’s full time. I’m not a fan of all this stuff. I think it’s something you want to check but I don’t think it’s something you want to do before you go on the tea. That’s only my opinion. Well, we all have different opinions. I know we do. Yes. No, I I I agree with you. You know, putting can be considered a little bit as an art, but at the same time, you know, these things need to be checked, but from time to time, it’s it’s it’s you want to check it over. I think the main thing is get the you want your eye over the ball, just inside the ball when you park. That’s a big thing. But then would it not be the case there Jamie that people who are good at putting like you don’t really have to worry about it too much good at putting but I think when you do things like that I think it I think it’s it brings in a bit of doubt be why why do you need to check it all the time you don’t have to be perfect the putter moves only from 15 ft which are the key parts your putter’s only moving 2 3 feet well I mean here you can see it the other way it’s actually it doesn’t put any doubt it actually confirms that he’s doing that well by not hitting the gates you know you can see We can carry this conversation on for quite a long time. I think golf is not a game of perfect, is it? But yeah, listen, if it helps you, I I I get it. Modern golf. Uh but this is a long way away. This is pretty slow to first. He’s got to put this little ridge to begin with, isn’t he? Up it goes. And it flattens. Let’s get a bit of pace. Sevy Sevy was the greatest putter of the generation, wasn’t he? I mean, we’re going to go back to putting. We can carry this. Let’s keep going, George. Yes. Yes. And Jose Maria was pretty good as well. Yeah. But they they didn’t have textbook techniques when you look at them. Well, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? No, exactly. trust their eyes. Some some some do. Some would be very rigid. I mean, Seby’s toe was right up in the air. So, uh well, Jamie, you started before Nico did. Average speed of the Greens when you first started out on tour, what would you say roughly? Uh probably about 10, but it depends where you played. Uh different venues had different speeds. Yeah, the greens weren’t as perfect. Look at these. They’re absolutely pure, aren’t they? Which makes it easier. I think I think it’s not necessarily the green speeds that is the difficult thing is you’d rather have slow greens that are extremely smooth than than quick greens that go a little bit rubbish on slow greens. I’ve got to be honest. I remember I played the Aussie Open Raw Melbourne and those were just unbelievable. They were like they were fantastic. Took my little blade out there. Loved it. Why haven’t slow greens? Why could you got to hit it? It’s not a field game. You’ve got you got to try once you start having to think about how hard to hit it. I think it just gets in the way of your process of putting for me. But we’re all different. These guys like to plan most of them want to play on the quicker greens, don’t they? Yeah. But I mean, when I I don’t think that a lot of people really like them when they get quicker than 13. Um, you know, here 12 and a half. I I I’d say people are comfortable in between 11 to 12. This is where you still feel like you can give putts a little bit of a go. Cross the green for Raasmus. Good put it a chance. and back home. What would you reckon most club golfers uh I I know certain clubs are different, but let’s say the average club in the UK or in or in Belgium or in Europe, what would you say the average green speed would be? Well, I I’ll leave that to Jamie because I mean you guys come from the the nation of the lawn, you know, compared to continental Europe where, you know, I think from an aronomy standpoint or from a the Greens are not as good as you guys. Eight and a half. No, they’ll be quicker than that. Quick, they say so. Yeah. Quicker than that. Yeah, I know they got our greens at my club up to about 11 and a half and they they they were too fast because they’re quite small and sloppy. I thought they were too quick for the for the course, but Romel gas shipping away. The facilities here are fantastic. I think this is just him waking up rather than practicing really. Just flicking away, chatting to Brendan. didn’t look too stressed. Not really. Bird makes his par at the third. So he stays at four under. Let’s get a sort of Dustin Johnson walk about it. Lots of gold stars on that first page of the leaderboard. Baron Wright, Tommy Fleetwood, Nikolai Huygar, Alex Noran picked up his third gold star for a Rolex Series victory at the BMW PGA Championship. Shane Larry had a slightly disappointing finish last night, but he’s playing some decent golf and he’s only three shots back heading into the weekend. What a season it’s been for Christopher Ryson. And how about Jakob SC? He got the very last card at the qualifying school and it looks like he’s going to make it into the season finale. Marco Pench, Richard Manel at nine under. Martin Kura, who won in Turkey, it’s his rookie year. He’s on the uh the fringes of one of those PGA Tour cards. He’s alongside Rory Mroy. There’s Bob McIntyre, seven under bar. He got a little heated in the early stages yesterday, didn’t he? But uh still very much in there. Dan Brown, who missed out, didn’t he? to Marco at the Spanish Open. It was actually pretty good performance considering he was having quite a lot of physio down the closing stretch for a shoulder problem. Most difficult pin position on this fourth green. A lot of slopes around it. Congo short, Congo left. Very difficult to get close. It’s a small plateau. It’s going to be a mid iron to maybe a long iron to some guys. This is and for for for testing your skills early in a round like that, you don’t really get a much harder shot than this. Yeah, I’m not sure it’s a battle worth fighting that pin. Just get it pin high right somewhere if you can and you never know. You might hold a long p. But uh yeah, some position one off yesterday. There is a high draw to hit to find, but would you really take a chance like aim in the heart of the green and just give it a chance to turn in left a little bit and trust trying to find it and up the slope, but it is a bit risky. I think these guys good if you got the perfect number and you feel you can fly it up there and you know get a bit of grab but uh if you if you’re taking the the bigger club got to be right at the pin that left hand side you see it take it on go right make three get it’s amazing sometimes you you just feel you you’ve got the shot don’t you but but but then again in this situation they’re sort of down the lower end of the build these players. Have a crack. Back on the uh the practice ground. material happen making some stripes in the grass. Did you vary your your pregame routine or was it always exactly the same? I it’s always pretty much the same. I think most of us would always hit the same clubs. Some guys, you know, like odds, some guys like evens. It’s just depends on who you are. Doesn’t look a lot of club for Barry. Well, it’s looking left. Yeah, good shot. It’s a good spot there for Parry. It’s a good aggressive shot without taking too much risk. That’s where he would have been looking just in between those those two slopes there. I think before the guys get to the range is the key for these modern day players with the length they hit it. They stretch a lot. They’re in the gym. They’re on the bike. Whatever it is, they do a lot of work before they get out onto the range. And then it’s just a case of just warming up really. That’s a lady just wandering around having a nice walk. Completely oblivious. Yeah. Well, everybody gets their couple of minutes of startup now. I wonder if he’s going to turn this in. I really do believe that he would be tempted. I wonder if a if a trap draw seven would be enough for him to find it. Looks more like a six iron length. Actually, it’s not liking the strike. I can’t stay there, can it? No. No. It’s just a matter of how far down it’s going to it’s it’s going to finish. Drum roll. It’s okay. It’s just there. It’s not too bad. Sometimes there’s pins. It’s so difficult, but there’s no real safe shots. You think, well, I might as well just go at it. Oh, he likes that. Oh, what a shot. You see, I think seven iron and you allow it to go left and if it gets there, it’s great. But yeah, that’s probably going to be I wonder if at the end of the day that’s going to be the closest one. There’s a good chance of that. Great pass from Lindberg. You could tell he was really trying to cover the ball and really maximize the yard. When the tongue comes out like that, he’s licking his lips in there. He loves that. Yeah, the wind picks up a bit later. Possibly it will be a really tough shot. Not sure it’s going to be that strong though today. No, fairly light winds. Now, has long shown a little bit of uh involvement here? We saw him chipping on the on just chipping around and playing and just having a little chat. pretty relaxed fell, isn’t he? Very impressive striker with the ball. I mean, to be fair, he’s got a little bit of work to do to get into next week. So, I mean, you need to get yourself in gear. Be hoping for a couple of good rounds. I mean, you need two low ones. He’s 62nd on the list at the moment. So, yeah, he needs a real low one today and then and another one tomorrow. And another one tomorrow. It is there. It is there. I mean, the score scoring is there. There’s a lot of birdie opportunities. Someone’s going to have a Someone’s going to come through the pack, aren’t they? Could easily be this man. You know, you keep hitting 16 grains like that. You know, maybe a little bit closer than he might have done yesterday. Make a few more. What’s that all about? The uh the butt of the shaft on the head just to keep the head still. Keep it over the ball. Yeah, he’s obviously moving away from it. Doesn’t like it. tries to keep over the ball or maybe just pointing at his sponsor on the right side of his hat. Lot of a lot of coaches use that. Put the put the they maybe stand square on and put the put the other way. But uh anything, Dom, anything to help. Absolutely. You’re going to try that now, aren’t you? Get your mate to do that. If only I had mates, J. I could. Well, you’ve got two of them for a couple hours. Just make the most of it. I don’t think anyone’s got a golf club, though. He’s going to put this one as he looks like a putter there. The bank is pretty steep in front of him. The judgment of the pace is going to be what’s difficult here for Raasmus. He gets this within 4 ft. It’s a really good effort. Still pretty quick up the hill. Well, maybe not. You give that quite a hit too much. Bit steeper than it looks on our pictures there. That slope scratch of the year. Looks like it’s a it’s a long week for Arasmus. That first day must have looked like a bit of a slog. just doesn’t really quite have the pace on the greens like everything is just enough little off to you know how do you get out of that then how you maybe before next week he just needs to take himself away from golf for a day and just and go sit on the beach or something forget about it start again from the sensible position in the heart of the green I think we’re going to see a lot of guys putting from this direction today. Looks like he’s going a long way ride, Jamie. Yeah, it’s a big swing, isn’t it? Great view of it. Looks like he’s only about six or seven ft right of the pin. Maybe not quite that. In it comes. Come on. Come on. Good putt. It’s asking a lot to hold it from 25 ft there with that much brake. I think it’ll be Rasmus to go before Lindberg. I think the thing is with these championship courses, it’s such a benign conditions and the course is great. When you’re on your game, it looks so easy when we watch the top top of the leaderboard, but we get reminded watching feature groups that it’s not. If you’re not quite on it with these spin positions, it it’s a challenge. Yeah. Yeah, what it does show us of course is uh when they’re not quite on the importance of the short game and having a sharp short game as it’s all about the score. And that’s one gone I’m afraid for Raasmus Hyer back where he started the day at three under. Yeah, bogeies on a golf course like this when there’s no wind, they almost feel like a double and you really feel like you’re going properly backwards. That’s too many bogeies, isn’t it? Eight now in uh 40 holes for Raasmus. This has got a bit of break to it as well coming from the other side from Perry. Got to think just on the edge, left edge of the hole here. Maybe just outside. Depends how hard you want to play it. Like do you like them with a bit of pace? Do you like them to fall? Trying to make the hole wider. What did you like? I dribbled them in, but uh on greens like this, what would you do? Cuz they’re smooth like the table. Well, I I trust my line. I just got massively into line and uh I like to see the ball just drop in. So I hate to miss it low side, especially left to right as I always think you want to give it a little bit more and open yourself up. You mean like one of those? Yeah, like one of those. I mean that would drive me mad. mad. Not a long hole this path four fifth. 405 yards of it. Yeah, nothing very complicated here, Dom. It’s a wide fairway. If you can give yourself the nice angle today on the left hand side, you can probably challenge the the length of the hole a little bit more, you know, to open up the green. Find this flag that’s 18 on five off the rides. anything like a rescue or maybe a threewood. It’s good. It’s caused some trouble this though, hasn’t it? With that with the pin positions. Yeah. Yeah, the pin position. Yeah, we saw a few guys going wide off the tea. I think it’s because, you know, the left hand side, you can’t really see much, but there’s room there. And yeah, the the the first two pins were at the back of the green. And so, a lot of people get in wrong and go long a driver for parry. So, that has to be left using the left hand side of the fairway. We’ll bring a rough in play on the right. John Eagle this hole on Thursday. That’s a lot of divots in that dip there. We’ll see that later. Yeah, it’s a crater, isn’t it? He’s in there and uh won’t be able to see the pin either. There it is. It looks like it’s fine. Lindberg going to do bit of steel. Just a bit lazy. Just a bit lazy. You hit an iron off the tea. running. It’s fine, but it’s probably 20 shorter that it should have been if this was struck properly. And with the flag on the right, he’s down the right. He’s It’s not a great angle. That’s just a bit lazy. Just not enough commitment into a shot like that. It doesn’t matter. Even if you hit an iron off a par four, still needs to be, you know, fully committed. Sometimes though, when it’s so wide, it’s a bit like when you lay up on a par five, you just still have to pick your spot and fully commit to it. And it’s not Raasmus’ favorite hole either. Bogey and a par only on this hole. Good swing. He likes that little hybrid, doesn’t he? Rasmus. Well, quite a lot of players live uh in this part of the world. Many of them down in Dubai where we’ll be next week. Only about an hour or so to get a actually up to Dubai, isn’t it? From Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The Formula 1 season will conclude at Yas Marina just over the road from us in about a month’s time. First time in a long time. It’s been fairly wide open actually. a mangroves planted to uh help protect the area, encourage wildlife, the Abu Dhabi Lou. We must go there. Maybe not this afternoon, Jeremy, but one day we’ll take a trip there. I do like an art gallery. Yeah, me too. It’s built up over the years, hasn’t it, Abu Dhabi, since we first came here. So quite incredible. Little bit quieter than Dubai Nico. You’ve lived in both places? 100%. So, this place is so much more peaceful than Dubai. I mean, it depends what you’re into. I mean, there’s a scene for everything. You know, night life is is a bit more interesting. We get You’re getting older now, aren’t you? Yeah. I’m slowly coming to that conclusion. Thank you for reminding me, Jamie Spence. Knowing that one day I will look like you. Hope not. Growing old is a privilege. Andy Sullivan there. He’s It’s nice to see Andy playing well again. He’s just struggling. You know, he’s he’s always been a solid player, but I just see a little bit of a change in him the way he was talking. He’s obviously working with somebody cuz he’s happy again on the golf course. It’s great to see. And he can shoot. He can go low as we’ve seen before. Remember, was it Hamry Manor? Yes. 27 under or something. Ridiculous under. Yeah. One by six or seven shots. That’s Jaden Schaper, the 24 year old South African. He’ll be in our second feature group with Tier Hatton under Roman Gas. Our first feature group are playing the par four fifth hole. They’re all in a line. You see that’s what I meant to Lindberg being a little bit lazy with his iron off the te lifts himself you know probably 15 just too far to really be aggressive to this spin. 55 yards. Yes. didn’t throw enough, but I think it stand. Okay. Well, these guys need to make birdies. They want to climb the leaderboard. Looking ahead and uh this doesn’t make it easy with this pin. You see the runoff on the right hand side. 155. It’s a big wedge. I see a bit nine. I’m He’s got to crunch this to get there. Trackman following the flight of that ball all the way out of the top of the television screen. No risk taken there by Glenberg. 30 ft with a wedge. There’s been a lot of looking at divots from Michael Lindberg so far today. Arasmus a little better position. Got to be careful on that right hand side there. Like the leaning was because he was aiming left of the hole and pushed it. That’s why he gave himself the yardage to the left. He knows he gets away with one there. Listen, no wind, perfect fairways, great greens. They’re receptive. They’re taking a shot. You should just be knocking the flag out really. from these sort of distances and I don’t care where you are. A slight ups slope for parry and he can see the pin. Great chance here with that back bank behind this flag for Parry. You can paint a great picture there in between the flag and the TV tower. That’s exactly what he’s done. Where’s that going to finish? He’s just going to stay there on the apron just on the green. Got off to such a fast start this season with that winning Maitius the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Two times a runner up this season. Couple of third place finishes as well for John Perry. A little bit more erratic over the last few weeks, but he played nicely at the Alfred Dunnhill Lynx Championship. This man’s become quite a a steady performer. yet to win on the DP World Tour. It’s only his third full season, though. He’s starting to fulfill some of the the early promise that he showed. I mean, it’s a it’s a it’s a nice stat, but you when you rack up that many top 10s, you know, you you’d wish you’d be able to get a win under your belt when you when you show signs of of really really good golf. I mean, when you look at the names on there, they’re all a little bit similar to me. Do you know what, Nico? I had an interesting chat with JC Richie uh last week at the Hotel Planetour, the man who topped the rankings, and he was talking about how what an adjustment it is for South African players who’ve grown up on the high felt and are used to playing a different sort of uh game. A lot you bomb the driver, it goes much further. A lot of wedges into greens and stuff like that. to come and play in Europe with the heavier air with the different courses, the different grasses and it’s taken him he reckon JC Richie 3 years to adjust to playing golf on the DP World Tour circuit. Well, I I think it’s the same for everyone. Like do you think that Europeans felt comfortable the first time they go play tournaments in Asia and playing the Kikuyo grass in South Africa? Um, unfortunately when you go when you come and play the DP World Tour, there’s a lot more events in in Europe. And it’s not just from a golfing perspective, it’s also the fact that these guys, whether they come from South Africa or they come from Australia. I mean, the other day I was having a chat with with Daniel Hillier, he hasn’t been home in more than 2 months. And sometimes they come over here for 3 months. So that to me is the biggest adjustment as a golf professional when you come and play on the DP World Tour when you come where home is so far. as we watch Michael Lindberg, a slippery one, down the slope. Funny enough, that’s the other thing that JC Richie talked about. He’s completely changed his schedule from the last two years. He now comes over for 3 weeks. He treats it as a 9 to5 job. He’s there at 9:00 in the morning. Well, unless he’s got an early round or whatever, unless he’s teeing off eight. Yes. Yes. Exactly. But um but he couldn’t resist. He tries to be more Yes. Well, he tries to be more intense about it and then goes home and has a break. 3 weeks maximum. He also said when he first came out he had he didn’t realize he was just not equipped to play yeah out on tour which can happen. Shapers building a nice career. Barry from the front of the green quite a slow part up this slope. I was very lucky to play with Ratif Genom when he first come over a number of times. I seem to get paired with them a lot. I don’t know why they put him with me. And uh the the ball fly he hit was so high so high Goose and then he had to bring it down. He learned how to do it because he’s so talented. Oh yeah, baby. In you go. Johnny P. Second bird of the morning for Paris. So he moves to five under. And going back to that, I remember I played quite a bit. Luckily played with Charles Schwarz as well when he come. Exactly the same. Exactly the same. He’s sitting clubs. I’m thinking my goodness, he can hit some shots. Yeah. But I mean it’s it’s the grass that they they they play on that kur that the ball sits up and you you can’t squeeze the ball into the grass. So it’s just a different Well, I remember playing Hton for the first time in that altitude, you know, 140 and the Kelly goes just a little wedge and thinking little wedge 140. I remember the same perspective at Hton. I hit this ball in the middle of this TV tower at the back of the green not realizing that Joe B was that that that high up in altitude. It floats, doesn’t it? It just floats up. It must be the heat. Yeah, it’s just the heat. It’s incredible. Now Rasmus got away with that wedge shot. He was going left up that hole. Pushed it. Now he has the easiest putt up the hill. If Tom Hailing could move his head. There we go. Right half. Oh. Oh no. That is just exactly what Rasmosaur god’s week is like. Back in the day, we played uh Zambia uh on the safari tour and the greens, they were so grainy. And I remember getting on the first green, my caddy gave me this line and I said, don’t be so stupid. I know what I’m doing. This for about three feet. I miss it by a foot. And I just realized, ah, I could be in trouble here. Better listen to the caddy. Yeah. Manhattan with 13 and 13 minutes to go. I was surprised to see Schaer getting to the range just 22 minutes before his tea time. You know, that’s it’s a bit late. You know, still leaves enough time to do what you need to do. It’s about 22 minutes more than Joe D. Does he still do that? Yeah. Do you know what? He he actually went back on it. His coach said, “No, I think you ought to go down there. and you know just hit a a couple of longer clubs rather than just a chip and a putt. So he tried it. I’m not sure to be honest exactly where he is at the moment. But here’s this tough sixth hole. 468 yards of it. Yeah. Teaser of a pin close to that bunker or falls into that trap. It’s just down the left hand side. It just drank you left off this teen that the rough down there is getting thicker and thicker through the week as well down the left. Great posture, Parry. Lower half really gives him a platform to spin out of it and go quick. Looks like it’s starting left. Maybe not. It did look left on. I give that to you with it with his body language. If you flatten the trajectory here, you can get some some run. Actually, Lindberg for somebody that tease it really high hits it pretty flat. That has to be left. Is left. Seen a lot of guys there. Now you you open the green a little bit, but it’s all lie depending. As we know, the rough there on the left hand side is a bit juicy, Jamie Spence, isn’t it? It’s getting thicker by the day. They’ve tried to narrow the fairways uh this year, narrowed a number of the fairways, but um they might make them even narrower next year. Then they’ll show up next year and there’ll be 30 mph wind leaking a little bit, right? It looked like a ball on the screen, didn’t it? There it is. That’s fine. Had a lot of hang time that one. It is fascinating, isn’t it? I I think you mentioned it earlier, Jamie, that feature group coverage gives us a chance to see players who perhaps are not quite on their game because your impression is as a as the average viewer and handicapped golfer that these guys play great all the time. Really? Yeah. You’re watching all the good shots. You’re watching the players peak form, ripping the golf course apart, and you’re showing all the great shots. But, you know, we know golf’s not that easy, even for these guys. And the tests that are set out here on tour are tough. They were there yesterday morning as well, these two. So, it must be a a morning ritual. It looks like a pretty good one, too. Now, in I know I think in Dubai, they changed the weekend, didn’t they? It used to be Friday, Saturday, and and now it’s gone to Saturday, Sunday. What about in Abu Dhabi? Same thing here. like they it it was uh it and that that is just incredible here like the the how modern they are. I mean as as you know you know the this this weekend being Friday Saturday has been going on for a long time here and within a couple of weeks everybody switched and it’s it’s never been an issue since and is that UAE wide then? I think so. I think I think it is. Yes. It’s just easier from a school point of view and officers point of view. offices are still, you know, a Friday, Saturday thing, but I thought it was incredible how quickly they switched. Rasmus’ brother Nikolai is going very nicely. He’s only a couple of shots off the lead. He was desperate, wasn’t he, to try and play his way back into the European Rider Cup team, but he just kind of struggled a bit in those events leading up to Beth Paige and didn’t make it in. showed a little bit of form on those especially on the PGA Tour since then. Well, Paul Wearing is the defending champion. He’s he’s not playing this week. He’s he’s injured, but he is here in sort of ambassadorial capacity. He shot a 61 on day two last year on his way to victory. the course record if that is broken over the weekend then the course record presented by Nexo Award or the prize fund which is $90,000 will be collected and if it’s not then it rolls on to next week at the DP World Tour Championship and that will become $100,000 for a course recorder John Perry making their way down the par4 sixth hole. Rasmus has just wandered into the rough there. John Perry in the short grass. Yeah, only one player found the fairway. Be a relatively short shot into this six. Yeah, Rasmus’ ball looked to be lying okay, didn’t it? We’re not sure about Michael Lindberg over on the the left hand side. Well, Lindberg has a little bit of an angle to get to this hole from the rough on the left hand side, but yeah, it will always be lie depending. Yeah, this is just bread and butter here. You just have to be careful to not have this leak too far right with a flag that’s only four off the right shortsighting yourself and leaving yourself a pretty difficult up and down group in front in Brendan Robertson Thompson Johannes Vman Emanuel Olivier have just vacated the Green Parry from just inside 50 yards. Big Rob on the bag. Lovely man, Rob. Now, I’m not quite sure that John Barry has enough meat to get wedged there. It could be a 3/4 leaky nine. Doesn’t like it. Yeah, I came over the top of that. Wary of the right hand side there. That’s the only reason why you come over the top. Not trusting that strike and trajectory. Lindberg has found a decent lie on the left hand side. Doesn’t like it either. Probably got it a bit high on the face. Yeah. Ball never took off. Yeah. When you catch the ball on the high grooves of the club, like the ball has no weight in it. Now, Rasmus 131 yds. You got to be careful of a jumper here if he has a 50°ree in his hands. Yeah, smooth swing trying to bring it from short. Yeah, that’s not too bad. That’s going away from the hole. Yeah, you have a chance if you’re on on the fairway or maybe in the left rough, but from the right rough, it looks like we’re not going to see a lot of very good shots. Terrell Hatton, look at these four. Look at these four holes here, Dom. Like, it’s in a straight line almost on the putting green. And now he’s just uh well part of it killing time before he wanders onto the tea. Maybe just a feel thing now. It’s a great putting green. It’s right by the first tea. Like so you walk from the range, you just walk over a dune of sand and the first tea is right there. They’ve got a great grand stand this year in a U shape surrounding the first tea box which which gives gives it a really really cool atmosphere. And the putting room just across from there. It’s just about 10 paces to walk into that U-shaped grand stand on the first. What he could do with a round of 65 or lower out there today if he is going to stand a chance out there tomorrow. He’s a long way back at six under from Fleetwood who’s in such good form and Aaron Ry I fancy him for a low score today. He’s the sort of player just bounces straight back. So ladies and gentlemen, ahead of this next group te off me to introduce our players to first time is my pick this week. But I’m going to reserve judgment on that and see how the first couple of holes go. If they go well, I’m going to go with you. And if they don’t, you can’t do that. You got to make your prediction before they tee off. Well, you say that, but when you you saw how Terrell Hatton played the first round and still came in in a in a five or six under, didn’t he? So Trell Hatton He had two double bogeies on two of the par fives. He’s only one under for the fives. He plays the fives better today. He’s going to shoot 66 65. I think like you said, when when you give a golf course like this to a highc caliber player like this, it’s only a matter of time before they they shoot a low one. He’s got a lot of quality above him on that leaderboard though, hasn’t he? Maroy, Larry, Fleetwood and others. This is quite a long putt, isn’t it, for uh John Perry. Yeah, he was, you know, the only player that found a fairway. He’s the one putting first. Funny how that works. You love You love a bit of a point, Jamie Spence, don’t you? Yeah, absolutely. You ever thought about it, Niko? No. Listen, I mean, I I I grew up old school. I mean, I started to play golf in the ‘9s and and using your eyes at old school. Yeah, I’m using your eyes. I’m a bit like Jamie. I mean, like it’s it’s something that’s a bit difficult to get to, but you know, the people that use it well and understand the technique well are are all praising that it is, you know, really helpful. I I listen I think it helps people re greens but it’s not precise enough for me but but I I understand why people use it. I’m not denigrating it at all but I like to see people look at the slope of the greens and the bit of grain and where the shine is that doesn’t come into account. That’s an interesting little water vehicle that isn’t it? Don’t know what that is. Nick Doerty, Andrew Colart, Dane Laura all work on owner Steven Lindberg. Pretty good from that range. He’s got to start hitting it closer. Yeah, simple as that. Well, he did on the par three a couple of holes ago and didn’t take advantage. You can’t shoot good scores unless your eye plays good. Simple as that really. Your eye play mid irons, short irons. Two and a half hours or so before the final group gets underway. Aaron Ry will play with Tommy Fleetwood and Richard Stern in the final three ball. Huygar, Sullivan, and Nacho Alva. There’s Dan Hillia. Kiwi and an Aussie playing together. Got the ashes coming up down under, haven’t we? Yeah, looking forward to that. Rory six behind. Right, let’s head uh back to the first T. Game 12 about to get underway. The 9:28 starting time for Tierrell Hatton, Jaden Schaper, and Raman Longas. So, we’ll get down there and hand over to our starter Alistister Scott. This is game number 12 on the tea. The Rolex Series winner at the Dubai Desert Classic from England, Terrell Hatton. Brought up here last year to Paul Wearing. He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the former venue Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Guys were talking last night about the width. We saw him on the range trying to get a bit more width away from the ball and that’s just got him out of sync a little bit. That’s exactly where the target was. Right down there. Still. No, no, no, no. On the tea from South Africa, Jaden Schaffer. 68 round one. 17 yesterday. six underpart like Hatton like Raman Gask heading into the weekend for Shaper having his best season to date on the DP World Tour. He’s 23rd in the race to Dubai. So he will have his sights on one of those dual membership cards for the PGA Tour. That looks good. A lot of roll on this. Look at it go. From France, Roma Longas, who’s had a couple of really good seasons. He’s just uh sort of tundling along this year really. I say that 62nd in the race to Dubai, but he needs to climb 12 spots to get inside the top 50 for the season finale where he’s played the last two or three years actually. Long gas, he’s kind of a free spirit golfing wise, isn’t he? He’s a good golfer Romelong. He does a lot of things very well. So we wish Roman and Jayen a great round. Just the one DP world tour victory to date for that was five years ago as well at 949. So if you wish to grab yourself any refreshments or anything like that. Yeah, it surprised me that he’s been in contention many times, hasn’t he? Only made eight birdies this week on this course. be looking to make at least six in his round today. Get the putter going, get the wedge play going. That live hands just dis that ball disappeared, didn’t it? He’s only got a chip from there. That’s going to be interesting. The Rolex ball follows long gas in gray, Shaper in gold at Hatton in green. Back to the six Rasmus. It’s always nice to have to hit a putt when somebody’s using that heavy machinery at the back. Looks like it hasn’t bothered him whatsoever. Oh, wow. Well, he missed a much better chance on the previous hole, but he makes that one. So, back under par for the day. That’s that’s one of the inexplicable thing about this game. I mean, you hit a wet shot to 6 ft here. You’re not expecting to make this whatsoever and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere else. Wow. Yeah, it’s it’s a difficult game to fathom out at times. Who’s your winner, gentlemen? Tommy for me, I just think he’s just just too good at the moment. I agree with Jamie. I think Tommy Fluid has the best chance, but you know, you’ve got a Kate Nekajima that’s just at the back that has a lot of potential. I was I was pleasantly surprised to see him play well in in Delhi which is not exactly a a player that you would think that do well on a course like that. So um my money’s on him. We shall see. Look at that. There are 16 players within four shots of the lead. Marco Pen is five back second on the race to Dubai. The leader Rory Maroy has six to make up over the weekend. very doable for uh for Rory. He’s all set for a cracking weekend, isn’t it? It’s a good tournament. It’s a great venue. We’ve really enjoyed being here. Fourth straight year at Yas Links. Each year this course seems to get better and better conditioned. Yeah. And with that, they work it out as well. The guys that come here regularly, they just you get to play in different conditions and the greens and where the flags are, they just become familiar with it. Well, okay. Yeah, T. That was a very quick look at it. Barely shaking ahead. He’s wandering to the front of the green to see what he’s got to deal with cuz that will come with a bit of pace. So, he’s got this first mound in front of him where he is now. So he’s going to have to bounce this short of it and play the run up. So we’ll come we’ll have to come from a long way left and then hope it doesn’t come out too soft. Well, he’s got to dig it out. He might just jump out the line. That’s the another thing. Could knock this way by as well. So he’s pretty good at this stuff. Hatton, he is really good at this stuff. Yeah, I mean even at the Ryder Cup I I can think of a couple of shots that he hit into the first hole from the right rough. It’s heavy in the morning. It’s wet and hits it really close every single time. Well, he’s so strong in the upper body. It just gives him a stability with his big arms as well. But there’s also the skill of appreciation of what the lie is going to give you and how the club is going to get through the grass. Now here, this is different. So this is just you got to make a choice here. either a little bit of height or playing the ground. Whatever he sees. It’s not an easy shot from the fairway to be honest. A little chip and run. Couple of bounces. See, he tried to draw this a little bit to draw this bit a little. So, he’s missed the green. Still better there than than 20 ft past. Yeah. The pin is only on five paces. Well, this is not too bad. That’s not too bad, actually. Yeah. Still have no spin whatsoever. It’s saying it’s a sit, but I don’t know. He’s got a chance. Turatton. What a way to start. It’s an eagle two for Hatton at the first. There we go. I’m with you, Jamie. I think he’s going to have a good day. Yeah. Well done, Tom. You jump on the train. Look at that. I’m not even sure that’s a slob wedge. I think it was a I think it was a sandwich or a gap wedge and just chopped it. Axe murdered it. And there it looks like it’s coming good. There’s always something happening with Terrell Hatton. Whether we like him or not, there’s always something happening. Well, he’s eagled the first. There’s a great chance he could eagle the second because he’s only going to be hitting sort of shortish iron into that as well. So, could be a great day. Great start. Another hole where you can find an eagle is the seventh. the par five Rasmus a little left. You can quickly run out of fairway on the left. Yeah, that’s okay. Decent lie. We’ll still go for the green into two from there. It’s amazing. It’s suddenly two out tie with Rory at eight under, six behind. And you know what I’m thinking? Oh, look at you building this up, Jamie. You know what I’m thinking? Ha. Now Barry, there’s a nice bunker to aim at that is not in play in front of you off the tea there. Right half of it is the perfect line. Yeah, they like it. So, what was he? He was sub 170, wasn’t he? Ball speed with the driver a little earlier. That may increase as he gets a little bit looser out there. But do you think he may struggle in terms of distance over on the PGA Tour? Or do you think he’s just such a solid player that he’ll overcome that? Well, I mean, you have players historically on the PG PGA Tour that have played well, being short, but that comes with the rest of the package being extremely good. when you’re short playing on the PGA Tour, the rest of your game has to be 10 out of 10 to actually being able to contend. I’m not sure he’s going to play well at places like Tory Pines and and you know the things that are over seven and a half on the card, but uh you’re going to have to choose your tournaments well and and understand that you know the the level of the PJ tour is maybe a little bit higher than the DP World Tour. Thank Quick little P from the front. He’s got a chance to Oh, that stopped coming right a bit. It still moved right, but not as much as that middle part of the putt looked like. Almost went the other way, didn’t it? This pastalum grass does have a tendency to straighten putts out I think from short range watching yesterday afternoon. So, a lot of putts people misreading from this sort of range. He should have a little bit of move in it for Shaper. Well, we have a little bit of everything here. A two with three and a four. Interesting name, Shaper, especially as he hits the ball so straight. He’s quite a serious young man. He’s a hard worker, Jaden Schaeer. Mind you, there aren’t too many players out there nowadays who don’t work hard on their game. the to get this sort of level and to stay at this sort of standard as well. How about Alex Nor on the season? He’s having two tremendous wins in the back ner series back in the winner circle of the bet British Masters and then that Rolex series victory at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship. 12 DP World Tour titles for Alex and he looks like he’s going to wrap up one of those PGA Tour card spots. He could have gone back state side and tried to get his card back through the fall series, but he reckons this is his best bet after those two wins. Callum Hill will have the pleasure of playing with Rory Mroy on Saturday. Marcus Armitage, Bob McIntyre, and Kazuma Kabori will play together. Michael Kim, the winner of the FedEx Open to France, will get underway in about half an hour’s time. Hold a great part, didn’t he, to win that title. Alex Fitzpatrick was in danger of not keeping his card for next season about a month or so ago and then thankfully found a little bit of fall. Right, coming off the eagle of the first, Tier Hat. Well, good drive here and he’s going to set himself up bit down the left here on the second of those sand dudes just down the left there. Stay left somehow. Keep outs bunkers. Slirt with the bunker on the right. Yeah, that’s okay. We’re all good. It’s perfect. The difference in finding that bunker to where the ball finishes. You’re talking about 40 paces. Open seven and John Paris second. 284 yds. had a pin on the right hand side. It’s got a bit of a hanging lie. So, there’s a way to bring this left to right, but you can’t go right. It’s going to leave something extremely difficult. Oh, that looks nice. Depending on the bounce. Oh, that bounced there. That found that found the flattest part of that short green. Normally everything goes down towards the front edge from there. Maybe a bit spinny. Maybe had to be shaper back at the second. Played with Rory the other week in Delhi. Been a great experience for him. Produces a fair bit of speed for somebody with such a short back swing. A little bit like you know John Ram comes to mind. Slightly different build here of course. Well, he hits a very low flight, gets a lot of run. I think it’s the carry in America if he gets one of those PJ tours going to be the issue for him. But he seems to have worked everything out so far in his young career. Lindberg with iron into seven with the iron. 258. So that’s about 240 yards to the front. Nice height with the long iron. How’s that going to react to the ground? You see the difference? I mean, I know they don’t exactly pitch in the same spot, but that is what John Perry was trying to do. Green found in two on the par five. Always good. One gas last to go at the second. Slightly similar action to Hatton. It’s very up and down. Very strong upper body. Both quite narrow in the start. Yeah. With the driver. Both very straight as well. Three almost identical T-shots really. They finish in the same spot anyway. Well, who’s it going to be? Who is going to be collecting the Falcon trophy tomorrow afternoon here? Who will win the first of these two playoff events which conclude the 2025 season? Lori Caner looks like he’s uh bound state side next year. He’s going to keep the family in Dubai and he’s been talking to Tommy Fleetwood about how he goes about his scheduling. Tommy also lives in Dubai and has done for many years now. Reckons about 3 weeks is is going to be optimum uh to go across and then come back. Joel Gobach with a a fast start. the Swiss player three under through five holes, Aelora I know has impressed a lot of people both last year on the Hotel Planet Tour and this year in his rookie season on the DP World Tour. Fine young player. Look out for him. Yos still going strong in his late 30s. Been a little while since he won. was in this part of the world actually over in Aman. That’s the 18th green here at Yas Links. Right in the middle of your picture. Yeah, anything but straightforward as well that 18th. That’s uh pose some problems. Doesn’t need much wind to grab your attention that hole. Trying to think whether we’ve seen any in the afternoons. Have we seen anyone get home in two on the 18th? Uh they got the length. It’s just that angle. You have to hit a pretty big draw to get it onto that green and then you bring it in the water. So a lot of guys bailing out. They got the length. But yesterday afternoon watching Rory’s group and Benge, they’re long. They couldn’t get there. That’s a lot of red on this second hall. Yeah, it’s it’s just a give. As long as you miss the fairway bunkers, it’s a give. Now, can you squeeze a nice little three in there, Eagle? I don’t know if there’s uh room to move the tea back another 25, 30 yards here. Just bring that bunk a bit more into play. Yeah, but a couple of years ago, we played this hole into the wind and it becomes impossible to reach it in two again. Oh, poor you. Well, yeah. You know, Dave, you know, Jamie, I’m going to be honest with you. It’s it’s it’s always disappointing for somebody that can hit the ball a long way to not hit a par five in two. So, welcome to my world. Yeah, but you know, I’m happy to live in mine. It’s a par five. They’re hitting eight irons. Nine irons. I know. Correct. This is just a bit too much. Yeah, it does. It does rely on the wind. It looks a bit more like a seven to me. That that shape of that club for Langhes. Little bit more fluttery the wind off the left. See that big flag on the hill there. Another one that’s bringing the right bunker into play. It’s a good strike, so it should fly it. Not sure where that’s gone. Maybe rough, maybe bunker, but not exactly what he would have liked. Bailed out there, Lask Shaper, I think. Here Tur swishing away. He can’t wait to get in there again. His putting stats are pretty good at the moment. You mean today? Today. Yeah. Well, to be fair, I mean, they are pretty good throughout the year anyway. They are pretty good. Yeah. Now, Shaper flatter ball flight might help him here. Okay. Just short. It’s good. It was in line. A little bit shy for length, but good shot. The one we want to see here, Jamie. This is going to have to be good, isn’t it? Oh, he’s going straight at he was eight time. Oh, he likes it. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow. What a staff this could be for Tier Hatton. He He could be leading soon. A dream start. Yeah, absolutely. Walking a little quicker as well. Let’s just start to grab his attention. Oh, look where Raasmus has gone on the seventh. Yeah, that was that’s a bit surprising because he was just in the first cut. Now parry first. Pitch this on the green with a bit of check and release down. Yeah, that’s really good. That’s nicely done. Not exactly complicated, but still a very good chip. Surprising second. Very surprising second. That is way offline. He can actually send this a little bit long left of the hole and it’s going to run back down. How is this miracle shot? I’m not I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want to do this again. Fantastic. Bend his knees to get to the bottom of the ball there. Well, well, well. Terrell Hatton holding out from the rough for Eagle at the first. I don’t know what he’s got there, but it doesn’t look to be more than about four feet for Eagle at the second. Well, I’m going to get way ahead of myself and start thinking course records and all that sort of stuff here, but yes, second green. Yeah, might be a bit might be a bit early. Bit early. Okay, bit early. I’ve gone early. We’ve all We’ve all done that mistake. Lindberg. This looks like on a decent line. Oh, try. Very good try from Lindberg. Yeah, the pins are still they’re tough, aren’t they? Some of these pins. It’s Are you back paddling, Jamie? No, I’m just trying to reason with myself. See, you’re secondg guessing yourself. I am. Yeah. No, but I What a start. He’s got to hold that. Of course, we’re giving it to him. It’s not a gimme. Well, the only the only test is actually to not think about it and not think about the amazing start that you could be producing by making this 5-footer. It’s it’s it’s just another shot. Like that that’s the tricky part, the mind part about this. Well, we know what happens like once he once he gets a sniff and ascent, he’s off. Lock gas has played out of that green side bunker and it has maybe caught a down slope, maybe got a little too much ball, but he’s wandered quite a long way past. It’s just a flat mistake to be into that bunker when you’ve got a short iron in. I don’t think he’s lost his turn. Romance family used to travel and come and watch those tournaments here. His father is a pretty avid golfer as well. They travel to watch Roma, play golf around the world. His father also came to South Africa early in the year. It’s nice to play away from home and see your family, see familiar faces in the crowd. That’s going to be a rather disappointing par for long gas when you consider this is the easiest toll on the course so far this week. Little bit of left to right movement in this for John Perry at number seven for Birdie. Yeah, that’s got a bit of movement. This has got to get it just right. Pace and line. Just a little dribble. It’s got to be Oh, no. Held it line. Lovely. Well done. Thought it might got away from him but didn’t. Third bird of the round. He’s probably looked the steadiest of those three so far today, hasn’t he? In our first feature group. This is our second spotlight group. And this is Jaden Schaper for Eagle. Well, let’s not forget he played the first. He could easily eagle this as well. and does. So a fast start from the young South African. He vaults to nine under par. Well, if Daryl Hatton didn’t eagle the first, we would have thought that that was an unbelievable start. You know, 33. Yeah, he starts Birdie Eagle and he can still be one down. And this is to start Eagle Eagle for Tier Hatton and to jump within four of the lead. No mistake from Hatton. Room eight back just two holes ago. Well, well, well. Has anybody started Eagle Eagle? I’m not aware they have. No. My time. I don’t remember that. It was on though, wasn’t it? This shot. Yeah. Lovely little up slope. Chuck down a little bit. He knew he need a little bit of off the eight iron. That’s the thing. That’s the thing that people just don’t know. It’s like the finesse into taking, you know, sometimes two, three, four paces of a shot. It’s his favorite color, yellow as well. Hatton. Over to seven again. Rasmus Hygar for Birdie. This will be some up and down, wouldn’t it? Yeah, he gets it as well. It might be a birdie, but in my world, that’s just not peaceful enough. Bit of a miracle here. Birdie on seven to par five for Raasmus. Well, already Tier Hatton has forced his way onto the first page of that leaderboard with that Eagle Eagle start. four behind Aaron Ry and Tommy Fleetwood going for a sixth gold star tier. No one’s won six Rolex Series events. He will have his eyes on that for sure. Shaper to nine underpar with the birdie eagle start. Well, the pins may be tucked away, but uh not too much in the way of breeze out there at the moment. That’s that’s a picture from earlier in the week. So, that’s a little deceptive. 35 minutes or so before Rory Maroy gets underway as our Eagle Eagle man steps onto the path or third and he has got a driver. He had a horrible finish to his round yesterday which made including a double at the last went over the green and sort of missed it out the big stuff and and here he is suddenly confidence is up drivers out. He’s taken on the corner. Yeah, he’d be a good fantasy pick this week, wouldn’t he? Oh, you’re now you’re smug now, aren’t you? After two holes with your pick. I wonder if it’s really necessary to take the driver. I mean, I understand there’s a shot there, but he’s not interested in birdies today. Yeah, that’s right. He’s just one yellows. I mean, the odds of starting Eagle. Eagle. Imagine if he hits if he hits this driver, even if it’s a little bit too far right through the fairway, even in the rough, and give yourself the angle to run it up at the back left of the green. Well, he’s quickly down for the tea, so I assume he likes it. Oh, now he’s looking a little anxious. Step one. Step one completed. Good lie. He’s got about 90 yards from there. Now we’ve gone to the eighth now. Raasmus top shelf left. 192 could be a big eight. Maybe a little seven. Couldn’t get there. Not far off finding the plateau. Jaden Schaer also has driver. It looks like we’re getting the full set here cuz Long Gas has also got his driver. Yeah, I think when they it’s warmed up out there now and they’re a little bit warmer. So balls flying a little bit further. Just takes that bunker out of play. The first one at 290 odd for these guys. Still difficult to hit the fairway though. Still a big hit for longast to car to cover the bunker. He’s not the longest. See he’s going full tilt here. Watches it anxiously. Yeah, it’s good now. Won’t see the pin from there though. Over to eight John Perry. John Barry playing the spinnier model of those two balls. Well, this could be good. Hello. Hello. Hello. Wow. There’s a way to use that left bank. I mean, obviously you’d like something a bit cleaner straight at the hole, but the left bank brings it in nicely. Now the Lindberg. Can he get it into that little plateau where the flag is? Oh, come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Get out of that rough. Oh, that didn’t need any more, did it? That was going to go close. Oh, he’s got a nice fun shot now. Now, plenty of players have gone Eagle Eagle in the past and various courses and venues throughout the years, but I we’re pretty sure no one started Eagle Eagle. Dominic Collier, our statistician, is just buzzing through his computer. Now, I’m just going to AI to see whether that’s uh going to give us an insight. Anyway, great start from Hatton. Suddenly, he’s right in there, isn’t he? He’s just got a bit more energy in that walk, would you say? It’s funny how you said like straight away like the pace is a little bit quicker and the interest is is up. Yeah, it it it does that to you. I mean, you you know, he was obviously a bit disappointed about that finish last night and here there’s all of a sudden there’s a spark and also he’s got the experience to deal with a start like that because it’s not just dealing with uh adversity in golf. It’s also dealing with great things that can happen to you and calming down and setting your goals again. And Tur’s very experienced guard. Oh, he had it. Yeah, that would have been three in a row, but it’s a couple under for this round. It’s pretty good considering considering he’s not quite on his A game. Yeah, AI is not being very helpful on this one, I’m afraid. I can tell you that Dale Whitell apparently once birded the first, aced the second, and eagled the third hole to go five under through the first three. Durban Country Club, I think. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right. He had a ridiculous front nine, didn’t he? That’s it. I’m trying to think of a golf course where you could start Eagle Eagle. I can’t think of any. You can finish Eagle Eagle at Wentworth as we know. That’s been done. Yeah, there’s plenty of players who who’ve made consecutive eagles, but to start their round, you may have a point, Jamie, you may have a world first. Think so. You heard here first. Well, you need a short par four and then a par five, don’t you? Unlikely to have a hole in one. possible. Shake it. Shake of the head. Ball’s sitting down. Oh, no. I just see the top of it, but looks like a bit of a clump behind it. Yeah, you can tell he doesn’t he’s not sure yet. What do I do? So, what do you do? Ask the caddy and then blame him generally. Yeah. Or or you you close your eyes and you’re praying for a little bit of luck. You can’t allow to hit something that’s going to come out racing because if you go through the back, it’s not great. But then at the back of your mind, you know that if it doesn’t come out, it’s going to be easily 40 50 ft short. 157. Got to play for a flyer, haven’t you? And if it doesn’t come out, you’re on the front of edge of the green. It’s, you know, you got no choice. Yeah. Obviously, it didn’t come out flash some part. That was a sense put. We saw that top shelf being actually pretty quick. So, it is going to be really difficult. That long 108 green light full gas. This should be dancing. There we go. Dancing. We’re doing Tier might get that ball marked. Going for his third eagle. I just of course. Here we go. Good angle here for Hatton. He’s gone high. There we go. Like you said, Jamie, once he’s got his teeth in it, he doesn’t let go. Well, he’s such a good short iron play. He’s great short player and he puts brilliantly. So, he’s just it’s the driver in the right spot. He’s he’s just going to keep going here, I feel. turned out to be the perfect play actually opening opening up the left the back left of this green even if you’re in the rough and even if you catch a bad lie you can run it up that slope. Yeah, he’s pulled two two good lies actually in the rough as on one and three here as well. That’s Michael Lindberg makes the birdie at eight. Makes power. Yeah, he’s Oh, I do beg you. Well, that’s probably the best he could have done from that left hand side actually. I think we need Hatton cam, don’t we? day had an innovation last uh week on the hotel planet tour and the Rolex Grand final where they had a caddy cam on the hat of the caddy. That was quite fun to get close by. What did you make of it? What did you make of it? Was it good? Well, I wouldn’t want to I wouldn’t want a camera on my caddy’s hat back in the day, quite frankly. No, I think we do, actually. No, you didn’t. Now, this is for Birdie. John Perry. Well done. He’s going along nicely, isn’t he? Four birdies today. No drop shots. So Perry just seven under. It’s an exciting golf course, isn’t it? Lots can happen on this course with the fives and the, you know, the water and the swelles and the runoffs. And it’s a really good watch. It’s in great nick. The greens are fast. If you miss it short side, we’ve seen all sorts of variations of chips and you get long putts like this which are a skill in itself. Seems to be a lot of good scoring through sort of 11 holes or so and then especially with the wind getting up into you on those closing holes, it it does seem to slow up a little bit later on in the course. Yeah, last four holes tough. Let’s get a bit of pace. Oh wow. Unbelievable. But how about that for a start? That would have to be one of the longest birds we’ve seen. How long was that? Weak. Wow. 333. That’s so well over 100 foot apart there. What a start he’s at. Yeah, this is what 90 something feet. It has to be at least. Yeah, thinking in paces it’s probably 30 yards 90 feet maybe 100. Who cares? In the bottom of the hole. It’s not far short of that. Do you remember they uh they had a a putting competition here on the 9th from back down the fairway a a few years back? 140 something yards or something. I can’t remember who it was, but someone held it. Mickey Ludzi. Was it David Mikuzi? It was David Muzzi. He was on the seventh. The par five. Correct. Ah, that was that was fun. That was Well, well, well. Hat Eagle the first, Eagle the second. and a birdie at three. So that is five underpar through the opening three holes and Tierell Hatton has moved within three shots of the lead having been eight back walking onto that first team. Yeah, Jaden Shaper’s four under after three and he’s one behind Hatton in school. Tough school. Roman Langas must be thinking please hold this part. He must be thinking he’s shooting six over. Yeah, you only see that sort of stuff on video games. If he holds this, the group’s 10 under after three holes. Yeah, well done. That’s his first gain of the day. There we go. Yeah, they all know what’s happening in this group. They know something special is happening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the start like this from two players uh in the same group like this. It’s quite incredible. So, they will head off to the uh the first of the par 3es here at Yas Links number four. It would be interesting to see now how quickly news gets round. If you see a little bit of gathering in this group, the start they had. Yeah, if you are just switching on, this is how Tier Hatton has started today from the rough at the first. This was traveling as well, wasn’t it? He was saying get down, get down. Well, there’s one way he gets down. Straight down the hole. Then on the second par five just took a little bit off a full gas eight iron into this second just within a couple of feet. I mean what a start. Yeah. Then through the fairway here at three, we pressed with the driver, but just a pitch and stunning control again out the raft for Hatton. And he’ll be just starting thinking something special’s on. He knows that they’re used to shooting 66s and fives, these guys. But the real real low score, the 60s and things like that, he’ll know that’s on there. You got to forget about it. Yeah. But there’s a there’s a long way to go. I mean I mean this is the first this is the first question here is the path three. You know, we we we said that this was a very difficult pin position on the on the top left. Let’s see how aggressive he decides to be. There’s not many others. Nine’s not easy to get to, but the rest apart from this fourth hole, H might just want to calm down, make a par, I think. But then he can have a go at the rest of them. And it is to nine we go. And Raasmas Huygar from just over 200 y. Yeah, this is very getable. It funnels into the back there. There’s many different ways to hit this close. It just needs to be in line. It’s the only thing that matters. It’s okay. I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody will threaten that hole too today on nine. Perry next to play. Exactly the same yardage that Raasmas had. Yeah, it’s just playing into a little bit of left to right breeze, isn’t it? This uh second shot at nine safe. If you’re down the left hand side of the fairway, you’ve got more of a chance with that slope to bring it into that flag. Where is Michael Lindberg? He’s there on the fairway. That was a bit of a dig. Bit steep. Trying to keep it low. Maybe trying to add a little bit of roll onto this bounce. Ah, he’s in line. Soft. Usually that kind of releases release on a down slope, but he still stuck it. Yeah, Shaper and Hatton a little bit of a weight on the fourth T. So, Hatton five under path through the first three holes. But Jake Schaper has also had a very fast start. This at the first for Birdie. Yeah, if Tatan didn’t start unbelievably well, this will be the story we were all talking about. Yeah, good drive down the second and lovely iron shot right under the hole. Straight putt up the hill right in the middle. Then a little bit of a bonus here from what looked like to be about 100 ft. Look at this. Three on the trot. Not good enough to get the honor though. Not good enough to get the honor on the next team. Must do better. Must do better. Come on, Jade. What are you doing, man? They’re having a little laugh, aren’t they? Of course they are. How often does this happen? Doesn’t Four under par through three holes, one down. Yeah, long ass clearly not into the conversation. He was pushed aside. You are the weakest link. Now first big test of the day here I think so. Yeah. It’s he knows it. He’s played it many times. He knows what this pin is. They have it here every year. I like normal. Yeah. But how do you stop temptation though going for the pin after that start? Not sure you do because he’s not somebody that really works the ball a fair bit in the air. So hitting a straight shot here makes it more difficult. It’s a nice swing. Oh, would it stay there? It does. He’s got a bit of help as well. Would he? Would he? I think he could. I think he I think he will. You can tell with Hatton, can’t you? When he when he holds his finish like that, you just know it’s straight at it. Now will Shaper follow. Very similar. He’s very straight hitter, isn’t he? Shaper doesn’t move the ball a lot. Little high tea clipper. Bit of height. Little right maybe. Just couldn’t commit to the left enough. Yeah, sensible. Well, it’s a tap in for Shaper from there. Well, according to AI, no one is officially recorded as shooting six under through four holes in a professional tournament. It’s on. Dom, it’s on. Long likes a right to left. Long. Ah, maybe a bit too far left. No. Yeah. Aha. Wasn’t far off, was it? The penalty is severe there at the fourth. Yeah. There you go. It It is certainly a consideration. Yes, I know it’s early doors. 61. Paul wearing Friday last year on his way to a a wonderful victory course record existing course record could Hatton win himself the and then on seven the Nexo award of $90,000 and then on eight I hit four irons. Well, he’s got to shoot seven under for the last uh 15 holes to shoot 60. If you break down like that, the start he’s had is it’s out of this world. He’ll just go right 7 under from here and shot 60. That’s doable, isn’t it? It’s doable. I’m quite excited. I’ll be uh staying tuned for this for Hatton. Unmissable indeed. Well, you are our crystal ball, Jamie. You actually called it. Fast start for Hatton. Not even sure you thought it was going to be quite this. Not quite that fast. You throw enough darts, Dom. Sometimes find a bullseye. Uh, Saturday, he’s got nothing to lose. He’s such a good player. Nothing went right for him first two days. It’s all going right today so far. Let’s see if Rasmus Hoyer can hold another one and he can. So, the putter is warming up for the day. Three bird is in four holes for Rasmus. Slowly up to his standards, let’s be honest. Yes, getting there definitely. So Shaper played it safe off the tea. Hatton with a pretty good look at Birdie and Longas. Well, we’ll see. Yeah, that’s the interesting one. The one from Longas. There we go. This is exactly the angle that we needed to give you an idea of what Longas is facing. He’s going to putt it, isn’t he? Up that bank. Well, if you were playing with your friends, yeah, you’d open it up, but not quite so when you’re playing the HSBC championship. I might play a nine iron runner up, but they don’t I’m not sure this pan on whether it grabs it or not, but I think this is the play because the fringes are running about 10 on the simp as well. They almost like the greens. It’s a good hit though up this bank. Bit too much. Bit too much. Stay there. It’s so steep in front of you that you know you have to give it a bit more of a tonk then you easily do that till Hatton’s marker right there. What’s that about 12 ft for Hatton? Looks close, doesn’t it? I think bird for birdie. Oh, right in the middle. Right in the jaws for the talented Swede. He’s had some birdie ps, but he’s had them all from about sort of 20 25 ft, hasn’t he? Michael Lindberg on the front line as we go to Shaper at four. Well, it’s his range, isn’t it? 100 ft on the third 80 here. That’s not going to do the journey. You see, that’s exactly what we were talking about with Tier. Tier has the experience to to manage this period of heat that he’s found where Shaper was, you know, like something’s happening. Oh. Oh. And you start thinking about it. Yeah. Now Tur will I think Tur will just put those first three holes behind him. He’s got that experience. Got to let it go and start again which he knows there’s something special on here. Raticup is the perfect example of that. It’s just a hole by hole and not a hole. Another hole. Long gas. Keep trying to save par. What a good save. He does those mini fist bumps. Raml Longas, you know, pocket fist bumps. I think it’s shaper to go still. I don’t think he’s I don’t think Tier can have a go just yet. Or can he? I think it’s Shaper to go. Oh, maybe they’re equid. They just have a little chat. You Yeah. Okay, I’ll go. I’m good. I’m in heat. Now, from memory, I think there’s a little bit of left to right in this. Yeah. Okay. I think I might be wrong. I hope I’m not for him. And remember this for a little bit of history. No one has gone six under to the first four holes in professional tournament golf. Well, they have now. Wow, what a start for Tier Hatton who is now within two shots of the lead. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? It’s incredible. Absolutely incredible. Look at him. Look. Never seen him happy. What a shot though to this pin. You’ve got to have it. You got to pitch it on a sixpence. But that’s the thing to do when you catch a little bit of heat like that and it’s just to let it happen. You just look at what you want to do and you try to put everything else aside. Clo it’s almost like close your eyes and go for whatever is appealing to you. Well s they’re walking towards the 15. Sadly Jaden Schaer missed his power part there. So a step back for him. Patton continues to move forward into the back nine. Michael Lindberg. Did you get to the green this early in the day, Jenny? I don’t think 340 the front. I don’t think so. I think he thinks so. He didn’t go full tilt. Catch if you catch a good bounce just short the green there somewhere. Far away. Yeah, about what 10 paces short of front edge. It’s good leave. Very good leave. Well, we’re seeing something uh rather special out there, aren’t we? Tier Hatton. Look at that. Six under through four holes. He’s already into a share of third place. and he’s closed within two shots of our co-leaders Aaron Ry and Tommy Fleetwood. It’s already been special. We could be in for a very special day here in uh Abu Dhabi. This Rolex Series event, complete turnaround. Tier was so angry when he came off the course yesterday having double bogeied the last and now look at him fly. Shaper got it to 10 under, but that bogey of four sees him slip back. And well, five is not a long par four. That’s a chance. It’s another chance. He’s got the driver. Yeah, look, confidence is up. If he just drives the ball, three good drives here, he’s going to have three good chances again. Five, six, seven. Got to find the fairway though. Yeah. If. Yeah. Yeah. It’s an if he’s in there quick. There we go. That’s going to be a flick again. Step one. Box ticked. A few people have showed up there. Words got round. Hang on a minute. More aggressive this group with the driver. There’s a lot of players hitting irons down here. Well, we’re getting excited here in the box about records for nine holes, 18 holes, six holes, four holes. Let’s just enjoy the ride. Sheer new driver in the bag. Three under after four. Bit like you said, I’m impressed that the speed and power he gets with such a it’s like almost like a three quarter back swing. That’s fine. There. The man of the moment, Terrell Hatton here in Abu Dhabi. Jamie, I’ve got uh Jose Maria Canosaurus at the Swiss Open. Birdie Machine Canazarus 7827. Listen, I don’t know whether this this is a low nine to par. I don’t know whether it’s front or back nine. Yokam Hegman at the Alfred Dunhill car at St. Andrews. Simon Khn at Celtic Manor. Matt Wallace actually over at Jira Golf Estates in the DP World Tour Championship that only a couple of years ago. Well, what a start from Hatton and uh it was just set up beautifully from a slide up slope. I think it was an eight iron. Took a little bit off it. A lot of spin control. Then on the third we were questioning you know why driver off the tea but then by doing that even missing the fairway you’re opening up that back left very intelligently like and hits another one close for his third one in a row. I think this is the hardest shot on the front nine fourth with the flag 203 yds but he’s eyeing it up and down. Yeah, just made it over that slope, didn’t it? And stuck. Brilliant. And the putt to go six under through four holes. You know, I’ve always said I wonder I wonder if Tur gets a round where everything goes his way cuz you know, he can be a bit woow me at times. Maybe we’re seeing it today. This could be the round where all every single shot he hits is a good one. It might happen. He’s so straight. He’s got his eye in. His part’s brilliant. So, I never seen you working so hard on that computer, Tom, trying to find all these records. You’re doing a good job going through your keyboard. So, six under through four. No one’s ever done that. That’s some achievement. I’m just We still only had one round of 59, haven’t we? Oliver Fisher on the DP World Tour. Yeah. back in 2018 Portugal I think it was. Plenty of players have shot 60. That’s you know easy. Have you Jamie? Have you? Yeah. Oh funny funny you asked. The only difference between your 60 and mine is that we’re placing the bowl. Yeah. Well those those record scores when you preferred lies don’t count. Niko. So bad life. Look at this. Hatton squeezed it down the left hand side as well. So he’s got a good angle. Shaper down in that little dip where John Perry was earlier on. Long gas a little further back. I don’t think Hank could place that any better. This is a good spot to come from. Manhattan has a perfect one on the left hand side of the Benini angle. Wonder if you can hear the conversation here between Brendan and Roma. And when when your playing partners start so well, it can drag you along as well. You Well, it does two things. It either it either you go with or you’re trying to stay out of the way. Yeah, true. Now, a bit of a draw lie to a right pin. And he likes a draw as well, so he’s going to have to try to counter this a little bit, not to try to give it too much draw spin. Oh, wow. Yeah, you can tell by that ball’s reaction. It was definitely drawing. Good shot by remain Lindberg putting from quite a long way back here at 10. Very tight just short of this green this grass. So rolls through the fringes very well, but that’s got to go go. It’s not bad. It’s not bad. Yeah, very good chipper would have chipped that and probably give it a little bit better of a chance. Shaper down in the dip back at five. We’ve seen this before. He’s got to pitch it by the flag or just pass the flag and use the bank behind it. There is a slope just short of this flag. Yeah, that one. Now that ball of long gasp might be a little bit in the way from Tur 40y old how you normally would. You’re reluctant to ask him to mark it from that distance though, aren’t you? Yeah, but I mean Yeah, it’s a lot of thing to do. Yeah. Well, this is right in his wheelhouse. What’s that? He’s got a bit of grass behind the ball. There’s a lot of grass here. Is he worried the ball will move if he removes it? Is he going to divot? But it’s not just the one behind the ball. It’s the two others as well. Yeah. Look. Yeah. Oh, that’s incredibly unlucky. Oh, hang on. That’s not too bad. How’s your luck? I mean, I would I wouldn’t moan moan about my luck. So, no, no, no. I understand. But but but you know what? What are the odds of having a start like this? Zero. What are the odds of finding just a little bit of a piece of a divot right in the striking zone of the ball? What are the odds of that happening, too? Well, but yeah, how’s your luck? It was probably a little bit of an exaggeration. Rather, actually, yes. The dimples. That’s one of those rather frustrating ones, isn’t it? Just hanging over the hole. That that ball happened still did quite well that that lie he had. It it run on a bit. It’s only it’s got under 20 ft for a birdie which isn’t impossible but yeah from a good lie there he was going to dance. Yeah, of course it would have. Right, Raasmas Hoygard who was a little bit scrappy early on, but he’s finding his rhythm now, particularly with the putter. This for four birdies in five holes. He’s got it. Yeah, you can do this sort of stuff. This is what Rasmus can do. All of a sudden, he turns it on, it gets hot. That’s what he should be doing on a golf course like this in no wind. Dom. He’s that good. Well, he moves to seven underpar. He is four under on his round. Likewise, John Perry. Lindberg’s three under. Tier Hatton, remember, is six under par through the first four holes. He’s got a birdie putt here. Oh, you wouldn’t bet against it, but it’s uh going to be Jaden Shaper first. Up the hill for Shaper. He’s three under through the first four with a bogey. Just a par for him then on the fifth. It might be a bit closer than I thought actually. Hatton’s ball. Still very makeable. Yeah, makeable. Yeah, very makeable. His biggest challenge now would be not to think about that little piece of grass that was behind his ball on the second shot. That’s that’s the only challenge in front of him. Well, he can par his way in and uh for the rest of the front line and match his low front line score on the DP World Tour. He’s going to beat that telling you now. Seventh is easily reachable. par five. You can just see the intensity just gone up with him. Um when these great players just get that vase, that feel they they can do incredible things like he’s doing. Right. Come on Tit. Oh, so the run comes to an end. That’s going to be a par for Hatton. Oh, he’s going to need to take himself off somewhere quiet and have a word with himself. What’s going on? Yeah, get a grip. Falling. Come on. Yeah, you say that, but you know what? He will feel a little bit of injustice with that te-ball. He would. You know very well. He would. Yeah. Well, what everyone would great te shot and unfortunately just found a poor light. Same thing happens. It just wasn’t going to drop. Didn’t drop down. Pass all around then. Yeah. Four goes one way, five comes back the other way, and then six goes in the same direction as number four. So you get thrown through the wind, then a change of angle again at the par five, seventh. Yeah, it’s the difference between the front and the back n the front n has a little bit more variety and then when you get on the back nine, it’s uh it’s a couple of holes out and a couple of holes back in along this beautiful coastline, man-made. This is 11 on your left hand side. 18 T- box on the right. That almost looks like it’s an AI generated thing, doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s from one of our drones. That is real. Yeah. Golf architecture has changed so much in in in the last couple of generations. To think that all of this is man-made. What a work. Incredible vision to be able to put this thing together. Yeah. Stunning piece of land, isn’t it? The shape, all those sand dunes. Do you think you’d be a good course designer, you guys? No. No. No. I I I think consultancy I I think that I I I would like to do that. Just agree with people and just take the fee. No, not really. No. To really give a a proper print in there, Jamie. I think I’m a bit more adventurous than you. But yeah, a golf architecture is just a different thing. You have to know the aronomy side of it, the different type of trees that you can plant in different, you know, low points and all that kind of stuff. It’s not just really drawing a golf ball on the piece of paper like we all did when we were in primary school. It’s an amalgamation of skills from various people, isn’t it? I could sort of understand better if you were given a piece of land which had some natural contours to it and everything, but when you’re given just a a blank from scr from scratch. Yeah. Exactly. I think when I go on walks I can see a hole down a Yes. a wooded area or a field or whatever. You can see the holes. Yeah, this would make a nice path. This make a nice path for Okay, this is the t the last t-shirt. I think he’s got to get right. Really right here. Hit the fairway here. You got a chance making birdie again. It’s not an easy fairway to find. There you go. That’s right. off the right. Touch a hill. Uh, it’s found the rough, but it might have found the thick stuff. It’s diff. Yeah, right flag. It was sloping away from the bunker to the middle of the green. Just visually this T-shot just uh it seems to lower ball flight and just chase it down the fairway rather than carry it. I remember when we first played here a couple years ago, the wind was off the left and the number of people that were hitting it in the long grass left was it’s a difficult visual off the tea. Raman had to make some changes, didn’t he? Had a wrist injury. He always used to hit a a draw off the tea and he had to go to a fade. He’s been trying to get his draw back, but the the stats suggested 135th strokes gained driving that he is just struggling a little bit this season. Top 20 in the driving stats by contrast for Shaper. Little bit like a Nick Price sequence in there. Like a quick a quick quick action. What a player he was, wasn’t he? Nick Price. I played with him in an open. Play a bit better or not. Wow. Of all the tournaments, that was the tournament to play with Nick Price. Yeah, it was incredible experience. Third round at St. Andrews 1990. Played third to last group, believe it or not. Nico. Oh, wow. What happened? He beat me. It’s amazing experience. It was the FAO year when Faldo was playing with Norman just behind us. It was something else. But Nikki, what a player. What a person as well. One of the nicest bloke you’ll ever meet. And he’s one of those people who can remember people’s names. That’s an unbelievable trader personality. I mean, you amazing. And not many can do that, can they, Dave? Now parry fairway wood on the 11. There’s a nice shot to paint here. Little bit of left to right in the air. You’ve got enough space. Flag 34 on. So somewhere pitching in the first third of the green. Trying to find that right pocket. Ah, too much. Too much from Perry. Oh, the other way. He’s gone the other way. Tell you what, that’s actually a pretty good result from a low tumbling left. It was going to find a long grass. Now he’s got a bunker shot. Could still get this up and down. Yeah, it could break that, wasn’t it? We’re hearing that Tasmos was wayward off the tea again there and has had to hack it back into the fairway. Meanwhile, Long Gas and Hatton away in that right hand rough equidistant from the hole at 155 to go. Shaper 158 yds out, but he’s in the fairway. He needs a lie, doesn’t he, Pat? Up this six. You just see the energy in his stride. Yeah. Can’t you just The body language is completely different to the back nine yesterday. had two doubles on the bar fives and the back nine yesterday. Turns those into birdies today. Do you think Hugo was worried about losing his shoes? Maybe he thought it was going to be foggy. They are fluorescent, aren’t they? They really are. If you are just switching on, you miss something quite special because Tierrell Hatton started his round. Eagle. Eagle. Birdie. Birdie. He wasn’t too far away from adding another birdie a short while ago at the fifth. He is six under par through five holes. Had to check that. Yeah, it’s a record for professional golf. Six under through four. But uh we’re sort of expecting more now, aren’t we? 90. This is tricky with a front right pin on six. Sorry, five. Yeah, one six, aren’t we? Here it is. Tight to that bunker and he’s the angle’s against him, but he can maybe chop one out the raft. fit a little bit of try and get a little bit of left to right spin. Hold it off. It’s all on the lie. Green slopes right to left, doesn’t it? The wind’s coming from the from the right side as well. He’s got to keep this left. He knows that. Get it pin high left if he can. That’ be some shot from here. Six from the right. This pin, but there’s a slope just right of it as well. That doesn’t look too bad. Yeah, they’re clapping. But that’s only one place that’s going, isn’t it? Just Oh, that’s not sure. That’s whether you’d rather have in the bunker. Probably not, actually. That’s going to be difficult wherever it was down that side. Yeah, we’re not seeing a lot of spin out of the bunkers this week, are we? No, we’re not. No, you can’t hit those high floaty spinny ones. Gas with a uh similar equation to solve. Seen that quite a bit this week where they they they’re playing for the flyer for the jumper out the rough with the no spin, but they just don’t quite come out. That was a similar line to hands and it’s gone totally the other way. So, sort of a saddle back to short of this green. So, you’ve got to be on the fairway on the sixth. Well, Rasmus Huygar did not get it back in the fairway at 11. This is his third shot at this par five. Completely blind shot for the Dane. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to make his par from there. Huygar has had four birdies in the last five. It’s come to a halt here unless he pulls off a miracle. Lindberg, he’s playing his second. Just see the more bend in the knee trying to get to the bottom of this ball. Chasing it in left to right. You generally come over it and he’s come right over it that one. Are we going to have all three in that bunker? No, he’s short. that looked to sit down in that looks quite long that rough there, but he’s got the angle and he’s got plenty of green to work with. Tier Hatton eight behind our leaders at the start of the day and then that rocket lightning fast start to move within two. He’s in a slightly tricky spot there at six. He’ll need to uh have all his short game skills there. to make his part. Mind you, the way he’s playing, he might chip it in. Who knows? Connor Sim off to a fast start. He’s gone four under through the first six holes. Shaper, remember? Birdie, Eagle, Birdie, McIntyre, couple under through the first two holes as well. So, there looks to be a score out there at the moment, doesn’t there? Yeah, it’s there to be taken today. Moving day. I say moving day Saturday. Well, it is. Really is here. There’s plenty of chances because the golf course is in such good condition. There’s not much breeze either. And generally players warm up to a golf course once you start getting into the third round. They’re starting to get a feel for the conditions. And this is what you get. Plenty of birdies, which is good news for us. Yeah. Sorry, Jamie Mory Mari away. He’s par that that opening hole. So longast short of the green here. at the sixth and it’s just a slope before this pin. It’s quite quick near the end here for Langas. He’s got to get it just right. Can he get some spin? Not really. Just little chip and run, but should be quite quick here. Good shot there from Ramalas to get it pin high. gives tour to happen a good mark of that to get inside. Shapers got the putter out. He’s on the green below his feet. We saw him practicing these, didn’t we, before his round and he’s very good at this. But again, it’s all on the line and there could be some sand around the ball as well. So maybe getting the strike might not be easier for Tur. Scrambly stats are always fantastic. Saw the sand come up there on the strike. If he played it and he’s softer, the ball just finishes in front of you. So yeah, it was a drive to blame. Over to 11. This is going to be Michael Lindberg first to play here from the rough. Settle and back to six. Jaden Schaper has a birdie putt from what 25 ft or so. Starting to get warm out there. Beautiful weather here this week in Abu Dhabi. Great time of the year to come out. Leaving the flag in. Not many doing that these days. Can work in your favor. Good effort. Imagine this atmosphere here. What a bad present. No birdie, but a very stressfree par for Jaden Shaper. So he stays at nine under, five off the lead as we go to Lindberg. This is a birdie putt at 11 for the Swede. Uh, and with this length, he’d be expecting to birdie this off the tea. But, uh, wow, that broke. That went sideways at the hole and six and Tier Hatton for par. Just a little bit of right to left here for Hatton. Just outside the hole. He can do no wrong. Uh, Tier Hatton. So, that’s a nice little momentum keeper. I I think he deserved it after the lie he had on the fifth. The pardon five. Mhm. could have gone in as well. So, well done. Tur keeps it going. Now he’s got Now he’s got a few chances. Yep. Second easiest hole on the course coming up. The par five seventh. Get a good drive away on nine. That’s definitely a chance. Long gas for par. Two good up and downs there from Manhattan and from Longas. No damage done. Well, John Perry has this part. He was in that green side bunker for birdie at 11. And this is to move five under on his round. Very well struck put. Quite a slow putt. Straight up the green there for Parry. Yeah, what an excellent day he’s having as well. 800 par just inside the top 25 as it stands. He’s actually projected to drop from seventh to ninth on the race Dubai rankings as it stands. He finished with an eight on his card on the last yesterday. So, what could have been? That looks fun, doesn’t it? He probably makes that look slightly easier than you or I would. I think so. I think I’d have fallen over about five times on that little stretch. Gorgeous. What a nice way to spend your Saturday morning. Now to Rasmus Hoy, guys. Been scrapping down this hole. Bit of military golf. He makes his p. There’s the seventh T. Par five group in front still on the fairway. So just a little bit of a wait. It’s a pretty wide target to hit seventh. Those bunkers won’t be coming into play for these guys. Warming up nicely, isn’t it? Terrell Hatton has been the story of the morning so far. No doubt about it. He was 600 through four holes. He is 600 through six holes and within two of the lead hunting a fifth gold star, a fifth Rolex Series title this week. And let’s not forget that Tier is also third in the race Dubai rankings. Yeah, that’s a story that we’ve sort of overlooked, hasn’t it, with this incredible start he’s got. So him and Fleetwood got great chances in the final rankings. Marco Pen, he’s not far behind either, second in the rankings. So there’s plenty of stories out here. Till’s best ever finish on the race to Dubai is fourth. He’s done that a couple of times. So he’s on course to improve on that. But uh they may give Rory Maroy a run for his money this year. 591 yards this seventh. It’s a long par five, but they can they can reach. It’s been an eagle here today. It’s playing well under its par 4.59 today. Not sure what length you’d have to make a par five for these guys not to reach. Well, 18 into the breeze. That’s because of the breeze, not because of the length. But see, 18 615 yards, but the angle, it’s the angle there. What would you say? It’d have to be over 650. Probably even then someone would do it. Well, drives from Rory and Pen well over 350 this week. P on the eight. This get a ball in the left hand side. The water’s not in play. Gathers there. Nine’s not too bad. Back center. So, he should break 30 here. Uh this nine, which he’s not done. Tur front nine. That’s a nice to be able to break 30 is uh is something that’s always in your mind as a professional golfer. This next hole, this par five is probably going to be key to uh how he completes this front nine. Sadly, we’re beginning to run out of time on our feature group coverage. you you will be able to follow his progress on our main coverage which is going to begin in around about 2 or 3 minutes. It’s been something special to watch, hasn’t it? Really has. Little bit of luck at the first. It was It was certainly traveling. caught the pin and dropped and a good eagle at the short par five second followed with birdies at three and four and four was a really good birdie. Fantastic birdie hardest on the golf course today the par three tur birded it. I knew I I just had a feeling it’ go well today, but not like obviously no no idea he’s going to do this because the course is there really today. It’s going to be a great watch. That is for sure. He’s having quite a few swishes on this tea, isn’t he? Here we go. Go on. Go on. Trying to fire up the muscles. Great view of this T-shot here at 7. This par five. What’s the line there, J? Just to the right of that red TV tower in the distance. There’s quite a bit of room down the right. Track man following. And that’s a perfect line. He can reach from there. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable watch, hasn’t it? So far, let’s hope hope that Terrell can keep it going out there. Main coverage is next. everybody. Well done.
7 Comments
If only they had some spectators!!!
Nice Rory😊
Why has the video stopped
Tommy’s superpower this year is his approach play, reminds you of Scottie, most shots are within 8 feet. Makes birdies a lot easier.
Lindberg has the Dustin Johnson right had position at the top of his backswing. I don’t think that this is easily repeatable. Let your hand reach up there naturally. Anything that is forced in the swing will always be a weak spot IMHO.
rory the best
Surely it is about time players or their caddies repaired divots and clean the loose turf of the fairways or have a dedicate person with each group to fix and clean up. Hattons ball resting on a loose bit of turf on the fairway is nonsense.