Edited by Anand Datla
January 01, 2015: The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, 15 – 18 January, 2015, will celebrate its tenth anniversary in style by gathering one of the best fields of the year on The European Tour in terms of strength and depth, lead by Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson.
Some of golf’s biggest names, including four of the world’s top ten, will tee off at Abu Dhabi Golf Club for the Championship’s landmark event and a cut of the US $2.7 million prize fund.
McIlroy and Stenson, ranked World Numbers One and Two respectively, will head the 126 draw with World Number Five Justin Rose and three-time champion Martin Kaymer also among the favourites to challenge for the title, which will be defended by Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal.
American star Rickie Fowler, ranked tenth in the world, will also make his Arabian debut as he attempts to win his first European Tour event at one of the toughest tournaments on the calendar.
Stars of The 2014 European Ryder Cup team, Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson, Thomas BjØrn and Stephen Gallacher are amongst those looking to start their year off with a bang by securing one of the most coveted titles on The European Tour. They will be joined by a whole host of Europe’s finest including Nicolas Colsaerts, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Oliver Wilson and Edoardo Molinari.
The future of The European Tour has never looked brighter with a new generation of talented youngsters regularly taking titles and featuring on leaderboards. Heading this list is TCA Abu Dhabi ambassador, Matteo Manassero, a record-breaking four-time winner by the age of 20, while Alexander Levy, ThorbjØrn Olesen, Eddie Pepperell, Tommy Fleetwood, Emiliano Grillo, Peter Uihlein, Oliver Fisher, and Tyrrell Harron are all exciting young talents to look out for come Sunday afternoon of the 2015 Championship.
Additionally, the world’s best will be faced with the most challenging test yet posed by Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National Course following a series of course enhancements. After previous work on tightening fairways, adding bunkers and toughening the rough, 2015 brings water into play.
Giles Morgan, Global Head of Sponsorship and Events at HSBC, said: “One of the main reasons why this tournament has earned a reputation as the jewel in the crown of Middle Eastern golf is the sheer quality of the field. Year on year it just gets better and better as the world’s best players gravitate to Abu Dhabi – World Number One Rory McIlroy starts his new year with us, World Number Two Henrik Stenson is back hoping to go one better than 2006 and 2008 and Rickie Fowler had a stellar year in 2014 and will be looking for more of the same. Add in three-time winner Martin Kaymer and Ryder Cup stars Justin Rose, Victor Dubuisson and defending champion Jamie Donaldson and it really is a mouth-watering prospect.”
Morgan continued: “As a long-term international sponsor of the sport, we’ve seen the strength of the fields for our global flagship events just grow and grow – we’ve seen it in Shanghai for HSBC Champions, we’ve seen it in Singapore for HSBC Women’s Champions and in the last few years the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship has evolved into a genuinely world-class event.”
The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship has earned something of a reputation over the past decade for throwing up surprises, a trend Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director Tourism for Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), which owns and organises the event, believes now applies both on and off the fairways.
“Over the years, we’ve congratulated great champions and watched the game’s giants sometimes be edged out in a flurry of tense finales and unexpected results,” he said. “At the same time, players and spectators have seen the destination come up with some surprising and well above-par developments year on year. We’re looking forward to watching the drama unfold at Abu Dhabi Golf Club this January and to showing off our latest attention-grabbing attractions and products off the course. We hope all will be very pleasantly surprised.”
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