Hero Dubai Desert Classic:
The DP World Tour begins its season this week with the headline event of the Middle East Swing at the Dubai Desert Classic.
When you think of the Dubai Desert Classic, you first have to think of Rory McIlroy (+350) who has won this event four times, including the last two years.
McIlroy has carried the mantle for European golfers for the better part of the last 15 years when he won his first professional event here at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic at age 19.
However, he has had a rival to carry that mantle for Europe in Jon Rahm (6-1). Rahm is playing this event for the first time.
Tyrrell Hatton (10-1) joined Rahm in defecting to LIV Golf in 2024 and won twice (once on LIV and at the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last fall).
Tommy Fleetwood (11-1) lives in Dubai and has a golfing academy based there but has won in his adopted hometown only once, which was last year in the 2024 Dubai Invitational held at Dubai Creek.
Viktor Hovland (18-1), the 2022 Dubai Desert Classic winner, once again has changed swing coaches as he was spotted last week in Dubai with a new coach in TJ Yeaton.
Last year, Nicolai Højgaard (55-1) earned his PGA Tour card, and this year twin brother Rasmus (22-1) will be playing on the PGA Tour as well but will also be frequently playing on the DP World Tour as both aspire to make the Ryder Cup team later this year.
Robert MacIntyre (22-1) had a successful 2024 in his first full PGA Tour season with two victories — RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open.
Adam Scott (25-1) has finished in the top 10 in each of his last two appearances in this event.
Akshay Bhatia (40-1) makes a rare appearance in a DP World Tour event this week.
The Event
The Dubai Desert Classic was founded in 1989 and became the first European Tour event to be staged on the Arabian Peninsula, where it is now one of six events there. The tournament was created by a Dubai golf government program to develop and promote both professional and casual golf tourism in the city and throughout the United Arab Emirates. The event is also notable because it was one of the first tournaments to embrace the concept of paying appearance fees to attract top players. That strategy has proved to be largely successful as the list of winners here includes many big names including Tiger Woods (2006, 2008), Rory McIlroy (2009, 2015, 2023, 2024), Ernie Els (1994, 2002, 2005) and other major champions like Seve Ballesteros (1992), Fred Couples (1995), Jose Maria Olazabal (1998), Mark O’Meara (2004), Henrik Stenson (2007), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017). This event is also notable in terms of how it changed the way we watch golf on television. The Dubai Desert Classic was the first event televised live on Golf Channel when the network was founded in January 1995. Hero MotoCorp, a motorcycle and scooter manufacturer based in New Delhi, India, took over as the tournament’s title sponsor three years ago. The event is a Rolex Series event with an increased prize fund of $9 million.
The Course
The Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club has hosted the Dubai Desert Classic every year, except for 1999 and 2000, since its inception in 1989. This track, a par-72 of 7,439 yards, is an exposed desert layout designed by Karl Litten that includes several dogleg holes that provide a bit more of a strategic test where wind can play more of a factor. Be on alert for potential draw biases as the afternoon groupings often deal with substantially stronger winds than the morning groupings. The Bermuda greens are relatively quick (12-13 on the stimpmeter). There are four par-5s, but three of them are on the back nine.
Dubai Golf provides a YouTube video flyover of the Majjis Course.
Dubai Desert Classic Recent History/Winners
2024: Rory McIlroy (-14/274); 7-2
2023: Rory McIlroy (-19/269); 16-5
2022: Viktor Hovland (-12/276); 10-1*
2021: Paul Casey (-17/271); 25-1
2020: Lucas Herbert (-9/279); 200-1**
2019: Bryson DeChambeau (-24/264); 10-1
2018: Haotong Li (-23/265); 110-1
2017: Sergio Garcia (-19/269); 20-1
2016: Danny Willett (-19/269); 40-1
2015: Rory McIlroy (-22/266); 7-2
2014: Stephen Gallacher (-16/272); 45-1
2013: Stephen Gallacher (-22/266); 70-1
2012: Rafael Cabrera-Bello (-18/270); 125-1
2011: Alvaro Quiros (-11/277); 16-1
2010: Miguel Angel Jimenez (-11/277); 66-1***
Playoff win over Richard Bland – *
Playoff win over Christiaan Bezuidenhout – **
Playoff win over Lee Westwood – ***
Trends and Angles
- Each of the last 14 winners here had at least one top-10 finish within their nine incoming starts.
- Only one event debutant (Richard Green, 1997) has won here.
- Going back to 2005, only two winners (Rory McIlroy, 2009; Haotong Li, 2018) had never had at least a top-25 finish in this event in a previous start.
Selections
Rasmus Højgaard (22-1, DraftKings)
If you are going to take on McIlroy at the top of the market in what has been “The Rory McIlroy Invitational,” then you do it with a player who has battled him recently, and that is Højgaard.
Højgaard outdueled McIlroy to win the Irish Open last September and was runner-up to him at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
While he did not win a match in last week’s Team Cup (Great Britain/Ireland vs. Continental Europe) in Abu Dhabi, that was largely due to brother Nicolai withdrawing with an illness as they would have been a formidable duo. Playing this past week in that event also could prove to be an advantage as it was for Victor Perez two years ago when Abu Dhabi opened the DP World Tour season.
Akshay Bhatia (40-1, FanDuel)
After a hot finish to 2024, Bhatia only finished 32nd at The Sentry.
He is making his debut in Dubai, but debutants from the PGA Tour have contended here in recent years, including Cameron Young (third) last year.
Patrick Reed (50-1, Caesars Sportsbook)
As of now (pending any sanctions for LIV participation), Reed is a member of the DP World Tour despite his status as a LIV Golf regular.
Reed was runner-up here two years ago to McIlroy and has a good history in Dubai having also finished second and third at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
He has also been a fast starter to the calendar year, having won The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open in past years during January.
Laurie Canter (60-1, FanDuel)
Canter went 3-1 last week for Team GBI in the Team Cup, which included a 5-and-4 win in Sunday singles over Romain Langasque.
He regained his full DP World Tour status last summer at the European Open.
Canter finished fourth here in 2021.
Placement markets, matchups, and/or other outrights will be available Wednesday at VSiN.com/picks
