Preview of the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

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With Christmas and 2025 slowly creeping into view, the DP World Tour is entering its final stages and the start of the DP World Tour Playoffs.

Just 70 players remain in the race to be crowned the Race to Dubai winner but something monumental will need to happen to deny Rory McIlroy from capturing his third title in succession and sixth European Order of Merit crown. 

The objective for the bulk of the field this week is to ensure that they end the week in the top 50 and therefore secure their places in next week’s DP World Tour Championship.

So with plenty to play for here this week, here is everything you need to know. 

Where is The Tournament Taking Place?

The 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship will take place at the picturesque Yas Links Golf Course. Hosting this tournament for a third consecutive year, its broad fairways and open and accessible greens can often make this week a low scoring one, so in order to compete this week, the flat stick has to be firing. 

A course that is designed to favour the bigger hitters, the 7,465 par 72 offers a stern challenge but there is certainly nothing that the game’s longest hitters will be fearful of. 

With an abundance of scoring opportunities on offer including the final hole which is a 646 yard par 5, there should be plenty of birdies posted this week. 

What Are The Players Playing For This Week?

As well as the $9,000,000 prize pool, there are also 9,000 Race to Dubai ranking points on offer and the winner of this week will make a huge jump up the overall Race to Dubai standings. 

The Players Playing For This Week

Can Anyone Stop Rory McIlroy? 

After a steady and consistent season which has seen Rory McIlroy capture titles in Dubai and post several top three finishes, Rory McIlroy will tee off the Abu Dhabi Championship holding a handsome lead of 1,500 points over his nearest rival, South African Thriston Lawrence. 

A win this week for the four time major winner will all but certainly guarantee that this year’s Race to Dubai title will be his, but if he struggles the likes of Billy Horschel, Rasmus Hojgaard, Robert MacIntyre and Lawrence will all hope to take advantage. 

McIlroy has shown at times this year that he can become a little twitchy when in a position of winning and his fans will hope that he can banish the painful memories of the 2024 US Open and Irish Open where he was cruelly denied victories on each occasion.

Who Should we be Keeping an Eye on This Week?

With an absolute top class field assembled this week, there are plenty of players to keep a close eye on.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it is Rory McIlroy who will start the week as the bookies favourite and it’s easy to see why. 

The world number three, McIlroy has had a solid year without getting the wins to show for it. A winner down in Dubai right at the start of 2024, he also tasted success twice on the PGA Tour at the Wells Fargo and Zurich Classic.

Despite winning multiple times, 2024 will be remembered as a year of what might have been. Unable to add to his haul of four majors, he has now gone over a decade without winning one of the games biggest prizes and the doubts are starting to creep in as to whether he will be able to break that spell.

Having come from within a whisker at the U.S. Open and Irish Open, he will hope to pick up the winning thread again this week. 

Starting the week as McIlroy’s nearest challenger when it comes to the odds is his Ryder Cup teammate, Tyrell Hatton.

Having made the move to LIV Golf right at the start of 2024, Hatton has shown exactly why he is one of the most consistent players in the world over recent years with a brilliant first season.

The winner down in LIV Nashville, he also posted numerous top three finishes and almost helped guide his team, Legion XIII to the overall team title. 

Keen to try and maintain his world ranking and to play away from the LIV confines, Hatton has played in as many DP World Tour tournaments as he can and finished the season strongly by winning the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

The winner of that famous tournament for a third time, Hatton propelled himself into the top 25 in the Race to Dubai standings and will hope to make another huge leap this week. A winner of this tournament back in 2021 he could be a real contender this week.

Completing the top three in the betting is another European Ryder Cup stalwart, Tommy Fleetwood.

Like Hatton, Fleetwood has enjoyed a productive season and was a winner back in January when landing the 2024 Dubai Invitational. 

A classy player who has been consistently one of Europe’s best players, there is a feeling that the Englishman doesn’t win enough tournaments for the talent that he clearly possesses.

Now ranked ten in the world, Fleetwood has been able to get his game trending in the right direction this season and has posted two consecutive third place finishes in each of his last two starts. 

A winner of the Race to Dubai back in 2017, Fleetwood knows what is needed to compete at this time of the season and is looking to win his second European Order of Merit title. 

Still to win on the PGA Tour, there is a feeling that when the lights are at their brightest Fleetwood can fall short, he will hope to prove those doubters wrong over the next two weeks.

Eye on This Week


Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Betting 

There are plenty of brilliant players in the field for this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and if you fancy placing a bet before the action kicks off, here is how the top ten in the odds currently looks. 

Rory McIlroy - 9/2

Tyrell Hatton - 6/1

Tommy Fleetwood - 8/1

Joaquin Niemann - 11/1

Shane Lowry - 14/1

Rasmus Hojgaard - 18/1

Robert MacIntyre - 22/1

Adam Scott - 25/1

Thorbjorn Olesen - 25/1

Min Woo Lee - 25/1