Out of the Rough: Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (2025)

Following 40 events played across five continents and 26 different countries, the DP World Tour enters its end-of-the-season playoffs.

The DP World Tour Playoffs are here as this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship welcomes the top 70 golfers from the Tour’s season-long-standings. From here, the top 50 within the standings will advance to next week’s DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Yas Links plays host this week for the 20th edition of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. This is the second season that this event is part of the DP World Tour Playoffs, moving from its former early-season slot to this placement within the schedule a season ago.

The Field

As this week hosts a limited field of just 70 golfers, a star studded attendance is in store.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy headlines this week’s field as the current leader within the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings. McIlroy begins this week with an attempt to defend his crown as the DP World Tour Champion from a season ago.

He’ll be joined by a slew of PGA Tour regulars including Robert MacIntyre, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood. Michael Kim, Aaron Rai, Ludvig Aberg and Shane Lowry.

Additionally, the DP World Tour regulars continue to fight for promotion to the PGA Tour as the top ten from the season-long standings receive their PGA Tour cards for the 2026 season.

As it stands, the current top ten include Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, John Parry, Alex Noren, Laurie Canter, Haotong Li, Daniel Brown, Keita Nakajima and Jordan Smith. All of which will be playing this week.

The current first five out of the top-ten looking for big weeks to secure their PGA Tour cards for 2026 are Martin Couvra, Joakim Lagergren, Elvis Smylie, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Daniel Hillier.

Additionally, 20 golfers will be fighting for the right to play next week at the DP World Tour Championship.

Currently, the first fire golfers in the top 50 are Nacho Elvira, Commer Syme, Marcel Schnieder, Jacob Skov Olesen and Brandon Thompson-Robinson.

The current first five out are Todd Clements, Matthew Jordan, Dylan Naidoo, Francesco Laporta and Rai.

LIV Golf members Tyrrell Hatton and Patrick Reed will also be playing this week.

Paul Waring is the defending champion, having topped Hatton by two-strokes to claim victory a  season ago. 

There are no former champions of this event at Yas Links (since 2022) in this week’s field.

The Course

The Yas Links Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, UAE is a masterful piece of golf architecture. 

It is a links-style golf course that sits in the heart of the UAE and prior to its completion, the simple idea of such a course was unfathomable.

Now, Yas Links, which has hosted this event since 2022, offers an accurate resemblance to a true links course in the desert of the Middle East.

It was designed by Kyle Phillips, the mastermind behind courses such as Kingsbarn and Dundonald Golf Links.

Opened in 2010, it plays as a par-72 at 7,425 yards.

This course will test every aspect of the elite golfer’s game.

All but one of the par-three holes featured this week have water in play.

On top of that, the closing hole comes in at nearly 650 yards with water running all the way down the left side of the fairway. A true nerve-racking finishing hole for anyone looking to close this event out come Sunday.

The fairways this week feature rolling hills and lead to seashore greens.

The designers of this state-of-the-art facility were able to expand the existing shoreline and then in turn, used the dredged sand to build an ‘interesting’ variety of dune formations.

Weather can be a factor here as this golf course sits along the coastline.

Winds were a factor in the 2022 playing of this event as the winner, Thomas Pieters, was the only player to finish in double-digits under par. Last year, Waring emerged victorious at -24.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, the forecast for this upcoming week in Abu Dhabi can be expected, dry and warm. There is currently a zero-percent chance of precipitation across all four days. Temperatures are set for 89-degrees across both Friday and Saturday and 88-degrees across the weekend. Winds are also set for 11 mile-per-hour for both Friday and Saturday and 10 miles-per-hour across the weekend. As previously mentioned, this course sits along the coast, allowing coastal winds to come into play.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Average Driving Distance

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained Putting (SG: PUTT) / Three Putt Avoidance

• Par 5 Average Scoring

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Bogey Avoidance

Betting Card

Matt Fitzpatrick (+1900)

Per my stats based model, my overall favorite to win this week is Matt Fitzpatrick. He is currently first on Tour in both SG: TTG and SG: ATG. He is also third in par-five average scoring, third in birdie or better percentage, seventh in SG: APP, eighth in SG: PUTT, 18th in scrambling, 19th in average driving distance, 22nd in three-putt avoidance, 28th in bogey avoidance and 34th in SG: OTT. Now the sample size is rather small, but it is six events. In those six events he placed 21st at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, fifth at the BMW PGA Championship, fifth at the Omega European Masters, sixth at the Betfred British Masters, fourth at The Open Championship and fourth at the Genesis Scottish Open. Outside of blowing a five shot lead on Sunday at the Ryder Cup over Bryson DeChambeau (sorry, had to put that in there,) he’s been one of the hottest golfers on the planet. 

Rasmus Hojgaard (+2500)

There are few golfers on this planet, if any, that are better at desert golf than the Hojgaard twins. I’m not going to dive into their desert golf records, you can either take my word for it or do your own research, but trust me, it’s true. With that being said, I’m giving the nod to Rasmus over the higher priced Nicolai simply because Rasmus is playing better golf. He last played the Baycurrent Classic on the PGA Tour where he finished T14th. He also placed T3rd at the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour the week after winning the Ryder Cup with Team Europe. On the DP World tour he last played the BMW PGA Championship where he missed the cut but prior to that placed second at the Omega European Masters, 13th at the Betfred British Masters, second at the Danish Golf Championship and 16th at The Open Championship. He is currently fourth on Tour in SG: OTT, sixth in both average driving distance and par-five average scoring, ninth in birdie or better percentage, 11th in SG: TTG, 13th in SG: APP, 31st in SG: PUTT, 69th in scrambling, 97th in three-putt avoidance, 126th in SG: ATG and 131st in bogey avoidance. 

Kristoffer Reitan (+4500)

Of the DP World Tour regulars in the field, few, if any, are currently playing better golf than Reitan. He last played the Open de Espana where he placed 30th but prior to that had back-to-back fifth place finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and the Open de France. He also placed 24th at the BMW PGA Championship. He is currently seventh on Tour in SG: OTT, 13th in average driving distance, 14th in birdie-or-better percentage, 25th in bogey avoidance, 33rd in SG: PUTT, 37th in SG: TTG, 41st in three-putt avoidance, 48th in scrambling, 60th in SG: APP, 91st in par-five average scoring and 143rd in SG: ATG. 

Haotong Li (+10000)

A big number for a guy who won in the Middle East earlier this season at the Qatar Masters. He also placed fourth at The Open Championship and eighth at the Betfred British Masters, arguably the two best fields the DP World Tour sees all season. He most recently placed 21st at the Genesis Championship. Li is currently fifth on Tour in SG: APP, sixth in birdie or better percentage, ninth in bogey avoidance, 17th in average driving distance, 18th in SG: TTG, 21st in SG: OTT, 44th in par-five average scoring, 49th in three-putt avoidance, 64th in scrambling, 91st in SG: PUTT and 144th in SG: ATG.