Abu Dhabi Championship date, start time & TV info
Date Thursday, November 6 – Sunday, November 9
Course Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Start time By 3.17am tomorrow
TV Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Golf from 4am tomorrow
Rory McIlroy has finished runner-up four times in the Abu Dhabi Championship, but has never won the title, and his course-form figures at Yas Links are 12-3. Will it be another case of close but no cigar for the Northern Irishman this week?
McIlroy has not hit a driver in competition since the Ryder Cup, having left his Big Dog in the locker room throughout the India Championship last time out. This week may be used by the world number two as a gentle loosener for next week’s DP World Tour Championship, where his record is phenomenal.
Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton are more difficult to leave out the staking plan. Fleetwood, a dual Abu Dhabi champion, opened with a 62 at Yas Links last year and finished sixth. He lives in Dubai, won the Dubai Invitational last year, and triumphed in India last time out.
Hatton, despite saying some derogatory things about Yas Links after his 2022 debut, has course form figures of 6-7-2. He has shown to great effect in the Dunhill Links how dangerous he is on a low-scoring links.
Fleetwood and Hatton should be around the lead all week, but two others are preferred at bigger odds.
Steve Palmer’s Abu Dhabi Championship predictions
Tom McKibbin
3pts each-way 20-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
Ugo Coussaud
1pt each-way 100-1 BoyleSports
Steve Palmer’s Abu Dhabi Championship preview
Top tip
Tom McKibbin 20-1
Rising star Tom McKibbin produced the golf of his life last week, winning the Hong Kong Open by seven shots, and the 22-year-old will tee up in Abu Dhabi absolutely bursting with confidence.
McKibbin opened with a ten-under-par 60 in Hong Kong, needing only 25 putts, then fired a bogey-free Friday 65 in which he found every green in regulation. He hit 17 greens in regulation on Saturday, repeated the trick on Sunday to close with a 63 and finish on 27 under par.
The Hong Kong Open has been around since 1959 and McKibbin smashed the 72-hole scoring record by five shots. Those heroics earned him a place in next year’s Masters and next year’s Open, so he will be making his Masters debut in April and teeing up in his third Open in July.
Joining LIV Golf has not hampered McKibbin’s career progress. He played in two Majors this year, has two guaranteed for next year, and is up to a career-high 85th in the world rankings. He won on the DPWT in the summer of 2023 and has been based in Dubai for the best part of two years.
Seven of McKibbin’s last eight starts in the Middle East have resulted in a top-20 finish – all but one of them on the DPWT. He was fourth in the Qatar Masters last year, then tenth on his Yas Links debut, closing with a 64. He won three points from four matches in the Team Cup in Abu Dhabi in January, then was sixth in the Dubai Desert Classic.
The long, desert layouts suit McKibbin, who is one of the best drivers on the circuit, and the linksy nature of this particular Gulf track makes it even more suitable for him. Hong Kong was his fifth consecutive top-20, he was fourth in the Spanish Open last month, and this greens-in-regulation machine will be thrilled with how well he putted last week.
Tip-top Tom should arguably be fourth in the Abu Dhabi betting.
Next best bet
Ugo Coussaud 100-1
The best outsider of the golfing week may be Ugo Coussaud, who could be set for a DPWT breakthrough on Sunday. He loves his trips to this region. There were two events in Abu Dhabi on the Challenge Tour in 2023 – Coussaud finished 15th in the first one and runner-up in the second, losing by a shot in the UAE Challenge.
When Coussaud became a DPWT player, he opened 2024 with results of 70-34-12-2 in the Middle East, finishing runner-up in the Qatar Masters, losing by a shot. When he went back to the Middle East for the Abu Dhabi Championship 12 months ago, making his Yas Links debut, he finished sixth, finding almost 88 per cent of greens in regulation, reaching 20 under par and losing by only four shots.
Fifth place in the Spanish Open last month showed Coussaud is playing well enough to get into the Yas Links mix again. He won the Challenge Tour in 2023 and looks capable of shedding his DPWT maiden tag at the age of 33 this week.
Read more top golf tips from Steve Palmer:
Abu Dhabi Championship: Yas Links course guide, start time, odds and how to watch
‘It seems only a matter of time before he sheds his maiden tag’ – Steve Palmer has three tips for the World Wide Technology Championship
World Wide Technology Championship: El Cardonal course guide, start time, odds and how to watch
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