Looking back now, it's easy to wonder whether the European Tour might've been better off saving its rebrand for the start of 2022. The emergence of a new coronavirus variant in the country where the season begins couldn't have been foreseen, but even without the abridgement of the Joburg Open and subsequent exit, it would've been a low-key launch for the DP World Tour and this brave and strategic and aligned new world.
This is where it begins in earnest and that would've been true regardless, with Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland headlining a good field at what by all accounts is a better-than-good golf course. Yas Links steps in at last to replace Abu Dhabi Golf Club for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and for many represents an upgrade; it's a more natural, exposed course which, under the right conditions, ought to ask more questions.
It also complicates things, because Yas Links is new to us, and it's new to McIlroy, who hadn't played it prior to this week*. He was obviously very fond of the former venue, although after missing another fine chance there last January, perhaps in some way he'll be glad to see the back of it. McIlroy put together no fewer than seven top-three finishes in his last eight visits to Abu Dhabi, but somehow never quite got over the line in front.
*McIlroy has in fact played the course casually some years ago - sentence above written after misinterpretation on press release
When you've won at Firestone and Portrush you are far from one-dimensional, but Lowry is clearly at his most comfortable by the coast and when the skills he honed at the latter course and beyond really come to the fore. That's been true since he defied wind and rain to win the Irish Open as an amateur, and after he blew Abu Dhabi apart with an opening 62 in 2019, a consistent breeze made things tricky when he won this title, too.
That victory set him on a path to become Open champion and Lowry, now down at 48th in the world, understands what this tournament can do for your season. And, having struggled somewhat on the PGA Tour towards the end of an otherwise successful year, the last time we saw him in these parts he finished ninth on what's likely a less suitable course in the season finale.
No match for a runaway winner, it was nevertheless a nice, low-key reintroduction and while a long-distance flight to the Middle East possibly isn't ideal, he'll have had time to adjust come Thursday. He's also won when completing the reverse journey, so it shouldn't be an excuse.
In his brief career so far, this star Aussie has won by the coast in his native Australia and in Scotland, and his game took off towards the end of 2021 with form figures of 2-8-4-16 to sign off. They came from a shootout in Portugal to the tight confines of Valderrama and demonstrate the versatility of a modern golfer with a sharp short-game, whose putter is the only real concern.
MacIntyre had every chance heading to the latter stages of that event only for one errant drive to cost him, but he rallied impressively for a valuable top-five finish which again puts him on the cusp of the world's top 50.
He has Masters and Open invites safely tucked away thanks to his exploits in those events last year, but getting into the WGCs and The PLAYERS, as well as the other two majors, is sure to be a huge goal and with no PGA Tour card to work with, his prospects will depend plenty on these first few events.
The Swede is clearly at his best by the sea or at least when there's a breeze to deal with, having also contended in Qatar and at Himmerland, so conditions here ought to suit more than the previous venue, where he nevertheless defied a bad start to finish a respectable 21st on his last visit.
Lagergren can be errant off the tee and is not a player to set your watch by, relying more on putting than I would ordinarily like in a selection. We saw it help him to second place in the Dunhill Links, where four top-five finishes is a remarkable return for a player of his level, and it was in evidence again when he finished mid-pack in the DP World Tour Championship.
I remain of the belief that keeping the Aussies on-side after one of them has won is at least worth considering and as I wrote last week, when Cameron Smith won the Sony Open in January 2020, Scott was among a host of his compatriots to follow suit, as was Lee.
More pertinently, this looks a potentially good venue for a player who ought to have won an Open Championship and did once win at Doha, the most links-like course we've seen so far in the UAE. He's also playing well, or at least was when last seen, finishing fifth in the CJ Cup and 14th at Wentworth in the weeks that followed a horror missed putt for a PGA Tour win in August.
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