Now that the stars have exited until returning in summer, the remainder of the DP World Tour's 'International Swing', a run of events which takes in five countries across two continents, will be played out by those who don't necessarily have their Rolex Series starts safely tucked away.
Unfortunately, it's still too soon for last year's Q-School graduates to get a game and that's a problem. The Ras al Khaimah Championship isn't even co-sanctioned and yet the blend of pathways and invitations and legends and form players leaves too many on the outside looking in, their prospects of earning full status for 2026 made bleaker by the week.
Fox then is the standout name at the head of the betting and much as I look for reasons to leave him out, I can't find any. He was excellent in Dubai last week given that he'd been off since October, benefitting it seems from a busy social schedule prior to Christmas, including a round with Rory McIlroy back home in New Zealand.
He says those rounds with friends had him feeling sharp for his return to action and really the only negative within that performance at Emirates GC was that he was a little wild off the tee, as he can be. Al Hamra though is far less punishing and I'd note that he's never been much of a factor in Dubai before, largely because he's average two fairways missed for every three he's aimed at.
Although he's conceding a head start to all of those who played in Dubai, Puig was in action through to the middle of December where a contending top-20 here in the Middle East was followed by a narrow missed cut, seemingly the fault of his short-game.
Before that we'd seen him finishing third, fourth and 12th in three DP World Tour events, two of them much stronger than this, and in the process we got confirmation of his prowess off the tee as nobody drove it better than he did across those 10 measured rounds.
Also putting well, this is every inch the modern powerhouse and his game should stack up really well with Al Hamra.
At 107th in the world, this isn't all about getting sharp for the return of LIV Golf, where he's part of Sergio Garcia's team, as Puig could bag himself a start in the PGA Championship and potentially more besides should he win his first DP World Tour title, as well as earning membership should he wish to take it out.
In turn that would mark him down as another potential candidate for the Ryder Cup and while unlikely he achieves that goal this year, he certainly appears to have the potential to make it at some stage. One way or another, these invites he's receiving provide an opportunity he doesn't really get on the more financially lucrative LIV circuit.
For now though he's in form, he's ideal for the course, and he has a higher ceiling than many of these. So while it would be the more robust form credentials of Jordan Smith around a tougher venue, with a red-hot putter likely required, I'll side with this somewhat unknown quantity instead.
Angel Ayora also made the shortlist, a fabulous young talent whose game looks similar to that of Puig. I've no doubt he's set for a breakout rookie season and it's tempting to suggest that it'll begin here, but I wouldn't want to dip below 40/1 and with that the general price, he is left out. Make no mistake, his future is bright and top-10s in Australia and South Africa made for a fine start to his rookie season.
Preference though is for THOMAS PIETERS at about the same price, which I consider to be the best value on the board.
Pieters missed the cut last week but he had a shortish putt on the 36th hole which would've seen him make the weekend had it gone in. Instead, he raced it past, missed the return, and exited without the chance to climb the leaderboard in the way that say Matty Jordan did having played his final hole in a similarly precarious position.
In general I think missed cuts have too dramatic an effect on prices and in Pieters' case, he's been eased in the ranking here because he fell on the wrong side of it. That to me presents us with an opportunity, especially as Al Hamra ought to be a course he falls in love with.
A past champion in Abu Dhabi and with top-10s in both events in Dubai, Pieters has a strong Middle East record. He also has form at courses which correlate nicely with Al Hamra, in particular Dom Pedro in Portugal and Albatross in Prague. At both of these you reach for driver upon driver knowing that the consequences for a big miss are not often severe.
Let's be honest though, none of us knows exactly where we stand with the Belgian, but that's no bad thing because it means bookmakers don't, either. That's why we saw Sky Bet open 40/1 and BetVictor 100/1, the sort of disagreement we just don't see very often these days.
While the former have now eased him out, I tend to think they had it about right the first time and he's certainly a player I'd be inclined to keep on-side, as a former standout collegiate player who immediately established himself as too good for the Korn Ferry Tour.
Bjork is one of the shortest and indeed worst drivers on the DP World Tour, but he's built a successful career out of being among the best in all other departments. Certainly, if we rewind to 2023, there was nobody better if you combine iron play and putting, a deadly blend which helped to earn him a PGA Tour card.
But on the PGA Tour, driving it short and sometimes crooked is very hard to overcome, something which I fear may make for a tough campaign for Matteo Manassero. Bjork had his moments, notably around this time in a desert shootout not unalike this test, but clearly didn't settle and basically gave up on the idea during summer.
Eventually T31, a birdie-birdie finish rather than bogey-bogey across those two risk-reward holes would've had him right on the cusp of the top-20 in a very strong field which featured an elite winner and several Ryder Cup candidates.
This was a continuation of the form Cantero showed late last year, first with a gutsy top-10 finish to keep his card in Korea, then with three strong performance on courses which wouldn't play to his strengths, first in Australia and then Mauritius.
Dubai was stronger company but a more suitable course with it and now, at Al Hamra, he gets both: a place he can unleash off the tee but a field where there are really only a few players who have ever, or will ever, have pretensions of reaching the levels Tyrrell Hatton has.
Cantero did miss the cut here last year but that was his first start of the campaign and he was among the best drivers over the first two rounds. Unfortunately he was among the worst putters and while that club couldn't be called reliable, it wasn't long after this event that he began holing them for fun for a while.
A formerly top-class amateur, Cantero has two top-five finishes from four starts in the UAE and there was more than enough in last week's effort to believe he can get close to winning something like this. His power off the tee should open up plenty of scoring opportunities and with so many chip-and-putt birdies available, his skills around the green are another plus.
Freddy Schott meets a similar description and having sided with him several times late last year, the big-hitting German was also on the radar along with David Ravetto, who won a low-scoring event for big-hitters in the autumn. He's done little since that red-hot fortnight but played much better for two rounds in Dubai where he signed off with one of the best rounds of the day after a back-nine 32.
I also looked closely at Chinese duo Zihao Jin and Wenyi Ding. The latter, grouped with Cantero for the first two rounds, has power and a dynamite short-game and has massive potential ahead of his first full year as a pro. Zihao meanwhile hit the ball well in Mauritius having established himself as the standout player on the China Tour, so who knows what he might be capable of.
Posted at 1400 GMT on 21/01/25
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