If there's a golfer who can be relied upon to say something interesting and informative, it's Martin Kaymer. The erudite German, in his second language, is able to lull those of a certain disposition into a dreamlike state of envy and adoration simply by opening his mouth. He could talk for hours about some rubbish paraphernalia brought for valuation on Kunst und Krempel, and those present would know they'd spent their time well.

Ahead of last year's Golf in Dubai Championship, the first time the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates had been brought to our television screens, there was cheaper talk of rugged bunkering; of a links-like course which contrasts starkly with its more familiar and illustrious neighbour. We heard about how Greg Norman's design would really challenge those assembled for the penultimate event of an extraordinary season.

"The Fire plays more like a links course, so there are more options for playing the ground game and using the contours, especially when the conditions are firm and fast," said Norman (although for another tenner he'd probably have signed up to disparage his own work). "The course still requires a great deal of thought and execution to score well."

How much thought went into Andy Sullivan's opening 61, who can say. But thought certainly went into Kaymer's response, on the eve of the tournament, when asked to provide insight as to the challenge at hand. "It’s not the most difficult golf course which we’ll play, which is also a danger – you take it too easy and think it’s a birdie-fest. It’s very playable, the greens are lovely. It’s a great preparation for next week."

Understated, classy, and low-key prophetic: Antoine Rozner eventually caught and passed Sullivan, his 25-under total enough to win by a couple. Nineteen-under scraped into the top 10 and for an each-way payout you needed one better than that. The Fire was neither links-like nor the most difficult; it was vulnerable even to a field which featured just two members of the world's top 50. Ignore Greg, listen to Martin.

A year on, and there's greater strength at the very front of the market thanks to Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood, though neither would appear to be ideally suited by Fire. Yes, they're both fine desert golfers — they've four wins in Abu Dhabi between them, Casey having also triumphed in Bahrain and Dubai — but tougher conditions would accentuate the class edge they boast. When 25-under wins, nobody can really afford a quiet hour or two, to which everyone is vulnerable.

Not that this was a putting contest. Rozner in fact bossed matters from the tee and with his approaches, leading the field in strokes-gained ball-striking. Second in that category was Sullivan, who appeared set to win for so much of the week, and in the end gained less than a quarter of a stroke per day with the putter. Rozner's equivalent was over three-quarters, but still not the sort of lights-out display you'll often hear referenced as key to victory in events like this.

In fairness, the main takeaway ought to be that there was something for everyone. Matt Wallace drove it badly and still could've won; Mike Lorenzo Vera rode his putter as far as it would take him. If when Norman said Fire provides options he meant that anyone could win an event here, well on that he was telling the truth. One renewal is not a lot to go on, but wide fairways, big greens, warm conditions and a modern, desert design added up in precisely the way most would've expected. There's no reason it'll have changed much since.

Putting problems force change of plan

This is why I'm begrudgingly leaving out Romain Langasque, who was the best ball-striker in the field last week, is driving it as well as anyone on the European Tour, and is ready to contend when his putter behaves. The trouble is he's lost 10 strokes over his last eight rounds, and he won't win this unless he improves markedly.

It's possible he does so, and there's no lack of incentive for the Frenchman. Last year, he was forced to sit and suffer in his Dubai hotel room after a positive Covid-19 test first ruled him out of this event, then the DP World Tour Championship. When he ought to have been capping a breakthrough year in the season finale won by Matt Fitzpatrick, Langasque was instead left to rue his misfortune as a 14-day quarantine expired just after he'd been due to tee off.

At 114th in the Race to Dubai, he'll likely miss next week's final event again and all I can do is hope, selfishly, that he's left behind in his quest to qualify. Langasque three-putted from inside five feet more than once in Portugal, and I suspect he will need a little while longer to figure it out. Eyes down for Sun City, Leopard Creek, perhaps even both, should he venture to South Africa when the new season begins just a fortnight from now.

Something similar could be said about Sean Crocker, whose putting has been better lately. He's certainly up to matching Rozner's tee-to-green exploits, but the Zimbabwe-born American will surely need to and while I'm loathe to depend on putting, I've spent Monday talking myself out of these two quality drivers. They will need to do more than seems reasonable to expect.

With that at last established, I'm going to side with two of the class acts here who are capable of getting hot on the greens, with DEAN BURMESTER and MATT WALLACE nominated as the best bets.

Burmester won a shootout in the Canary Islands earlier this year and while we're asked to take close to half the price, that reflects the best season of his career. Burmester has since added four more top-10 finishes on the European Tour, including when seventh at the Dunhill Links, and last week dominated the South African PGA.

Now, he was favourite for that and it would've been disappointing had he failed to contend, but it was nevertheless a nice way to capitalise on a brilliant run which has seen this monster hitter finally establish himself among the better players on this circuit. It's also worth noting that George Coetzee did a Sunshine-European Tour double last year, as have Branden Grace and Darren Fichardt, so we shouldn't underestimate his 66-65 weekend parade.