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The European Tour now moves to Dubai for the Tour Championship and final event of the year. This was the first Greg Norman designed track in Dubai along with sister course Fire at the Jumeirah Golf Estates which the Golf in Dubai Championship was played on last week. The Earth course is a very open layout with generous fairways and large sloping greens, so position is all-important.
Talk about bringing coals to Newcastle, or Sand to Dubai, which is exactly what has happened here. The bleached white sand in the fairway waste areas and bunkers was imported from North Carolina.
There really isn’t too much rough to worry about, but the players will have tricky recovery shots off the red wood chips if they do manage to miss these wide fairways.
The most challenging hole is the final hole, with its rock-lined stream meandering up the middle of its 620-yard fairway. The hole gently climbs to the huge and undulating green, a fitting crescendo to this 7706 yards track.
Jumeirah Golf Estates have overseeded the tees, fairways and rough on the Earth course with ryegrass, offering greater contrast and definition to the brilliant white bunkers and barkmulched landscape areas. The course will prove to be a tougher test this year for the players than in 2009 and 2010, with more of a premium being placed on finding the fairways with tee shots.
For another trusted Jumeirah Golf Estates Earth course review click here
My tips to Win:
Top and tailing his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with a pair of 64s made it a win and a runner-up finish in his last two starts on the European Tour for Tyrrell Hatton 13/2 – with AKBets – and shows that his game is in great shape coming into this week
I am not sure you could ever be disappointed with a final round 67, but Tommy Fleetwood 9/1 – with AKBets – would have been thinking he let this one slip away. But that opening round of 62 shows he is another player in great form coming into this week and I expect him to be challenging again come Sunday
And ditto for Thorbjørn Olesen 22/1 – with AKBets – who opened up with a 63 and closed with a 66 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and with his desert win earlier in the year, he will certainly fancy his chances
Each-way tips:
After opening with a pair of 65s at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship I am sure Niklas Nørgaard Møller 28/1 – with AKBets – will be disappointed he didn’t challenge on the final day and could only manage a final round of 70. But it has been a great year for the Dane not only winning his first European Tour title, but also his consistency since that win with four Top 20 finishes from his six starts, two of which have been Top 10s
As you will see there are two changes to my picks from last week and the other change is Tom McKibbin 40/1 – with AKBets – who at the moment does lack consistency. Tom certainly has the potential to become a serial winner on tour and he has a runner-up and eight other Top 10s this year. But, he also has finished outside the Top 40 four times and has four missed cuts. McKibbin arrives after a final round 64 at the weekend that took him into the Top 10, and should be in confident mood when he tees it up here on Thursday
