First event for the Rolex Series in Abu Dhabi

After the Hero Cup, a team tournament in its first edition, it’s time for the first “conventional” tournament of 2023 on the DP World Tour. It starts immediately “with a bang”, with the prestigious Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, a tournament with a very rich prize pool ( 9 million dollars) which will be held on the suggestive course of the Yas Links, in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Dp, schedule

The Abu Dhabi tournament will be the first seasonal event of the Rolex Series, a section that includes the five richest and most prestigious tournaments on the Tour, including the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, scheduled for next week. For the third event of the Rolex Series it will be necessary to wait for July 13 with the Scottish Open, which will precede the BMW PGA Championship in September, before the grand finale with the DP World Tour Championship.

Although not at the stellar level of last year, the startlist of the UAE tournament will be full of exceptional players. The last five players to have entered the roll of honor were present: from the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, winner in 2017 and 2018, to the outgoing champion, the Belgian Thomas Pieters, passing through Lee Westwood, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton.

The two Azzurri Francesco Molinari and Guido Migliozzi, super protagonists of the recent Hero Cup, won with the continental European team, will also start among the potential favourites. The Italian contingent, rather small compared to usual, will be completed by Edoardo Molinari alone.

The Yas Links course is a PAR 72 of 7,414 yards. Designed by Kyle Phillips and opened in 2010, it was the first Links course to be designed in the Middle East region. It is considered by many to be the best course in the region, as well as the best Links outside Scotland. Scattered everywhere with bunkers (there are 112 in total), it is a course that will put the skills of even the best players to the test, to give us a great show.

The PGA Tour is an organization that curates major professional golf tours in the United States. It is based in Ponte Vedra Beach, a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida.