ABU DHABI: World No3 Dustin Johnson and No4 Henrik Stenson will headline a quality field at the $2.7 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening leg of the Desert Swing of the European Tour.
\nThe tournament gets under way Thursday and will miss world No2 Rory McIlroy, who was scheduled to play before pulling out on Monday with a stress fracture in his ribs.
\nBut there are plenty of big names in field, including Masters champion Danny Willett, defending champion Rickie Fowler and world No10 Alex Noren.
\nAmerican Johnson is the highest ranked player in McIlroy\u00a0s absence, but he was categorical in assessing that it did not make the tournament any easier to win.
\nhe US Open champion who is known for making quick starts to his seasons on the PGA Tour, said: “No, if you look at the field, it\u00a0s got a great field here. Obviously, Rory is a great player and no one wanted to see him pull out, including myself.”
\n“I still think it\u00a0s going to be a great tournament. It\u00a0s going to be very tough to win.”
\nThe 7,583-yard course has favoured good drivers in the past, and that is the cornerstone of Johnson\u00a0s game.
\nAnd the American, who won three tournaments in 2016 and recorded top-10 finishes in 15 of his 23 starts, was excited about his chances despite making his debut in the Middle East.
\n“I\u00a0ve played the front nine yesterday, so I like the front nine. I feel like it\u00a0s set up well for me. We\u00a0ll just have to see. But I feel like the game is in pretty good shape right now, so I\u00a0m looking forward to playing here,” said the 32-year-old. “I feel like it\u00a0s pretty straightforward. You\u00a0ve got to drive it straight. One of the keys obviously is hitting it straight and I feel like I\u00a0m driving it pretty well right now, so hopefully, we\u00a0ll have a good week.”
\nHoping to make it difficult for the American is Stenson, who was voted the Swedish Male Athlete of the Year on Monday for his sensational 2016, in which he won the British Open and the Race to Dubai, and was silver medallist in the Olympics.
\nStenson has won the other two legs of the Desert Swing — the Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters. And even though he owns the course record in Abu Dhabi – 10-under par 62 in the third round of the inaugural tournament in 2006 – he is yet to get his hands on the Falcon Trophy.
\n“I\u00a0ve had my chances here and its not a secret how much I want to win this tournament. But for some reason or the other, I haven\u00a0t showed up here fully switched on. Either there\u00a0s been much to do over the break, or I have had some injury,” said Stenson.
\n“This year, we did skiing in Utah with the kids. I\u00a0m not sure if that helped my golf too much. I prefer to keep my body a bit straighter when we\u00a0re playing golf than skiing.
\n“But I\u00a0ve aired the clubs for the last week in Orlando before I headed out. It was still getting airborne. It was going forward, and I managed to get some good putting sessions in, as well. Given that I haven\u00a0t done that much, it still felt pretty good.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABU DHABI: World No3 Dustin Johnson and No4 Henrik Stenson will headline a quality field at the $2.7 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening leg of the Desert Swing of the European Tour. The tournament gets under way Thursday and will miss world No2 Rory McIlroy, who was scheduled to play before pulling out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n