First Rolex Series of 2020
The European Tour heads to the Middle East this week for the first Rolex Series event of 2020 at Abu Dhabi GC, host of the 15th edition of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. World Number 1 Brooks Koepka makes his first start since pulling out of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges with a knee injury back in October and is joined by fellow World Top 10 players Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay. Also in the field is defending champion Shane Lowry, who went on to win the Open Championship following his one-stroke victory here last year, marking his first title on the European Tour since the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Players to Watch:
Louis Oosthuizen: On a strong run of form that includes back-to-back runner-up finishes at the South African Open and Australian PGA Championship - two of four top 10s in his last five starts. He finished 4th here in 2019, and has a best finish of T2 in 2009. Matthew Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick had an incredibly strong run to end his 2019 European Tour season, with a runner-up finish at the Italian Open and three more top 10s at the WGC HSBC Champions, Nedbank Golf Challenge and DP World Tour Championship. Skipped this event last year, but was T3 in 2018. Making his first start of the new season. Thomas Pieters: Pieters made his first start of the new season at the start of December, finishing T12 in the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open after a successful second half of 2019 which included a victory at the D+D Real Czech Masters and a T6 at the season finale in Dubai. A history of performing well here, which includes three top 10s in his last five starts, in addition to last year's T16.
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