Dubai Invitational
With the Abu Dhabi Championship being moved to the end of the season as a Playoff event, the DP World Tour still starts in the UAE with the newly created Dubai Invitational to kick off a five-week Middle East swing.
A 60-man field heads to Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club for the inaugural event, which features a pro-am format.
Of course, in any Dubai event, Rory McIlroy (+275) heads the field as he has five career wins in the Emirates’ largest city.
Tommy Fleetwood (+750) kicked off his season last week in Kapalua but lives in Dubai and has a golf academy headquartered there at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Speaking of Jumeriah Golf Estates, Nicolai Hojgaard (11-1) cashed for us there in the DP World Tour Championship finale last November. Brother Rasmus (18-1) is also in this week’s field.
Adrian Meronk (16-1) and Ryan Fox (20-1) were both multiple-time winners on the DP World Tour last year.
The Event
The Dubai Invitational is a limited-field pro-am with 60 professionals playing alongside 60 amateurs in the first three rounds, with the final round taking place between the professionals only. The tournament will be played biannually.
The Field
Here is the 60-player field for this week’s Dubai Invitational:
- Marcus Armitage
- Adri Arnaus
- Nick Bachem
- Matthew Baldwin
- Thomas Bjørn
- Dan Bradbury
- Daniel Brown
- Julien Brun
- Jorge Campillo
- Todd Clements
- Sean Crocker
- Jens Dantorp
- Luke Donald
- Hennie Du Plessis
- Nacho Elvira
- Ewen Ferguson
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Grant Forrest
- Simon Forsström
- Ryan Fox
- Daniel Gavins
- Julien Guerrier
- Marcus Helligkilde
- Calum Hill
- Daniel Hillier
- Nicolai Højgaard
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Maximilian Kieffer
- Nathan Kimsey
- Romain Langasque
- Pablo Larrazábal
- Thriston Lawrence
- Haotong Li
- Zander Lombard
- Hurly Long
- Joost Luiten
- Richard Mansell
- Rory McIlroy
- Tom Mckibbin
- Adrian Meronk
- Guido Migliozzi
- Francesco Molinari
- Thorbjørn Olesen
- Adrian Otaegui
- Yannik Paul
- Richie Ramsay
- Antoine Rozner
- Kalle Samooja
- Callum Shinkwin
- Marcel Siem
- Jordan Smith
- Sebastian Söderberg
- Matthew Southgate
- Ockie Strydom
- Connor Syme
- Ken Weyand
- Dale Whitnell
- Oliver Wilson
- Jeff Winther
- Ashun Wu
The Course
Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club is situated alongside the Creek in Dubai and boasts a whole host of golf, well-being and tourist facilities alongside a floodlit par-3 course, as well as a stunning 18-hole championship golf course.
Originally designed by Emirates GC architect Karl Litten and opened as just the second golf course in Dubai in 1993, the layout received a European Golf Design/Thomas Bjorn-inspired remodel in 2004.
Dubai Creek is a par-71 of 7,059 yards and is built around several artificial lakes as well as the Creek itself meaning that water is in abundance here, featuring significantly on 11 holes.
Fairways are pristine and relatively narrow, flanked sparsely by date and palm trees, giving the course a tropical, coastal vibe in contrast with Litten’s more familiar design at the Emirates, which hosts the Dubai Desert Classic next week.
Three mid-length par-5s at the fourth, 10th and 13th of between 551 and 569 yards will present birdie and eagle opportunities to those players who can get into position from off the tee, as will the short par-4 third and 17th which will play as definite risk-reward holes if the tees are brought up a little.
Although this is the inaugural Dubai Invitational, Dubai Creek G&YC has seen professional action since its opening, having hosted the Dubai Desert Classic in 1999 and 2000 as well as a small number of Asian Tour, MENA Tour and amateur events.
Selections
Obviously, McIlroy can run away and hide here, but I am not betting a 3-1 here, so we will try to take on the favorite.
Rasmus Højgaard (18-1, BetMGM)
Rasmus was the first of the Højgaard twins to win on the DP World Tour and he still leads twin brother Nicolai with four wins to three. However, Nicolai has upstaged his brother of late. Nicolai is on the verge of being ranked in the OWGR Top 50 (Rasmus 87), was a part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team (Rasmus left off) and won a Rolex Series event at the DP World Tour Championship to close out 2023.
This could be a good spot for Rasmus to strike back in this sibling rivalry.
Dan Bradbury (45-1, BetMGM)
Bradbury followed up his lone DP World Tour victory (2022 Joburg Open) with five top-10 finishes and seven top-20 finishes last season.
The Englishman finished 2023 with three top-6 finishes in his last seven starts.
Adri Arnaus (125-1, Caesars Sportsbook)
Arnaus has been rumored to join fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm’s new LIV Golf team. However, the Dubai resident has committed to the first two DP World Tour events of the year, both in his adopted hometown.
He finished 13th last year at the Dubai Desert Classic and ninth in the 2022 DP World Tour Championship, so he is inching closer to contending and perhaps even winning in Dubai.
Note: Matchups and placement market bets will be posted at VSiN.com/picks on Wednesday.
