AFTER 16 editions of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club the event moves to the coastal Yas Links layout. It’s a pity to be leaving the old venue because it had the odd habit of prompting great things from its winners.

Chris Dimarco, the first of them in 2006, would later that year become the only man to hold a torch to Tiger Woods in the Open at Royal Liverpool. Martin Kaymer would later win there for a second time ahead of his first major win in the 2010 PGA Championship.

Jamie Donaldson rode the wave after his 2013 triumph, eventually securing victory for Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup. Tommy Fleetwood’s career revival began with back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018, while Shane Lowry achieved what Dimarco could not quite manage and landed the Abu Dhabi-Open double in 2019.

There were also a couple of highly unlikely renewals: the glorious Sunday when Robert Rock out-duelled Tiger Woods (2012) and Frenchman Gary Stal pinching the 2015 title when Martin Kaymer’s challenge collapsed. Kaymer hasn’t won since (and neither has Stal).

The new track is visually more striking than its predecessor and it also has a reputation for being a wonderfully playable layout with more than a touch of links about it. Let the 2022 DP World Tour action begin!

Each Way – Viktor Hovland at 9/1

This one is nice and simple. Yas Links is inspired by Scottish and Irish seaside courses, and it is vulnerable to sea breezes because of its location, but by necessity it is also a resort course with Paspalum grass on the greens. Those two factors – wind and the grainy greens – play right into the young Norwegian’s hands.

Let’s take the wind first. Hovland attended college in Oklahoma and set up home in the state afterwards. He once said, of his ability to play good golf in blustery conditions: “I live in Oklahoma and it blows every single day. Moving the ball down is not an issue.” He proved as much by winning by the sea in both the Puerto Rico Open and the Mayakoba Classic (twice). Which leads us to the second point.

Both those tracks – Grand Reserve in Puerto Rico and El Camaleon in Mexico – have Paspalum on the greens, a grass which can be watered from the sea and which is a little on the slow side (and also grainy). Exactly like this week at Yas Links, in fact, and also the same as at Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia where Hovland was sixth last year.

We can also throw Hovland’s win at the Hero World Challenge into the mix – that was another modern track by the sea and he defeated a high class field in the process. He’s got five wins in his last 50 starts, the course should suit, and he’s currently fearless. This is another great chance for him.

Each Way – Rasmus Hojgaard at 70/1

I’m not entirely sure that the market has quite got a handle on Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard. My thinking is this: he’s got three wins in 38 starts through the last two seasons and a lot of players around the same price as him, and shorter, haven’t. To be too obsessed by the win count is a little simplistic, but he does appear to have a fearless streak which many others don’t currently have. I don’t discount that changing (for him or those others) but for now I rather like that quality.

Which is not to say I’d always be in favour of backing him, but I can see the sense in doing so this week at this price. His first win, at Heritage in Mauritius, was not against a high quality field, but it was on grainy greens and in a blustery location. He was also the 36 and 54 hole co-leader at Al Mouj in the Oman Open – another Middle East course inspired by links golf, maybe not as profoundly as this week, but he also has top 10s at Emirates in Dubai and Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia. He’s a boom or bust merchant, but the boom has great potential.

First Round Leader Each Way – Joakim Lagergren at 100/1

Back in 2019, at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the Tour website reported: “Swede Joakim Lagergren carded five birdies on each nine at Kingsbarns to equal the lowest round of his tour career with a 62. ‘Can’t complain,’ he said. ‘Hitting it straight, holed a few putts, just good overall.’”

It sounds like a wonderfully simple package, but the key is that the man who designed Kingsbarns – Kyle Phillips – also designed Yas Links. He was also responsible for creating Verdura, a seaside layout in Italy where Lagergren won the Sicily Open. In fact, in eight rounds he has played on that course he’s landed the joint fifth, joint third and joint first lowest score of the round. In other words, he’s shown himself to have quite a liking for a Phillips test and with that capacity to go low he looks a great option to get off to a flier on Thursday.