The DP World Tour's season finale takes place over the next fortnight starting at Yas Links, which hosts the first of two Play-Off events, the Abu Dhabi Championship.
The top 70 available players on the season-long Race to Dubai Ranking will tee it up in Abu Dhabi, then the top 50 will progress to the DP World Tour Championship at Dubai's Earth Course next week.
Rory McIlroy is the tournament favourite in Abu Dhabi, but the Masters champion has work to do if he is to win a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title.
McIlroy sits third in the season-long ranking with Patrick Reed in second, but the two Major champions both trail Spain's Eugenio Chacarra, who sealed a third victory of the year in India last month.
Yas Links, which is hosting this tournament for the fifth season in a row, is a modern links which has proved vulnerable under favourable conditions, and that looks to be the case this week.
Abu Dhabi Championship Tips Summary
Best Bet – Tommy Fleetwood @ 7/1
Alternative Bet – Jacob Olesen @ 25/1
Alternative Bet – Casey Jarvis @ 30/1
Abu Dhabi Championship Prediction
Best Bet: Tommy Fleetwood @ 7/1
As is almost always the case when he plays on the DP World Tour, McIlroy sets the standard and has been made the one to beat at Yas Links.
However, victory at the Masters aside, it has not been a vintage year for McIlroy, who was only 42nd in the India Championship when last seen.
McIlroy will prefer the setup at Yas, but there are few better exponents of links golf than Tommy Fleetwood, and it is the Southport man who is the better bet from the European powerhouses at the top of the market.
Fleetwood has a long-held love for Abu Dhabi, winning this tournament twice at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, and he has begun to fall for Yas, too, finishing sixth in 2024 and a runner-up last year when beaten in a play-off by Aaron Rai.
Those two editions of the tournament were the only ones to take place at this time of year – the 2022 and 2023 events were staged in January – and Fleetwood will encounter similar conditions this week.
Born and raised by the coast, the Southport star tees it up in excellent form, finishing fourth in the Dunhill Links and fifth in India in his last two starts.
While others, including McIlroy, have the Race to Dubai to think about, Fleetwood is 26th on the season-long list and should be fully focused on winning this week.
Alternative Bet: Jacob Olesen @ 25/1
Links pedigree is an important factor at Yas and rising Danish star Jacob Olesen has already shown he can handle this style of golf course.
Olesen won the Amateur Championship on an Irish links, Ballyliffin, in 2024 and shared the first-round lead at the Open Championship the following year.
He has had a wonderfully consistent year on the DP World Tour and while he has yet to get over the line, he arrives in Abu Dhabi in fine form having finished in the top 20 in nine of his last 10 events.
Olesen, who at ninth on the Race to Dubai is bound for the PGA Tour next year, finished 23rd on Yas debut last season when a much less polished performer.
Alternative Bet: Casey Jarvis @ 30/1
Casey Jarvis is another young talent who is worth following on his second start in the Abu Dhabi Championship.
South African Jarvis, 23, captured titles in Kenya and his homeland earlier this year and sits fourth on the Race to Dubai, a huge improvement on last season when he finished 96th to just about keep his DP World Tour card.
Jarvis was fourth in India last time out but a lot of his best recent form has come on links tracks – he was 21st in a high-class Scottish Open, sixth at the Open and a runner-up at the Dunhill Links.
Key Abu Dhabi Championship Stats
- This is the fifth Abu Dhabi Championship to take place at Yas Links
- The 7,468-yard par-72 layout is billed as the Middle East's first true links
- The last two winners reached 24 and 25 under par through 72 holes
- Tournament favourite Rory McIlroy has Yas Links form figures of 12-3-3
- Race to Dubai leader Eugenio Chacarra has finished third, second, first and 22nd in his last four tournaments
Read more golf betting tips and predictions on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
