PGA Tour’s top-20 at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship: How will they fare in 2012? Part-1
The current season is warming up as the PGA Tour walks over to its fourth event on the calendar, the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Much of the top-ranked PGA Tour players have already decided to ditch the event in preference for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and will be hoping to land the title in a bid to improve their rankings ahead of the major events.
Here is an insight of how the top-20 players on the tour are likely to perform in the current season, in view of their performance last year.
1. Luke Donald, England
Donald enters the season pitched firmly at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and is likely to stay there unless he makes a gruesome mistake in the events ahead.
Playing on both the PGA and the European Tour alongside, Donald outperformed players from all over the world to win several accolades.
He also received the Player of the Year titles on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the unprecedented double-peat, surging to the top of the money list on both tours.
This is the second time Donald will be tee-ing off at Abu Dhabi after his debut on the course in 2008 where he finished for 11th.
Donald may not have the usual fondness for the course as he was only able to card one below 70 rounds in 2008 at the National Course in Abu Dhabi.
The Englishman has improved his short game in a short period of two years. Ranked 107th for the scoring average in 2010, Donald is now ranked seventh in the world in the same category.
Having a considerably short drive off the tee, Donald concentrated on his short game and has worked up stunning precision on the greens.
Regardless of how he fared in 2008, Donald will be a completely different player on the turf this time around.
2. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland
Then there is the young prodigy of the sport who has gone over to rattle many grizzled veterans to pull in amazing success in the previous year.
McIlroy joined the PGA Tour this year, making a U-turn on his previous comments where he rejected the idea of acquiring PGA membership.
His decision is said to be widely influenced by his new managers at the Dublin Horizon Sports Management.
The young Ulsterman slowed down at the end of the season when he acquired the dreadful Dengue fever and suffered consecutive weeks trying to recuperate from the illness.
He will be playing at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for the fourth time in his career.
He has performed well on the National Course and although he was never able to lift the title, he finished for joint 11th in 2008, followed by a joint fifth, an outright third in 2010 and another outright second last year.
The 22-year-old knows his way around the desert courses and won his maiden professional title, the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009.
He Tweeted about his future plans for the season and revealed that he will be taking a break for three weeks before returning for the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson Arizona.
To be continued...
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