The DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Traditional, which begins on Thursday on the Emirates Golf Membership within the United Arab Emirates, has delivered big-name champions over the previous 35 years, together with Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Fred {Couples}, Colin Montgomerie, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy.
Will one other marquee participant stroll off with the trophy this time round? Or will somebody much less heralded emerge from the pack to make an early assertion in 2024?
Listed below are 5 noteworthy golfers:
Brian Harman
We’ll discover out within the coming months whether or not Harman’s shocking victory in final yr’s British Open, profitable by six strokes at Royal Liverpool, was a fluke or if he’s capable of show that he actually is without doubt one of the sport’s high gamers.
Harman, who turns 37 on Friday, tied for fifth on the PGA Tour’s season-opening Sentry event this month in Hawaii and tied for 18th per week later on the Sony Open.
“I’m excited to tee it up in Dubai for the primary time,” he stated in December. “It seems to be like a shocking venue that has recognized nice champions. I’d love so as to add my identify to that listing.”
The Open triumph couldn’t have come at a greater time. Harman, with solely two victories since becoming a member of the tour in 2012, had appeared to lose confidence.
“Earlier this yr,” he admitted in 2023, “I used to be asking my agent about saying jobs already. So all of us get there, all of us have these ideas. Everybody’s in a spot that we operated on these razor-thin margins.”
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy, imagine it or not, will flip 35 years outdated in Could. He turned professional when he was 18.
Even tougher to understand is that his drought in main championships is approaching a full decade, his final coming within the 2014 P.G.A. Championship.
He’s sure to select up one other main eventually. Isn’t he?
McIlroy, ranked No. 2 on the earth, has gained the Dubai occasion thrice, together with final yr when he birdied the ultimate two holes to edge Patrick Reed by a stroke. “It’s an excellent begin to the yr,” McIlroy stated on the time, “and a very good basis to work from.”
He gained, nonetheless, just one extra event in 2023, the Genesis Scottish Open in July, when he once more birdied the ultimate two holes to outduel Robert MacIntyre.
How McIlroy, who squandered a superb alternative to win final week’s Dubai Invitational, might be judged in 2024 will depend upon how he performs within the 4 majors. In 2023, he missed the reduce within the Masters, however recorded a high 10 within the subsequent three, together with a second-place end in the US Open on the Los Angeles Nation Membership.
Joaquin Niemann
Niemann, 25, is enjoying for lots greater than this week.
He’s enjoying to qualify for the Masters Event.
To perform that, Niemann, who’s presently ranked at No. 70, should be fiftieth or higher throughout the week earlier than the Masters in April. He tied for sixteenth on the occasion final yr.
Niemann, a member of LIV Golf, wherein gamers obtain no rating factors for LIV occasions, had fallen to No. 87 till he completed fifth final month within the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship and gained the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in a playoff over Rikuya Hoshino, which certified him for the occasion in Dubai. He began the ultimate spherical 4 behind Hoshino, however closed with a 66.
“This season wasn’t one of the best for me,” he instructed the media. “I needed to play extra golf. It was big to return up right here and play good golf and get a end result.”
Niemann, the top-ranked newbie on the earth for 44 weeks in 2017 and 2018, has gained twice on the PGA Tour, together with the Genesis Invitational in 2022. He joined LIV in summer time 2022.
Cameron Younger
Younger, ranked No. 25, has been very spectacular in his first two seasons on the PGA Tour with 12 high 10s. 4 of the highest 10s got here in main championships.
Nonetheless, there was one factor lacking: a victory.
Within the 2021-2022 season, Younger, 26, completed second on 5 events, together with within the British Open on the Previous Course at St. Andrews and was the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Yr.
In 2023, he misplaced to Sam Burns within the closing of the WGC-Dell Applied sciences Match Play in Texas.
“There may not have been anyone beating him as we speak the way in which he performed,” stated Younger, who was 41 underneath par for the week.
Younger, whose father was the top skilled at Sleepy Hole Nation Membership in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., shot a 74 within the third spherical of the Sentry occasion this month, however rebounded the following day with a 65 to complete in a tie for thirty third.
Padraig Harrington
It’s protected to imagine that three-time main champion Harrington, 52, gained’t make a severe run on the title. He hasn’t gained on the DP World Tour since 2016.
Then again, Harrington has performed properly since turning 50. In 2023, he made the reduce in three of the 4 majors, his greatest end a tie for twenty seventh on the U.S. Open. On the PGA Tour Champions, a senior tour, he posted 10 high 10s final yr in 13 appearances, together with victories on the DICK’S Sporting Items Open and TimberTech Championship. There was even speak within the media of him being a captain’s choose for the Ryder Cup in Rome.
“I wanted to push ahead,” Harrington stated in August, “however I simply suppose I haven’t performed sufficient occasions to offer myself a greater [chance].”
Harrington didn’t give himself a lot of an opportunity finally yr’s Desert Traditional in Dubai. He opened with an 81.
“It was a kind of days,” he stated afterward. “You get them hopefully solely annually if you end up a little bit of a klutz all day.” Harrington, who has three high 10s in Dubai, rebounded with a 65 on day two, however missed the reduce.