Fantasy Golf Predictions – Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

The 2017 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Fantasy Preview

The stars come out for the next event up on the European Tour docket; the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.  This tournament was first played in 2006 and has done a fantastic job at creating a strong presence in Asia while attracting some of the best players in the world with a large prize fund.  The outing is played at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club which features a par-72 layout with 7,600 yards to work with.  This is one of the few occasions where you may want to tune into the play overseas rather than that on the U.S. mainland.

Just looking at the winners here since the event was first established paints a clear picture of exactly what sort of outing we should be expecting to see in the next few days.  Paul Casey (2007, 2009), Martin Kaymer (2008, 2010, 2011), Jamie Donaldson (2013), and most recently Rickie Fowler (2016) have laid claim to the trophy and large payout.  Names such as McIlroy, Mickelson, Rose, Poulter, and Pieters have also nearly been in the winner’s circle with a single stroke separating themselves from the victor.  Fowler was able to nail down his second career European Tour win thanks to a slew of magical moments which allowed him to hold off the trio of Stenson, McIlroy, and Pieters with a score of 16-under-par.

This year will once again be a must-watch for any lovers of this wonderful sport as Dustin Johnson comes off a year in which he won three events, including his first major at the U.S. Open, now makes his first start in Abu Dhabi.  He will be joined by last year’s top competitors here, Fowler, Stenson, and Pieters, with McIlroy having to withdraw due to a cracked rib.

The best the European Tour has to offer will also make sure their presence is felt with Alexander Noren, Bernd Wiesberger, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Tyrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Branden Grace, Byeong-hun An, Joost Luiten, and Martin Kaymer all holding 30/1 or better Vegas odds.

Daily fantasy sports have been taking over the fantasy sports world and last year they were able to extend their reach overseas to the European Tour.  This is a great avenue for those who want to explore a new facet of one of the best sports in the world and below are some names at different price levels who we believe can help you get an edge in your contests this week.

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Our 2017 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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2017 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Fantasy Picks

Alexander Noren – $9,600 – While we’re certain the top three talents in this field are the best going to Abu Dhabi this week, we are am going to skip on them and aim at putting together a squad of great options across the board.  Noren has been able to pile up eight wins over his 227 European Tour events and four of those came last season in what ended as a third-place finish in the Race to Dubai.  He averaged a career-best finishing position of 28.91 behind a 70.03 scoring average (5^th on Tour), 72.9% greens in regulation (17^th on Tour), and 1.75 putts per GIR (20^th on Tour).  He is one of, if not the best, player who makes a majority of his starts on the European Tour playing here this week.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello – $9,300 – Cabrera-Bello has catapulted himself into the upper echelon of worldwide players with a career-best campaign in 2016.  He finished in the top-10 in the Race to Dubai for the first time since joining the Tour back in 2002 thanks to an average finish of 19.14 despite not getting a victory.  He also played his most events for the PGA TOUR at 10 and was able to make the cut nine times with three of them ending in the top-10.  His consistency is impressive and can be attributed to hitting 76% of greens in regulation (5^th on Tour).  Cabrera-Bello will surely be involved when the tournament hits Sunday has a great chance at his first win since 2012.

Byeong-Hun An – $8,400 – An broke onto the scene in a big way, winning the 2015 BMW PGA Championship by a massive six strokes over runner-ups Thongchai Jaidee and Miguel Angel Jimenez.  He had another six top-10s that year and followed it up with another six over a mere 17 events played last year.  His absence from the European Tour came as a result of playing more on the PGA TOUR where he made 10-of-14 cuts (71%) with a runner-up finish at the Zurich Classic.  It is scary to think that after a season in which he had an average finish of 30.65 he has tons of room to grow at the young age of 25 and should continue to improve with his already stellar ability to get on greens quickly (73.7% GIR, 11^th on Tour).  An will be a force in the golf world for a long time and will look to build on his fifth-place finish here last year.

Tyrrell Hatton – $8,100 – Hatton was not necessarily unknown to the golf world, but he was not really out there yet after two solid seasons in which he finished in the mid-30s in the Race to Dubai.  He made a major jump last season, though, getting all the way into the top-five with a visit to the money in 20-of-24 events (83%) and 10 total top-ten finishes; including his first career win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.  Two of his other top-10s were runner ups and he took his skills to the worldwide stage with a fifth at the Open Championship and 10^th at the PGA Championship.  He has already proven he can compete with the best and will look to add to his previous top-10s here in both 2014 and 2015.

Tommy Fleetwood – $7,900 – Fleetwood has been on an absolute tear of late and going back to early September has made it to the weekend in 10 consecutive outings.  Of those starts, only two of them were outside of the top-25 with four ending in a top-10; including a near win at the Hong Kong Open where he came in third.  He now comes back to Abu Dhabi where he has for the most part struggled in the past, missing the cut in four of the last five installments and getting a 19^th in his one trip into the money.  Fleetwood has been a solid competitor in each of the past four years on the European Tour, never doing worse than 41^st in the Race to Dubai, and finished last season with a career-best average finish of 39.70 behind a top-20 scoring average (70.66).  His recent stretch and impressive numbers last season warrant a higher price so grab him here and watch as it pays off.

Richard Bland – $6,700 – Bland had been an improved player during both 2014 and 2015, finishing both years in the top-75 of the Race to Dubai rankings, but doing no better than 66^th.  Then, out of the blue, the 43-year-old rattled off 27 made cuts in 30 events during the 2016 season and finished with seven top-10s; equaling how many he had totaled over the previous three years.  His average finish of 27.86 was more than 20 spots better than his previous best and he managed a stroke average of 70.43 (8^th on Tour) with putting (1.744 putts per GIR, 15^th on Tour) being his best asset.  Bland’s price has not gone up and yet he continues to produce nice numbers, so despite him having a limited chance to come away with the win, he should be an asset in both cash and tournament lineups at this price.

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Cover photo via Instagram