Given that Henrik Stenson fired the course record in the third round of the inaugural tournament, has been here every year since, and has won multiple times in the desert besides, it is reasonable to wonder quite how the Falcon Trophy has managed to evade his grasp.
The Swede will start his 14th consecutive attempt at winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA when he tees it up alongside Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen at 7.20am on Wednesday.
He has been a runner up in the capital twice before, and has also had a string of top 10 finishes. That represents a fair run at the competition, but he is hopeful he can depart on Saturday night with some swag, too.
“I feel like I have had the same answers to the same questions every year now for the past couple of times,” Stenson said.
“It is always tough winning golf tournaments, and it is equally as tough to try and guess when it is going to happen.
“But I was pretty pleased with how I played on the back end of last year, and have some time to prepare this week. We will try and make it happen this year.”
As a former UAE resident, Stenson feels at home in this country, and it has shown in his results having won the Dubai Desert Classic once, and the DP World Tour Championship twice.
“It always feels good to come back to this part of the world, having made it my home for quite a few years in the past,” Stenson said.
“It is the way I have started my year every year for all 14 editions. It is kind of the ‘same old’ but it is good to be back.”
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Read more:
Find out who makes the first-round pairings and what tee times are
Paul Radley: Five players to watch at Abu Dhabi Golf Championhip
Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood added to Abu Dhabi Championship
Saif Thabet books place in Abu Dhabi as top Emirati amateur
When is Abu Dhabi Championship? Lowdown on 2019 event
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Familiar he might be with the old surroundings, but Stenson, like the rest of the field, is beginning a new learning process with regards to the alterations to golf’s rule book.
The sport’s lawmakers have introduced a variety of modifications designed to modernise the game, and Stenson suggests they may take some getting used to.
“Most of the things are there to make it easier, better and quicker,” Stenson said.
“At first it is going to be a learning curve for everyone, we are going to have to spend some time getting to know the ways of dropping, and how to address certain situations on the golf course.
“Once we have, that is going to be the norm, and we won’t think what the rules were 10 years ago. It is a constant development.”
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
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