ON THE EUROPEAN TO UR
ABU DHABI CELEBRATES INAUGURAL YEAR AS ROLEX SERIES EVENT
he Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
presented by EGA will make its debut
as a Rolex Series event when the 2019
edition takes place from 16–19 January.
First staged in 2006, it has been elevated to
the top tier of events on the European Tour,
featuring the best players in the world for four
days of high intensity golf. The showpiece
tournament becomes the second in the UAE
to be awarded Rolex Series status, joining the
DP World Tour Championship, the ¿ nale of
the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. Rolex
Testimonee and three-time Major winner
Brooks Koepka will be competing at the
Abu Dhabi Golf Club, aiming to clinch
his ¿ rst professional win in the Emirates.
His presence highlights the tournament’s
standing among the leading events played in
the Middle East and validates its promotion
to the Rolex Series. The American had a
phenomenally successful season in 2018. He
won the US PGA Championship, defended
his U.S. Open championship – the ¿ rst player
to do so since fellow Rolex Testimonee Curtis
Strange won back-to-back titles in 1988 and
1989 – and was named PGA Player of the
Year. Koepka, the Florida native who started
his professional career on the European
Challenge Tour, already has four wins on the
European Tour and will be hoping to take his
electrifying form into the new season.
Koepka said: “It’s been ¿ ve years
since I last played in the Abu Dhabi HSBC
Championship but I’ve been wanting to
return for a long time, so I’m really looking
forward to the opportunity to test myself in
such beautiful surroundings once again. I
loved my experience on the European Tour
when I was younger, and it’s always
great to be back.” Joining Koepka
in Abu Dhabi will be several
members of the Rolex family
of Testimonees, including
previous Rolex Series
winners Thorbjørn Olesen
of Denmark and Spaniards
Rafa Cabrera Bello and
Jon Rahm, who won the
2017 Dubai Duty Free
Irish Open and the 2017 DP
World Tour Championship.
About the Rolex Series
Through an unwavering commitment
to the game of golf for more than 50 years,
Rolex has developed one of the broadest and
most enduring relationships between brand
and sport in the world. Rolex has always
contributed to the further development of
golf worldwide through its partnerships with
guardians of the global game – organizations
with the responsibility of advancing the sport,
such as the European Tour.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary
of this partnership, in 2017 the Rolex Series
was launched as the premium tournament
category on the European Tour’s International
Schedule. Presently comprising eight
tournaments staged in a variety of locations
around the world, Rolex Series events offer a
minimum prize fund of US$7 million.
The 2019 roster of Rolex Series
tournaments comprises: the Abu Dhabi
HSBC Championship presented by EGA
(January 16-19); the Dubai Duty Free Irish
Open hosted by the Rory Foundation (July
4-7); the Aberdeen Standard Investments
Scottish Open (July 11-14); the BMW PGA
Championship (September 19-22); the Italian
Open (October 10-13); the Turkish Airlines
Open (November 7-10); the Nedbank Golf
Challenge hosted by Gary Player (November
14-17); and the season-ending DP World
Tour Championship, Dubai (November 21-
24), where the leading golfer of the Race to
Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex will be
crowned.
GolfPlus
FEBRUARY
2019
27