Battle in the desert

With all due respect to the Royal Trophy, the Johannesburg Open and the European Tour's habit of making New Year a month or so early, the 2009 season really begins this week in Abu Dhabi as the Race to Dubai roadshow rolls into town for the Desert Swing.

The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship provides an impressive start to the Desert Swing and within a short span of three years since the tournament began it has established itself as one of the most anticipated stops on the European Tour's international schedule.

In playing terms, a high quality field has been assembled and it is being billed as the 'Battle between Garcia and Harrington'. They are the two highest ranked players in the field, but we should not forget world No 7 Henrik Stenson who is enjoying a revival of form after winning the World Cup and the Nedbank Challenge and who also finished runner-up last year.

The defending champion, Martin Kaymer from Germany, who won in such impressive style by four shots last year will surely also be in contention come Sunday afternoon.

A side issue this week in Abu Dhabi will be a meeting of the Tour's tournament committee during which the powers that be will discuss who will succeed Nick Faldo as Ryder Cup captain for the 2010 matches at Celtic Manor in Wales.

It could be a long meeting as there doesn't seem to be any consensus among the committee members as to who should receive the task of winning back the cup. The list of candidates is long and distinguished; a who's who of European golf in the past 25 years.

Jose Maria Olazabal, Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam have all been touted as possible candidates for the role. Personally, I would like to see Sandy Lyle given the opportunity. He is the only one of the 'big five' from the golden era of European golf in the 80s and early 90s to not have yet been afforded the honour, following on from Ballesteros, Langer, Woosnam and Faldo. A vastly talented player in his prime and two time major winner, I think Lyle would be the perfect man to lead Europe against Cory Pavin's US Team in two years' time.

There is, of course, a lot of meaningful golf to be played before then, starting this week in Abu Dhabi, with two of the world's top four players on show. Both Garcia and Harrington regard this as a key year and will be looking to being the main challengers to Tiger Woods when he returns. There is also the prospect of one of them overhauling Woods as the world No. 1 if either can get a flying start in 2009.

The US Master's champion Trevor Immelman is also in Abu Dhabi, along with an astonishingly long list of Englishmen who all have something other than their nationality in common. Amazingly, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood failed to produce a win between them last year, a streak that none of them will be keen to continue into 2009.

It all makes for an exciting tournament and a fine beginning to the Desert Swing. From Abu Dhabi the Tour moves on to Qatar and the Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club, reputed as the toughest of the desert courses, where Adam Scott will defend his title. Believe me, Doha is a tough prospect, a fine golf course and a fair challenge which was made to look easy last year with an outstanding display of golf from the world's finest players.

To complete the series of tournaments in the desert, Emirates Golf Club is the venue once more for the Dubai Desert Classic, rightly called the jewel in the European Tour's international schedule. Such has been the strength of the field in the past few years, the tournament holds immense prestige.

The tournament will miss Tiger Woods as he continues his recuperation and will not be able to defend the title he won in such dramatic fashion from Ernie Els 12 months ago, but the strongest field of all of the Desert Swing will provide a fitting finale to a three week festival of golf in the region. Enjoy!