An upgrade in status and prize money means an upgrade in the field with some of the best golfers in the world kicking off the 2019 European Tour at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, contested at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The event was elevated to part of the Euro Tour’s Rolex Series with a purse that more than doubled.
That’s unfortunate news for Tommy Fleetwood, who won the event in each of the last two years, but the second favorite at +1025 on the odds board at BookMaker.eu should be motivated for a three-peat. World No. 2 Dustin Johnson is the betting favorite at +550 with No. 3 ranked Brooks Koepka the third favorite at +1050. All eyes will be fixated on Fleetwood, but another victory is going to be tough to come by. Here is a list of head-to-head matchup odds posted at BookMaker.eu.
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Matchup Odds at BookMaker.eu
Tom Lewis -105 vs. Joost Luiten -115
Henrik Stenson -125 vs. Louis Oosthuizen +105
Dustin Johnson -175 vs. Brooks Koepka +155
Louis Oosthuizen -120 vs. Tyrrell Hatton +100
Dustin Johnson -165 vs. Tommy Fleetwood +145
Henrik Stenson -115 vs. Tyrrell Hatton -105
Tommy Fleetwood -110 vs. Brooks Koepka -110
Sean Crocker -120 vs. Ashun Wu -110
Erik Van Rooyen -125 vs. Brandon Stone +105
Haotong Li +120 vs. Branden Grace -140
Thomas Pieters +105 vs. Rafa Cabrera-Bello -125
Thomas Pieters -145 vs. Matt Wallace +125
Matt Wallace +155 vs. Rafa Cabrera-Bello -175
Lucas Bjerregaard +105 vs. Shane Lowry -125
Byeong Hun An -145 vs. Ross Fisher +125
Zander Lombard -120 vs. David Drysdale -110
Mike Lorenzo-Vera -135 vs. Mikko Korhonen +105
Bernd Wiesberger +100 vs. Adrian Otaegui -120
Jordan Smith +105 vs. Andrea Pavan -125
Pablo Larrazabal +110 vs. Alexander Levy -130
Alexander Bjork +105 vs. Eddie Pepperell -125
Ryan Fox -140 vs. Victor Perez +120
Jeunghun Wang -110 vs. Nicolas Colsaerts -120
Richard Sterne -110 vs. Robert Rock -120
David Lipsky -110 vs. Jason Scrivener -120
Ian Poulter -140 vs. Kiradech Aphibarnrat +120
Thorbjorn Olesen -125 vs. Lee Westwood +105
Andy Sullivan -120 vs. Chris Paisley +100
Sam Horsfield -135 vs. Shubhankar Sharma +105
Martin Kaymer +120 vs. Thomas Detry -140
Matthias Schwab -110 vs. Paul Dunne -120
Lucas Herbert -115 vs. Kurt Kitayama -105
Aaron Rai -110 vs. Dean Burmester -110
George Coetzee -110 vs. Marcus Kinhul -120
Haydn Porteous +105 vs. Jorge Campillo -135
Need to Know
The Abu Dhabi Golf Club stretches to 7,600-yards and is a typical flat desert layout with a reputation among the pros for being one of the best manicured courses on the Tour. We usually don’t see many lakes in the desert but there are several surrounding the layout that come into play on over half the holes. And don’t forget about the bunkers because there is an abundance of those that can wreak havoc with scores. The course plays to several different styles with its length, hazards and thick rough, but the player who manages the flat stick better will have an edge. The greens are fast but rewarding for those who can manage them.
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Matchup Picks
Henrik Stenson -115 vs. Tyrrell Hatton
Stenson hasn’t won a tournament since the summer of 2016 and time is running out on the 40-something veteran. But he can still swing it and has had some great moments at this event. As we get older those minor ailments can feel major, and Stenson had his share leading to a disappointing finish to his 2018 season. He’s looked better with top-5s at the Hero World Challenge and the Indonesian Masters. He’s played every edition of this event with two runner-up finishes and a course record. And he’s no stranger to winning in the UAE with two titles at the DP World Tour and one at the Dubai Classic.
Bernd Wiesberger +100 vs. Adrian Otaegui
I keep going back to the Austrian because at some point he’s going to regain the form that lifted him to World No. 23 before a wrist injury catapulted his career. Wiesberger has four wins on the Euro Tour and finished ninth in the Race to Dubai standings in 2015 and 2016. He was a rising star until the injury last summer put him on the shelf for nearly eight months. He made three starts at the end of last year improving his score and standing each time, and he’s been in Abu Dhabi ahead of the field preparing for this event. I like his chances.
Dustin Johnson -165 vs. Tommy Fleetwood +145
It’s hard to go against the World’s No. 3 golfer, even at long odds. Johnson worked out the kinks a few weeks ago at the TOC with a 69 and 67 over the final two rounds to grab a share of fourth. And the course at Abu Dhabi has been to his liking. DJ enjoys the wide open layout and there’s no one better working with the wind. His ninth and second place finishes the last two years also work in his favor. It’s hard to win an event three consecutive times and that’s why we’ve never seen it happen here, so I’m fading Fleetwood in this matchup.
Golf Betting Odds
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