Abu Dhabi ready for Desert Swing opener

Graeme McDowell will start his season in Abu Dhabi

Bengaluru, January 1: The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to be held from January 18 to 21 will kick start the European Tour's Desert Swing which has been forced to alter its schedule for the first time in many years.

Traditionally, the Desert Swing starts in Abu Dhabi and is followed by back-to-back events in Doha and Dubai.

But with the Qatar embroiled in a diplomatic row with its gulf neighbours since June, the European Tour revised its schedule this year with Abu Dhabi to be followed by the Dubai Desert Classic. The Qatar Masters, which is usually sandwiched between the two events in the UAE has been given a February window.

A new addition to the European Tour calendar is the NBO Oman Open which will precede Qatar Masters.

Countdown begins for Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship - Golf Punk (press release) (blog) https://t.co/1WEgdwKSpN #InAbudhabi
— #AbuDhabi (@hashAbuDhabi) December 18, 2017

The change to the schedule which sees Qatar Masters teeing off on February 22 will help the European Tour players as otherwise they would have been required take a de tour for air travel between the UAE and Doha.

Oman is one of the few Gulf nations which has not severed its political and economic ties with Qatar. The players will fly from Oman to Qatar and the next European Tour event starts in Mexico a week later, thereby ticking all the boxes in the logistics calendar.

It is for the first time that European Tour is having back-to-back events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

These are bad times for Qatar as the future of Qatar Masters looks bleak as the European Tour's contract with title sponsor Commercial Bank is to end after this year. The Ladies European Tour was also forced to cancel its annual event to be staged at the Doha Golf Course in December.

Johnson targeting Masters after 2017 injury

Meanwhile preparations are going on in full swing in Abu Dhabi for the 13th edition of the European Tour that has attracted a quality field including the likes of defending champion Tommy Fleetwood, world No.1 Dustin Johnson, four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson as well as household names like household names Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Thomas Bjorn.

REVISED DESERT SWING 2018 CALENDAR

January 18-21 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

January 25-28 Dubai Desert Classic

February 15 to 18 NBO Oman Open

February 22 to 25 Qatar Masters