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Tommy Fleetwood to beat Ross Fisher - 5 points @ Evens (SpredEx)

Johan Carlsson to beat Peter Uilhein - 5 points @ 10-11 (Coral)

No apology for being against Fisher again this week, this time opposing him with the improving youngster.

Previous records had indicated that the Wentworth lad would need his first outing of the year and combined with an appalling record at Abu, he duly missed the weekend. He now tries to get his game together for a different test, a potentially windy Doha, but needs to convince a lot more to finish in front of his in-form oppo.

Given the conditions, Doha should suit Fisher - he is long enough off the tee, enjoys playing in the wind and the open spaces would allow him to use his quality iron play. Alas, his results here are shocking, missing the cut in 2011 and 2012 following a best of only 25th in 2008 (when he finished the season in 6th on the R2D). There are sporadic signs of a return to his best, with that 2nd in Perth and 3rd in South Africa in December a reminder of his quality, but it's all guesswork with him at the moment. He was slow to kickoff his stint on the PGA Tour, has a terrible record all round in January and it may take a good few more weeks for him to start moving in the right direction.

As always, the weakness of a player is useful in this format but in Tommy Fleetwood, Fisher faces a real improver with the promise of so much more.

A quality amateur (aren't they all nowadays?), Fleetwood became the youngest golfer to top the Challenge Tour rankings before embarking on his Euro Tour career. Unlike many that struggle however, he has continued to improve over the last couple of seasons, ranking 109th in his first full pro year before his maiden win at Gleneagles lifted him to 26th on the R2D. There is plenty written elsewhere about the link between Gleneagles and similar courses to the track they face this week, but Fleetwood also fits in very nicely with recent winners Paul Lawrie and Chris Wood.

Of course, even if judged on just the last few weeks Fleetwood deserves to be favourite. Although eventually 3rd and 19th over the last fortnight, the Merseyside player led the Volvo Champions through halfway and was ever-present last week in Abu, on both occassions failing to take advantage of some excellent approach play. That lack of a putting touch is a worry and it may start getting to him if continuing, but he spoke of coming on for his first outing of the year and it genuinely is just taking the chances as they arrive - he missed an awful lot of 15-20 foot birdie putts - but he has enlisted a short-game coach and has actually improved his putting average over the last couple of seasons.  

Fleetwood goes into Doha now fully aware of what the Tour has to offer and is prepared to work towards getting better results. He is expected to leave last seasons 37th well behind but even if not, it may be enough and certainly plenty on which to base a case that he should not be the outsider of these two.   

The other matchup sets up two youngsters on Tour, both with huge potential to win serious prizemoney. Only the American has won on Tour, a co-sanctioned event at  tricky Madeira, but despite his length being suited to this week's course, he has done precisely nothing since a top-5 at the BMW in China. Very mediocre finishes litter his recent card and he is simply making huge unforced errors that set him way back down leaderboards and his card reads that of a completely different player to the one that ran-up in the Dunhill Links and Welsh Open. I cannot find any stats on it, but Uilhein would surely appear highly on a ranking of players that run up large figures on holes they can easily reach, and with his game looking off even the wide open spaces of Doha may not attract his best. It is a couple of years since he played here but he missed the cut by miles and there may be something just off with his game at present.

Swede Carlsson is a new name on the block, but his pedigree of finishing high on the Nordic Tour, and then on the Challenge Tour is a familiar one and he could not have asked for a better start to his rookie year. Top-10 in the Challenge Tour finale led to an end-of-season 5th in the overall rankings, and he immediately trod the oft-used path to South Africa where he finished an excellent closing 7th. Early season South African events often produce that kick forward and the likes of the aforementioned Fleetwood alongside Thorbjorn Olesen et al have used those events to get a foothold on the Tour.  An excellent 18th in Hong Kong, the 27-year-old came rushing unnoticed through the field last Sunday, coming from 39th to 7th via a best of the day 65, and he looks extremely trustworthy with all aspects of his game. A superb approach player, this course should give him the chance to attack, and his putting is very reliable to boot. Whilst he has no form here, Carlsson showed more than once on the CT  that he is capable of 'rounds of the day' on new courses and judged on the way he improved at Abu, that doesn't remain a worry. He just may be very very good indeed.