The course
The course rewards scrambling, rated HIGH, with driving accuracy, putting and the short game around the green each rated MEDIUM. It separates players least on driving distance. Course Fit says it has barely separated players on skill, less than is typical for this tour, though that rests on few stagings. Over recent stagings the event scores close to the tour average.
| Key metric | Priority | Its leader's record |
|---|---|---|
| Scrambling | HIGH | 5 top 10s, 1 win in 10 stagings |
| Driving accuracy | MEDIUM | 3 top 10s, 1 win in 10 stagings |
| Putting | MEDIUM | 3 top 10s in 8 stagings |
| Around the green | MEDIUM | 3 top 10s, 1 win in 8 stagings |
Key metrics: what Course Fit says this course rewards beyond the tour norm, largest weight first. Priority: the weight against every venue's (CRITICAL for the top tenth). Its leader's record: how the player who led the field for the metric at each staging went on to finish.
History
Recent winning scores at this week's course run from 10 under par to 25 under par. The field's leader for scrambling has the strongest record of the key metrics, with five top 10s in 10 stagings. In round 1 the morning wave scored better in six of the last 10 stagings, and the first-round leader came from the morning wave in seven of them, joint leaders from both waves included.
| Year | Champion | To par |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Aaron Rai | -25 |
| 2024 | Paul Waring | -24 |
| 2023 | Victor Perez | -18 |
| 2022 | Thomas Pieters | -10 |
| 2021 | Tyrrell Hatton | -18 |
Played at Abu Dhabi: 2021.
| Round 1 | 2023 | Last 10 stagings |
|---|---|---|
| Scoring average, morning v afternoon | 71.20 v 71.89 | 71.38 v 71.67 on average |
| Better wave | Morning, by 0.69 | Morning 6, afternoon 4 |
| First-round leader from | Morning | Morning 7, afternoon 1, both 2 |
Previous stagings with round 1 played in two waves, split as the In-Running page splits them.
Last year
Aaron Rai, who is in this week's field, won in a playoff at 25 under par. He was a perfect match on driving accuracy, rated MEDIUM, and a match around the green, but he was an anomaly on scrambling, the HIGH metric. His putting was neutral.
| Key metric | Champion's rank | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Scrambling | T46 | anomaly |
| Driving accuracy | T2 | perfect match |
| Putting | 20 | neutral |
| Around the green | 17 | match |
Verdict: perfect match (top 5), match (top quarter), neutral (top half), anomaly (bottom half), as in the review.
Course Fit: this week's field
Course Fit ranks this week's field by how closely each player's game over the last 12 months matches what Yas Links rewards beyond the tour norm, above all scrambling, driving accuracy and putting. These are the five who fit best, with each one's rank in this week's field for those skills over the same 12 months. All 70 players have played enough on the DP World Tour to be ranked. Course Fit leaves out form, class and the draw: it describes fit, not a forecast.
| Fit | Player | Scrambling | Driving accuracy | Putting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Otaegui | 21 | 8 | 34 |
| 2 | Jeff Winther | 3 | 46 | 8 |
| 3 | Shaun Norris | 33 | 39 | 2 |
| 4 | Yurav Premlall | 61 | 26 | 13 |
| 5 | Nacho Elvira | 4 | 31 | 17 |
Fit: his Course Fit rank in this week's field, as on the Event Profile page. Each other column is his rank in this week's field for that skill over the last 12 months, as the CC: Stats and CC: SG tables rank it.