The Quick Hook

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club will play host to the second iteration of the much discussed Saudi International event. Will golf's premier villain take the top spot at golf's most vilified event, or is it to be another? The signature 16th hole at Royal Greens G&CC King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, is the next stop on the European Tour. Aside from 'Economic City' sounding like the name of a dystopian metropolis where consumerism and rapid gratification have replaced love and human connection, according to several players, this is the perfect spot for the European Tour to continue its tradition of growing the game  TM. Call it what you will (bluster, cash-grabbing nonsense, total BS,  par exemple ), but the field is just about as strong as you are likely to find on a regular European Tour event all season, so let's focus on that. World Number one Brooks Koepka is in the field, heading the bill with returning champion Dustin Johnson. A whole...

The European Tour returns to Emirates Golf Club, with the Middle East swing having already seen Lee Westwood become a champion of four consecutive decades. One week on, what story is set to unfold? There has never been a shortage of big-name winners in Dubai. In the thirty years this event has existed, champions at the top of the game have have been added to the list of winners like skyscrapers to the Dubai skyline. Take a pick of your favourite - Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, Henrik Stenson, Fred Couples - the list is impressive. In fact, of the 30 times the event has been played, 14 of the winners are also names of major champions. Big purses attract big name fields, and quite frequently, big name winners. Will this week follow this trend, or will there be a giant-killing? Diving into the 2020 event, historically, what makes a winner at Jumeirah Golf Club? This won't come as a surprise to many, but both of the previous...

A star studded field will grace Abu Dhabi Golf Club this week. Who is going to come out on top? It's the first of seven Rolex Series events on the European Tour for the 2020 season, where one of the strongest fields of the year will battle it out in Abu Dhabi. In attendance will be the current Open Champion, a two time past winner, last week's champion in South Africa, and the man currently on top of the official golf world rankings. The man to beat, for many, will be world number one Brooks Koepka, who is returning from a knee injury that has kept him out of action since his withdrawal from the CJ Cup in October. Not that many would have expected him to, but Koepka hasn't spent much time pining over his injury woes. "Everybody's dinged up a little bit," Koepka said, moments after detailing that his knee cap had been moving into the fat pad of his leg, and that it had required stem cell treatment. "Nobody wants to hear an excuse. I'm not goin...

Can South Africans make a return to the major stage in 2020?  If so, their hopes now lie with three people. With the likes of Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, there has rarely been a shortage of South African golfers front and centre on the world stage. Every generation of Springbok juniors, for over half a century, has had a major winning professional to look up to, and aspire to emulate. It is now, however, nearly 8 years since Els lifted the Claret Jug, and 9 years since Schwartzel donned the green jacket. These victories came during a spell where South Africans had four different major winners over the course of five seasons. It would have taken a bold man to predict that by the time the calendar hit the year 2020, that South Africa would have suffered nearly a decade of drought in golf’s major championships. After all, blossoming at the beginning of the twenty tens was a whole new crew, ready to take on the world. I...