High-class field in ‘Gulf Swing’

THE increasingly lucrative “Gulf Swing” on the European Tour begins Thursday with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The event has attracted a high-class entry including Ireland’s ‘big three’ of Graeme McDowell, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy along with Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley.

There is a $2.7m (€2.02m) prize fund and Abu Dhabi will be followed over the next three weeks by the new Volvo Golf Champions event in Bahrain and the longer established Qatar Masters and Dubai Desert Classic.