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.

It is obvious the sponsors have splashed the cash to attract some of the game’s greatest to their tournament.

World number one Lee Westwood leads the way while Phil Mickelson has been persuaded to cross the Atlantic. Ten members of the successful 2010 European Ryder Cup team including the three Irishmen, McDowell, Harrington and McIlroy; Martin Kaymer, Miguel Angle Jimenez, Ross Fisher, the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, Ian Poulter and Peter Hanson, will be teeing it up along with Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey, the brilliant young Italian Matteo Manassero, the talented South African Charl Schwartzel and Jose-Maria Olazabal, who will have been installed as 2012 European Ryder Cup team captain before the first ball is struck.

Harrington’s many fans will be pleased to see him commit to an increased number of early season tournaments.

He hopes to have 10 starts under his belt before the US Masters and he will follow up on Abu Dhabi by competing along with several other high profile players in Bahrain next week.

Meanwhile, the US PGA Tour arrives on the mainland after wins in Hawaii for Jonathan Byrd in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and Mark Wilson in the Sony Open at the weekend. They still await the arrival for his first appearance of 2011 of Tiger Woods.