UK Golf Federation news

The images of Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Thomas Pieters, Francesco Molinari and Seamus Power must be credited to Getty Images and used in conjunction with this release only. Please click on image to download a high-resolution version. For all tournament information, including broadcast content, please visit the European Tour group Media Hub. Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry are both raring to go ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first Rolex Series event of the season, at Yas Links Abu Dhabi. The duo have both tasted success in this event, with Fleetwood winning back-to-back in 2017 and 2018 before Lowry followed suit by triumphing in 2019, and they arrive at Yas Links after both representing Great Britain and Ireland at last week’s inaugural Hero Cup. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is the season-opening event of the Rolex Series, which features five premium events on the DP World Tour in 2023, spread across four key points in the global golfing calendar, each event enhanced by a minimum US$9million prize fund. Englishman Fleetwood would become only the second player in the event’s history to claim the title on three separate occasions with a victory this week, while Ireland’s Lowry is hunting his third Rolex Series title following his win in Abu Dhabi in 2019 and his memorable success at last year’s BMW PGA Championship. The pair will be joined at Yas Links by their entire Great Britain and Ireland team from last week’s match play contest, including Ireland’s Séamus Power who will make his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship debut this week, as will Austria’s Sepp Straka following his appearance for Team Continental Europe at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Defending Champion Thomas Pieters will attempt to join Fleetwood as a back-to-back winner, while New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, a three-time DP World Tour winner, will make his first start of the calendar year following a stellar 2022 during which he won twice – at the Ras al Khaimah Classic and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – and finished second on the season-long Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.