Schwartzel and Day lead the southern hemisphere charge at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Abu Dhabi, UAE: South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and Australia’s Jason Day are looking to end six years of Northern Hemisphere dominance at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, having finished first and second, respectively, at last year’s US Masters.
The Championship, which starts on Thursday and runs until Sunday, has never been claimed by a player from a nation south of the equator, with American Chris DiMarco (2006), Englishman Paul Casey (2007, 2009) and German Martin Kaymer (2008, 2010, 2011) sharing previous spoils on Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National Course.
Now, with arguably the strongest field ever assembled for a Middle East tournament, the young, Abu Dhabi-bound duo have declared their intent to enter the $2.7 million event’s history books by becoming the first Southern Hemisphere player to win the ‘Falcon’ trophy.
“A lot of the top players in the field are from the Northern Hemisphere, with many lining up for their first tournament of the season – they’ll be fresh and ready to go,” said Schwartzel. “We’ll need to be playing well to end the northern guys’ victory run, but we’ve got plenty of talent and we’re confident a Southern Hemisphere player can win in Abu Dhabi.”
If they are to have their name etched onto the ‘Falcon’ trophy, Schwartzel and Day will have to stop Kaymer, the tournament’s defending and triple champion, from claiming title number four in Abu Dhabi. Other contenders include: Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, the world’s top three ranked players, as well as Abu Dhabi debutant, Tiger Woods.
