Abu Dhabi Championship Preview, Picks and Analysis

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements

RORY McILROY said that he was going to play more golf before The Masters this year than he did in 2015, when he arrived at Augusta hopelessly undercooked.

After watching Jordan Spieth's incredible play at the Tournament of Champions, the Northern Irishman will be under no illusions about the size of the task he faces if he is to reassert himself as the world's best golfer. McIlroy has always been a streaky player but there is one part of his game that will never come close to matching Spieth's, and that is his putting.

McIlroy struggles for pace and sometimes just to read the line of putts, but his real achilles heel is the number of putts that he misses inside 10 feet. And if he is to have any chance of usurping Spieth in 2016 then he simply has to sort that out. He hits the ball way further than the American, he plays more great iron shots than Spieth but he doesn't hole enough putts.

He gets his year under way at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and it seems that the sponsors must have dug deep because McIlroy finds himself facing a world-class field that will include Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer (a three-time winner), Lee Westwood, Russell KNox, Bern Weisberger, Victor Dubuisson, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Danny Willett, Branden Grace, Brandon Stone, Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau. Oh yes, and some guy called Spieth.

How good is that? McIlroy and Spieth going head to head in the desert. How things have changed. How money talks! Not that any of us watching this tournament should care one jot about what it has taken to assemble this field. The course will be perfect, the weather will be glorious, so the scene is set for the first of what should be many epic battles between these two young gladiators in 2016.

Of course, we already know that Spieth has continued where he left off last year. He still hits some strangely wild shots, and those will largely go unpunished in Abu Dhabi. But the putting surfaces will be perfect, so if McIlroy is to beat him then he had better have been working on the right things since we last saw him in Europe. Just to remind you - that was at the Dubai World Championship, which he won.

The field for this tournament is simply mouthwatering. You can expect Spieth and McIlroy to grab the headlines, and to be fighting it out for the trophy, but Fowler and company will surely have something to say about that.

It is to be hoped that Fowler has discarded those awful trousers he wore at the Tournament of Champions, and that his play is rather more consistent - it will need to be.

It is also a huge week for Russell Knox. The Scot is now a full member of the European Tour and desperately wants to play for Darren Clarke's team in the Ryder Cup match at Hazeltine. Sadly, the money he won at the recent WGC tournament does not count towards his bid as he was not a member of the tour when he won. It will only make him even more determined to do well this week.

And how can you possibly rule out Kaymer, a course specialist at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club? Or Stenson, who just seems to get better with age.

It's tough to call a winner, but it's going to be fun watching them battling it out. This is how I think it might play out.

Abu Dhabi Invitational Betting Picks

Rory McIlroy. If he's on form, he will be hard to beat

Jordan Spieth. Just keeps going from strength to strength

Matthew Fitzpatrick. Wonderful young golfer

Abu Dhabi Invitational Fantasy Picks

Rory McIlroy. Would love to get one over on Spieth

Jordan Spieth. And he would love to put Rory in his place

Matthew Fitzpatrick. Almost never has a bad week

Rickie Fowler. Always fun to watch

Chris Wood. Don't rule out the big man from Bristol

Ian Poulter. Needs some ranking points

Branden Grace. A class act

Martin Kaymer. Just loves this place

Russell Knox. Determined to produce a good week

Victor Dubuisson. Still on a high after finish to last season