Tour legends join rising stars in RAK

Some of golf's brightest rising stars will battle it out with legends of the European game, Major champions and Rolex Series winners when the inaugural Ras Al Khaimah Championship presented by Phoenix Capital tees off the first of back-to-back weeks in the northernmost United Arab Emirate.

The DP World Tour continues its run of four successive tournaments in the UAE, following Rolex Series events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively, as Al Hamra Golf Club welcomes the Tour for the first time, having previously hosted the Challenge Tour on three occasions.
“It’s obviously the start of the year so you’re looking to show some form that you can build on and I’ve certainly done that in the last two weeks," said Harrington.
"I’m certainly not there, but it shows a lot of promise, the game has been strong, I was second in strokes gained tee-to-green last week, I changed putters and didn’t have as many three-putts as the previous week – I went from eight to one."
Three-time Major champion Pádraig Harrington - whose tied ninth place finish at last week's Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic was the most recent of four consecutive top 20s on the Tour - is joined in the field by 2016 Masters winner Danny Willett.
“It’s nice here. First look yesterday, scoring’s going to be low. It’s generous in places, tightens up a little bit around the greens on a few holes," said Willett.
"A lot of it will depend on the weather, if we get weather like this for the four days I think you’re going to see some pretty low scores out there."
Willett's fellow Rolex Series champion Bernd Wiesberger will also tee it up, while rising stars Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard are joined by young Scot Robert MacIntyre.
Thomas Bjørn, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Colin Montgomerie are among the European legends teeing it up at Al Hamra Golf Club, while in-form Richard Bland will be targeting a second victory on Tour after coming agonisingly close last week in neighbouring Dubai - losing out in a play-off to Viktor Hovland.