Abu Dhabi Championship 2024 FRL Tips: Three to go low on Thursday

The Abu Dhabi Championship begins at Yas Links on Thursday and in addition to his outright tips, our resident Golf expert Jamie Worsley has taken a look at the First Round Leader market.

Read on for his Abu Dhabi Championship 2024 FRL tips.

Abu Dhabi Championship Odds

I’ve had a look at the first-round leader market for tomorrow’s opening day of the Abu Dhabi Championship at Yas Links, and I feel the very earliest starters could have the advantage.

There’s no clear morning/afternoon waves here due to the limited 70-man field, with tee times spread between 07:17 and 11:50. The weather is predicted to be warm, bright and clear for all, though the wind does increase throughout the day.

Those teeing off first will be playing in nothing more than a puff of breeze for the first couple of hours of their round at least. However, this won’t be the case for the later starters, with the breeze kicking up to 10mph and accompanied by gusts approaching 20mph.

That is enough for me to favour those who tee off early and I’d be looking specifically at players who get their week underway before/around 09:00.

0.75 pts Brandon Stone each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 55/1

Start time: 08:12

The first of my three selections comes in the form of South African, Brandon Stone. He’s hit a purple patch of form of late, with many results aided by positive starts and after producing his best approach performance of the season last time out in Korea, he looks ready to go low tomorrow morning.

Stone has had five top-10 finishes this season, two of which have come over his latest trio of encouraging results, as he finished 10^th in the Open de France, 17^th in the Andalucia Masters and 9^th in the Genesis Championship. However, his best result on the DP World Tour this season came right at the beginning in the UAE, as he finished 4^th in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship – a week in which he putted the paspalum greens well and opened with an 8-under 64 to sit 2^nd after round one.

He's driven it typically strongly this year, ranking 19^th in this field but it’s been his gains on the greens that have caught the eye, ranking 5^th over the last six months. Combined with a stronger approach performance in the Genesis Championship, he has all of the most relevant areas of his game firing to shoot a good number.

Stone has often putted the slower paspalum surfaces well, as he did early this year in Ras Al Khaimah and when 2^nd in the 2020 Oman Open. Having picked up three first-round top 10s in his last six events, he’s been getting off to many positive starts and can do so again at a course that suits this former Scottish Open winner’s game.

0.75 pts Dan Bradbury each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 08:50

Dan Bradbury’s improvements on the greens after switching to the long putter finally paid dividends in the Open de France two starts ago, as he won his second DPWT title. He also returned to form with his irons there and maintaining that when 20^th on his next start in the Andalucia Masters, this usually strong driver is hitting it well enough to create plenty of chances in tomorrow’s easier early conditions, he’ll just need to keep the putter rolling to take advantage of them.

He had endured a largely difficult season prior to that victory but there was already encouragement to be found on the greens in his top-40 finishes in the BMW PGA Championship and Open de Espana. His previously strong approach play then returned and alongside his consistently sound driving, this big hitter was able to take the title in France.

Bradbury began that week by shooting a 4-under 67 to sit 9^th at the close of the opening round. This was following on from recording first-round positions of 4^th at Wentworth and 12^th in the Open de Espana on two of his three previous starts, and after showing some positives at Yas Links on his debut in 2023, he has lots on his side to add another swift start in the UAE.

0.75 pts Daniel Brown each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 80/1

Start time: 07:39

I’ve tipped up Daniel Brown in the outright market at a huge price and from this advantageous early tee time, he had to make it into my first-round leader selections as well.

Brown’s form this year has been littered with strong efforts on linksy setups, including finishes of 4^th in the Irish Open and 10^th in the Open Championship. However, he surpassed all of those on his latest start in the Andalucia Masters, where he finished 3^rd.

That was a result engineered by his standout approach display of the season. With the putter predominantly firing and the driver his biggest and most consistent weapon all season, his game looks in great shape overall.

Brown memorably took the first-round lead at Royal Troon in The Open and also sat inside the top 10 after round one at Royal County Down in the Irish Open. Indeed, his excellent first-round form over the last three months – ranking 14^th in this field – was strengthened by a superb 63 to finish the day in 2^nd after round one on his latest start in Spain. Back on a course that so clearly suits his game, and from a helpful tee time, he was a fairly easy selection to hit the front on day one at Yas Links.

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