DP World Tour Championship 2024 FRL Tips: Two to get off to a flier

The DP World Tour Championship begins in Dubai 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 DP World Tour Championship 2024 FRL tips.

DP World Tour Championship Odds

The final event of the 2023/24 DP World Tour season begins tomorrow, and I’ve taken a look at who can get off to a fast start at the Earth Course in the DP World Tour Championship.

This limited 50-man field will tee off in pairs and with the start times stretching from 08:30 to 12:45, there is room for a draw bias to develop. That could well happen tomorrow, with the gentle, early 7mph breeze almost doubling over the course of the afternoon, and with gusts that are predicted to hit 20mph, I’m favouring the earlier starters.

If that forecast materialises, I’d want to be on players teeing off before 10:00 at the latest. My eyes are immediately drawn to a couple of high-class individuals out early who each have form at this course, and happen to be paired together, Min Woo Lee and Adrian Meronk. I’m hoping that they can drive each other on to dominate the top of the leaderboard on day one.

1.75 pts Min Woo Lee each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 22/1

Start time: 09:10

Whilst he’s not threatened in the big events quite as he’d have liked, Min Woo Lee’s rookie season on the PGA Tour has to go down as a success. He’s gone close on two occasions, finishing 2^nd in the Cognizant Classic and Rocket Mortgage Classic, and sitting at 64^th in the FedExCup, he’s comfortably retained his card for next season.

He’s been hitting the ball well of late, ranking 7^th in this field tee-to-green over the last three months. His driver has been the biggest weapon, ranking 5^th over this period but it’s his approach play – which is usually his biggest weakness – that has been particularly encouraging, ranking 16^th.

Lee has been starting well enough, firing five under par first rounds across his last six starts. I’m hoping he can transfer those positive starts to a course at which he’s amassing a good record, producing finishes of 16^th, 12^th and 15^th on his three starts. With his third-round 65 last year good enough to at least tie the first-round lead in six of the last seven renewals, he has proven he can go low enough to hit the front at the Earth Course on Thursday.

1.25 pts Adrian Meronk each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 35/1

Start time: 09:10

Adrian Meronk found something over the weekend in Abu Dhabi and with some strong rounds under his belt at the Earth Course, he can carry that momentum over to tomorrow’s opening round.

Meronk made a solid enough start to his first season on LIV, recording four top 10s in the first 10 events, including a runner-up finish in Houston. However, following that result, he’s recorded zero top-10 finishes in nine starts and went into Abu Dhabi with little form. This showed over the first two rounds, as he shot rounds of 71 and 72 to sit 63^rd, but a third-round 64 shot him up the leaderboard and backing that up with a 69, he appears to have turned a corner.

As a strong and lengthy driver who can run hot on the greens, he’s a good fit for this venue. Most areas of his game failed to fire at the start of last week, but he was much improved over the weekend, especially on the greens. With some superb approach play in that third round, his game looks to be in positive enough shape to take advantage of the kinder early conditions.

Meronk started well on his debut in 2021, shooting a 4-under 68 to sit 5^th after round one, before signing off with a 66 to finish 32^nd. He again opened with an under-par round on his way to a 7^th-place finish in 2022, which included a round of 65, before then making his best start at the course last year, when another 68 was enough for 4^th in the first round. If he can carry his form over from last weekend, he’d look a big contender to make the early running in Dubai.

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