Omega Dubai Desert Classic Preview

Ernie Els, who has had an 'encouraging' start to the 2015 season, has clear designs on extending his record of three titles in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic which tees off at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday.

And yes, this despite the fact that he'll be up against the European Tour's strongest field this season.

Lead by a ready-to-go World No 1 Rory McIlroy, who'll likely be driven by the memories of his first-ever, professional win here in 2009, the field includes an impressive group of other European Tour top guns, amongst them World No 2 Henrik Stenson, Spanish No 1 Sergio Garcia, German No 1 Martin Kaymer, Northern Ireland's 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, England's former World N0 1 Lee Westwood and 2010 British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.

Els, whose first victory here in 1994 in what has become the longest-running tour event in the Middle East, can also count it as his first-ever win on the European Tour and his Dubai titles are known to feature high on his personal list of the 70 professional titles he has won worldwide, the best of these being his four Majors, two World Golf Championships and seven World Match play titles.

It's certainly not for nothing that he tops the list of all-time European Tour money winners and even at 45 and just a few years away from becoming eligible to play on the Senior Tour, he sees himself as being in with a chance this week.

And why not.

After all, it was less than three years ago in 2012 when he won his fourth major and second British Open to become just the eighth golfer to win majors in three different decades. That says something about his durability.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” the big, smooth-swinging South African told the europeantour.com this week. “I love the Middle East and there’s no doubt it’ll be a great experience for all of the players. I know it has been a long time since I won last in Dubai, but I’m quite excited about my game, especially at the start of a new season.”

After his mild, but clear cut suggestion that he feels he can win again, it might be a mistake to simply write off Els, who holds the course record-at 61 for the Majlis championship course where this week's event is being played, this especially as the bookmakers, who base their odds on reality rather than on aspirations, have listed him at between 60 and 80 to one.

Not at all too surprising, on the other hand, is the fact that McIlroy tops the bookies lists as the 7/2 favourite because quite frankly, if he has a few on-days with his putter there are not too many tournaments this hugely talented Ulsterman can't win.

Behind McIlroy, the bookies have listed their next best favourites as Stenson at around 14/1, Kaymer at 16/1, Garcia and Westwood at 18/1, and the defending champion, Scott Stephen Gallacher in the same bracket as last week's Qatar Masters winner Branden Grace and up-and-coming Frenchman Victor Dubai at 25/1.

No one is going to argue with McIlroy sitting on top of the pile, but Stenson in has most recent appearances on tour hasn't looked a shadow of his former self and nor, for that matter, have Garcia, Westwood, Gallacher and Oosthuizen and, right now players like Kaymer, Grace, the bearded Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, lanky Austrian Berndt Wiesberger and a host of other young guns all look like better bets.

Grace may be a little jaded after having come through a tense final round to win last week, but Kaymer should have recovered from his shock implosion in the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship two weeks ago when he threw away an eight-shot lead to gift a title he seemed to have on the plate to unheralded Frenchman Gary Stal.

If anything the experience will most likely have so fired up the determined and underrated German, he will come out this week with all guns blazing as he attempts to put his unhappy experience at Abu Dhabi behind him.

It's very possible he'll be the No 1 danger man to a first win of 2015 for McIlroy.

MONDAY'S TOP ODDS FOR DUBAI

For the last odds of all the major bookmakers you should go to http://www.oddschecker.com/golf/dubai-desert-classic/winner

Rory McIlroy                      7/2
Henrik Stenson                14/1
Martin Kaymer                 16/1
Sergio Garcia                  18/1
Lee Westwood                18/1
Stephen Gallacher           25/1
Victor Dubuisson             25/1
Branden Grace                25/1
Bernd Wiesberger           33/1
Louis Oosthuizen            28/1
Graeme McDowell           33/1
Danny Willett                  40/1
Emiliano Grillo                50/1
George Coetzee             45/1
Thorbjorn Olesen            50/1
Joost Luiten                   50/1
Rafael Cabrera Bello       50/1
Alexander Levy              50/1
Ross Fisher                  50/1
Eddie Pepperell             60/1

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