Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Betting Preview

Jamie Donaldson will be looking to repeat last year's success in Abu Dhabi.

While the 2014 European Tour has actually been underway since the beginning of December, to me the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship has, in recent years, been the "first round proper" of the Race to Dubai.

With the likes of Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia playing competitive golf for the first time since their Christmas trees went up, it's hard to argue that this is the event where the big guns feel it's time to come out.

Of course, in an event like this the aforementioned instantly become the bookies' favourites - and, last year aside, McIlroy has knocked on the door at Abu Dhabi in recent years, twice finishing runner up.

But I also can't help but think that a week in the middle-eastern sun serves more as a chance to get match-fit for the heavyweights, than a real opportunity to get their season off to a winning start.

The arrival of these heavyweights, however, is good news for us punters. Players who might otherwise be shorter priced offer better value if you have an inkling of where to look.

First up is Jamie Donaldson. He was an impressive winner in this event last year, and his preparation ahead of it has been markedly similar. Indeed, if we compare like-for-like he finished 16th in the Volvo Champions in South Africa last year and last week just missed out on a top ten finish again after shooting two over on the final day.

There can be no doubt about the Welshman's form either. After winning in Abu Dhabi last year, he continued to have a solid season and went up a gear again at the end of the year, culminating in two second placed finishes.

With Louis Oosthuizen succesfully defending his Volvo Champions title last week, statistically it would be quite unusual for Donaldson to continue this trend in Abu Dhabi. Nevertheless the 28/1 on offer at Boyles Sports makes it quite tempting to believe history can repeat itself, for the second week running.

And while the 9/4 available with Boyles Sports for a top ten finish isn't going to earn enough to retire on, I will be using this as a form of insurance bet as I find it difficult to see him much further down the leaderboard whatever else happens.

Also likely to be in contention is Thorbjørn Oleson. Again he gave a good account of himself in Abu Dhabi last year, finishing second to Donaldson - an improvement on his 8th place the year before.

Oleson was a  consistent performer throughout the 2013, finishing in the money 17 times out of his 24 starts and 2014 could well be the year Oleson adds to his sole 2012 tour win. Abu Dhabi presents an ideal opportunity for the 24-year-old to do this.

The 70/1 on offer with Bet365 presents outstanding each way value in my eyes as this converts to effectively 15/1 for a top five finish with icing on the cake if he goes all the way.

Finally, I'm going to jump on the Matteo Manassero bandwagon. Many people expect big things of the young Italian this year and there are not many tournaments go by where one pundit or another doesn't put him somewhere in the frame in their previews.

I'm no exception this time and the 70/1 being offered by Bet365 makes him an attractive outside proposition for this event.

Advised bets

1 pt EW Jamie Donaldson with Boyles Sports

0.5 pts EW Thorbjørn Oleson with Bet365

0.5 pts EW Matteo Manassero with Bet365 

2 pts Jamie Donaldson top ten finish. with Boyles Sports

(Odds correct at time of publication and are the best odds available for each selection as sourced from www.oddschecker.com )