Golf in Dubai Championship Predictions, Betting Odds & Top Picks

• This new tournament is one of two on the European Tour this week
• It’s staged on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai
• Bettors beware; the event starts on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual  

Golf in Dubai Championship Odds

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Golf in Dubai Championship Picks and Predictions

Thomas Pieters has a strong record in the desert and can get back to winning ways at +2000 with DraftKings Sportsbook.

Martin Kaymer and Aaron Rai have both been in excellent form but the German’s desert record is far superior. Take Kaymer to win a 72-hole match -150 DraftKings Sportsbook.

Sweden’s Alexander Bjork is a consistent performer in the Middle East and can land another top 20 here at +250 DraftKings Sportsbook.

Picks:

Thomas Pieters to win +2000 at DraftKings Sportsbook

Martin Kaymer to beat Aaron Rai in a 72-hole match -150 at DraftKings Sportsbook

Alexander Bjork to land a top 20 +250 at DraftKings Sportsbook

How to Watch the Golf in Dubai Championship

Golf in Dubai Championship Profile

We’re getting down to the business end of this season’s Race to Dubai. And congratulations to the European Tour for keeping a weekly schedule going during the challenging times of COVID-19. This week, we have two events as this tournament runs concurrently with the South African Open.

First, some housekeeping. This event has a Wednesday start so get those bets on early. It’s played to a conclusion on Saturday. Regular European Tour observers will also have noted that this tournament takes place at Jumeirah Golf Estates – the same as next week’s season closer, the DP World Tour Championship. So is this another case of necessary logistics and a third example on the European Tour this season of a course staging back-to-back tournaments?

This time, no. The DP Tour Championship is played, as always, over the Earth Course but this week the players get to experience the Fire Course. The Fire is shorter on the card, measuring 7,480 yards to the Earth’s 7,676. However, both are par 72s with the standard four par 5s so there will be plenty of similarities too. In other words, results from the Earth Course – and indeed other desert courses in the region – will have plenty of relevance when trying to identify this week’s best bets.

With next week in mind, some big names return to the fold and double major champion Martin Kaymer is at the front of the market with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre. The other European Tour event taking place this week is the South African Open and we’ll have a preview of that tournament too.

Hopefully, it goes as well as last week’s SA tournament when we landed all three tips including +1600 winner Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

Pieters Can Bank The Win

There are plenty in the field who boast excellent records in the European Tour’s frequent visits to the desert. But, at the prices, the classy Thomas Pieters stands out as the best bet.

Since the start of 2016, the big-hitting Belgian has finished second and fifth in the Abu Dhabi Championship and sixth at last year’s DP World Tour Championship – played on the same property as this week’s event although on a different course.

A new desert tournament has also sprung up in the last couple of years – the Saudi International.

Pieters looked a good fit for that and the theory has played out; the four-time European Tour winner was T22 on debut and third this year. Also third at the Celtic Classic in mid-August, Pieters hasn’t played much since although he did top the early leaderboard at the US Open before finishing T23. The lack of golf can be a problem for some but Pieters has a record of coming out hot after a break and hopefully, that’s the case here.

Take him for the win at +2000 with DraftKings Sportsbook.

Kaymer To Outscore Rai

Martin Kaymer has been one of the top performers in desert events for over a decade on the European Tour. And that’s why I like him to outduel Aaron Rai in a 72-hole match bet.

True, Rai’s form has been superb in recent times with a win at the Scottish Open, a second at the Irish Open, and a third in the Scottish Championship. He did miss the cut at Wentworth during that run, though. But his record in the United Arab Emirates over the last couple of years is poor. Starting from the beginning of 2018 it reads: MC-48-54-29-40-MC-71.

By contrast, Kaymer has a sensational body of work in this part of the globe. It includes three wins, a second, a third, a fourth, a sixth, and an eighth (earlier this year) at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. He’s also had six top 20s on the Earth Course and a T13 in Saudi Arabia in February.

And the good news is, he already has some positive things to say about this week’s venue. “I’ve played Fire a couple of times during practice camps with my coach and my family. I like it a lot as it’s a completely different challenge to the Earth, it will be a good challenge.”

The German was fifth in Italy on his last start, 10th at Wentworth before that, and also produced a couple of top threes at the end of October/start of November.

Take Kaymer (-150 at DraftKings Sportsbook) to win this 72-hole match.

Bjork To Land In Top 20

Alexander Bjork is a consistent performer in the Middle East so looks good material for this week’s top 20 bets. The Swede is 5-for-9 in terms of top 20s in the United Arab Emirates since the start of 2017 so those numbers stack up well against his odds of +250. We can add to that a T12 in one of his two Oman Open starts and a top-six in this season’s Qatar Masters.

As for latest form, he posted T19 in the Scottish Open at the start of October and shot in the 60s in six of his seven rounds at the two recent Cyprus events

Take the +250 at DraftKings Sportsbook that he lands in the top 20.