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2024 Ras Al Khaimah Championship Tips
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Event Info
Starts: 25th January 2024
Course: Al Hamra GC
Par: 72 (36-36)
Length: 7,400 yards
Course Info
Course Designer: Peter Harradine
Fairways: Wider than average
Rough: Average/Minimal
Greens: Paspalum
Water Hazards: Featured throughout
Par 5's: 3rd, 8th, 14th, 18th
Hosted Since: 2022
Premium on: Driving Distance
Last 3 Course Champions
2023 - Daniel Gavins
2022 - Ryan Fox
2022 - Nicolai Hojgaard
How the weather should affect this week
With hot temperatures expected and not too much wind to challenge the players, scoring should be low. Keep an eye out for Friday's forecast where morning rain could give afternoon starters soft conditions.
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
- This course hosted two events in consecutive weeks on the DP World Tour in 2022, the Ras al Khaimah Championship and the Ras al Khaimah Classic.- The course also hosted a Challenge Tour event between 2016-2018.
Trends
Winning score
Last year's winning score was -17 whilst in 2022, the winning scores were -22 and -24. Between 2016 and 2018, the winning scores were -17, -15 and -20. We'd expect to see the winning score between -17 and -20 this week given conditions and course setup.
Recent form
Last year's Ras al Khaimah Championship winner, Daniel Gavins, was 38th at the Dubai Desert Classic and had a few missed cuts prior to that. Nicolai Hojgaard came into the event on the back of two missed cuts. Ras al Khaimah Classic winner, Ryan Fox, also missed the cut on the same course before his win. Two of the three winners of the Challenge Tour events played here were in good form prior to their win. Only Jordan Smith came in when out of form (missed his two previous cuts). On the whole you don't need hot form to win here.
Course form
Gavins had a MC the year before his win. As mentioned above, Fox missed the cut week before his win at Al Hamra. Course form hasn't been essential yet although it's a small sample.
Stats Analysis
SG: Off The Tee
Gavins ranked 123rd! The first two home in 2022 at the Ras al Khaimah Championship ranked 1st and 2nd for SG: Off The Tee. The winner of the Ras al Khaimah Classic, Ryan Fox, ranked 33rd.
SG: Approach
Gavins ranked 30th last year. In 2022, only two of the top 6 last year at the Ras al Khaimah Championship ranked inside the top 10 for SG: Approach. However, Fox ranked 3rd the following week.
SG: Around The Green
Gavins was 5th last year. In 2022, none of the top 6 were in the top 10 in this category, nor was Fox the following week.
SG: Putting
Gavins was 1st last year. Only two of the top 6 at the 2022 Ras al Khaimah Championship were in the top 15 for SG: Putting. Ryan Fox was 9th.
Par 5 Scoring
Gavins was 6th last year whist Hojgaard was 1st when he won.
In Play Golf Betting Advice
Tough Holes
The 12th, 10th and 17th play as the toughest holes on the scorecard.
Birdie Holes
The first five holes will see plenty of birdies and we should expect players starting on the first tee to get off to a hot start.
Fast or Slow Start
Gavins was four back after round one, one back after round two and two back after round three.
Ryan Fox had a two shot lead and led all the way. Nicolai Hojgaard was two shots back after the opening round last week. Adri Arnaus won the Challenge Tour event in 2018 when shooting a 66 in round 1 to jointly lead.
In contrast, Jens Dantorp was 7 shots back in 2017 when he opened with a 71. Finally, Jordan Smith won in 2016 when firing an opening 69 to lie four back after the opening round.
Closing stretch
The last hole is a 576 yard par 5. It is a real risk or reward par 5 as water runs all the way down the right hand side. A great finishing hole!
What will it take to win the 2024 Ras Al Khaimah Championship?
1. Ranks high for driving distance.
2. Strong desert and links form.
3. Preferably shaken off the rust already this year.
4. Strong Par 5 scoring stats.
Ras Al Khaimah Championship Player Quotes
“It’s a great place with amazing weather and the golf course is stunning." Sebastian Soderberg, 2018
“This is my first time in Ras Al Khaimah and I’m really impressed with the place. Al Hamra Golf Club is really nice; it’s a good course with a great design and has been kept in really good shape. You need to hit it long and straight as it’s a long course but it’s really special.” Antoine Rozner, 2018
“Not a day goes by where I don’t think about how important my Ras Al Khaimah win was in getting me to where I am today.” Jordan Smith, 2017
"I’m feeling good. The weather is perfect, the course is perfect, I love the course – it sets up perfectly for me I think. It’s very fair and if you play well off the tee you make it a lot easier. The greens are quite small, if you miss them it can be difficult to get up and down because there’s lots of grain outside the green, but if you play well you can score low." Francesco Laporta, 2017
"The course is quite young I think but the design is very fun to play because you can make a lot of birdies but there’s strategy involved and you have to be patient too. You have to be aggressive round here too, which is my natural game too – it suits me perfectly because I don’t have to change my style, I like that. It’s a really fun place to play, and I played really well, I liked the course, so that’s two really good rounds to start this event and we will now have to see how the weekend goes.” Romain Langasque, 2016
"The course is good and quite long, which is nice for me – I’m not short off the tee so I think that’s quite an advantage this week." Joel Stalter, 2016
"Everyone I have spoken to has said that the course this week is really nice. They have told me it is really wide and long, which doesn’t suit me too much." Steven Brown, 2016
"It feels very similar to that win in Egypt – Ras Al Khaimah and this course remind me a lot of that week, which is probably a good thing. I sweat just as much as anybody else but the heat seems to suit me." Jordan Smith, 2016
2024 Ras Al Khaimah Championship Tips
You can sign up for all our Ras Al Khaimah Championship tips and DP World Tour tips for 2024 by clicking the button below.
