The European Tour's finest

The Abu Dhabi Golf Club hosts a superb field on the European Tour this week. Deputy editor Neil Tappin witnesses first hand how good the best in the world really are.

David Howell

"No matter how hard we make this golf course, these guys just keep ripping it up," that was the verdict from Ken Kosak Abu Dhabi Golf Club's general manager after 12 players shot 66 or better on day one.

The simple fact is, these boys rarely, if ever hit the kind of bad shots that you and I would recognise. I spent most of yesterday observing the action out on the course and in that time I must have seen around 50 birdies and only two truly bad shots.

The first belonged to Paul Casey. After pushing his drive on the 8th he made the schoolboy error (these are not my words but those of GM’s Top 25 Coaches) in following a poor shot with a bad decision. With his ball lying in dense shrubbery (I’m sure there’s a word for where he was but I’m no horticulturalist), he decided to have a crack at the green some 200 yards away. The ball travelled 30 yards right of target into even denser shrubbery and was never seen again. In the end he missed a short putt for bogey and walked off with a 7 on a hole that he would have expected to birdie. To be fair, he wasn’t helped by the commentator Julian Tutt talking just as he was about to hit the putt. Julian would do well to give Casey a wide birth for a few weeks!

The second bad shot came from GM’s very own playing editor David Howell. Having just birdied the par 3 7th, he hooked his tee shot on 8. Unlike Casey, he limited the damage, relying on his awesome short game to make par.

I guess all this illustrates a simple reality of the European Tour. In good weather, playing on a course that’s in superb condition, there is very little you can do to stop them going low. I for one don’t mind that and as long as one of the high profile names comes out on top, I doubt Ken will either.

Where next?

- Sergio hits 675-yard drive - Players head 'back to school' in Abu Dhabi - TaylorMade releases new drivers - Fantastic new competitions

 

Neil Tappin
Editor

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he has also presented many Golf Monthly videos looking at all areas of the game from Tour player interviews to the rules of golf. 

Throughout his time with the brand he has also covered equipment launches that date back well over a decade. He clearly remembers the launch of the Callaway and Nike square drivers as well as the white TaylorMade driver families, such as the RocketBallz! If you take a look at the Golf Monthly YouTube channel, you'll see his equipment videos dating back over a decade! He has also conducted 'What's In The Bag' interviews with many of the game's best players like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. Over the years, Neil has tested a vast array of products in each category and at drastically different price-points. 


Neil is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Wood: Titleist TSR2 Hybrid: Titleist TS3 Irons: PING Blueprint S (4&5), PING Blueprint T (6-PW) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 50˚, 54˚, 60˚ Putter: Odyssey Triple Track Ten Ball: Titleist Pro V1X