The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship celebrates its 19th edition this week, and to date, the Spanish Armada has always placed a player among the top fourteen, at least. Up to eight Spaniards have achieved at least a top ten in this tournament (Jiménez, Sergio, Garrido, Cabrera Bello, Fernández Castaño, Campillo, Larrazábal, and Cañizares), with Pablo Larrazábal’s victory in 2014 being the best result. Additionally, Spanish golf boasts up to three second places, those of Miguel Ángel Jiménez in 2007, Pablo Larrazábal in 2017, and Rafa Cabrera Bello in 2022. In fact, of these eight Spanish players, only one is present this week, Jorge Campillo, who finished ninth in 2013, a long time ago.
It’s not a matter of writing anyone off. The two clearest cases are Cabrera Bello or Larrazábal, undoubtedly the two most successful Spanish players in this tournament, who are missing this year from an event that is being held in November for the first time and with a field reduced to seventy players, but who could well return in the future. Both, the Canary Islander and the Barcelonian, break with their absence an identical streak of fifteen consecutive editions played of this tournament (2009-2023, both years included).
And it’s no small matter. It’s very challenging to string together fifteen editions of any tournament. In fact, Pablo and Rafa are the only two players who could boast of having played the last fifteen editions of the Abu Dhabi Championship. Martin Kaymer, it’s true, a three-time winner in Abu Dhabi, played 16 consecutively between 2007 and 2022, but did not play the last fifteen.
Larrazábal and Cabrera Bello will be missed. The Canary Islander, for instance, was also coming off three consecutive top ten finishes in the tournament: he was fourth in 2021, second in 2022, and tenth in 2023.
In some way, at least this year, other Spanish players need to take up the baton. It’s the way of life. There are six in contention, with Jorge Campillo as the ‘captain’, as the Extremaduran has played the last eleven editions (2013-2023) consecutively and has already appeared in the upper zone. Adrián Otaegui is playing the tournament for the ninth time this week, and Nacho Elvira reaches his tenth. It won’t be for lack of experience, although the Yas Links course, the venue of the event, has only been so since 2022. On the other hand, Alfredo García Heredia and Ángel Hidalgo will play for the second time, and Alejandro del Rey makes his debut in the tournament.
