Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods sit first and second respectively in the rankings and that shows how little there is between them.
Backyard
The McIlroy-Woods duel will be the main talking point this week, but there is a stellar field in Abu Dhabi and plenty of potential winners.
Jason Dufner has come over from America, Open champion Ernie Els is playing, and so are Justin Rose and an on-the-comeback Paul Casey, who won this event in both 2007 and 2009, but Martin Kaymer will feel like he is playing in his own backyard.
The German, who will partner Woods and McIlroy in the first two rounds, emerged victorious at Abu Dhabi in 2008, '10 and '11 and was in unbelievable from during the last of those triumphs; the world number 28 finished on 24-under par, eight shots clear of McIlroy, which is absolutely ludicrous.
Kaymer will really fancy his chances of going well again after he took the Nedbank Golf Challenge title at the back-end of last year, while it will be interesting to see how defending champion Robert Rock fares.
The Englishman hasn't really pushed on since his victory and currently sits 104th in the rankings, when he really should be in the top 50, and so he will be on a mission to prove that it wasn't a fluke when he overcame such a quality group of players 12 months ago.
ROB'S SKY BET TIPS
Martin Kaymer (9/1) at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Phil Mickelson (16/1) at the Humana Challenge
