Ras Al Khaimah Championship Golf 2025 – Tournament Outright Tips and Betting Preview

The DP World Tour remains in the UAE this week for the second full field event of 2025 which is the Ras Al Khaimah Championship as the International Swing leg of the season begins to pick up some pace as we build into the year.

Thorbjorn Olesen enjoyed himself in this tournament when he became the second Danish winner in three stagings of the event. He is in the field looking to make a successful defence of the title but a solid bunch of opposition will oppose him.

Recent Winners

2024 – Thorbjorn Olesen

2023 – Daniel Gavins

2022 – Nicolai Hojgaard

The Course

We are at the Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al Khaimah this week. This track has hosted this tournament for all three years and on all occasions the bigger hitters had the better of things. The course is a par 72 which stretches to 7,400 yards, although as we always suggest in this part of the world the track doesn’t play to anything quite that length with the ball travelling further through the dry air. The par 5s are all 576 yards or longer and there are one or two drivable par 4s so length will be key again this week.

It might not be everything though because the rough is said to be a lot thicker this week, as this tournament looks to become one of the better regular events on the DP World Tour. That might bring the straight drivers of the ball into play, especially as the fairways here are on the tighter side but I would still want some length. Some desert form is never a bad thing in these events either. You would probably want someone who had a hit out last week too.

The Field

The field after a Rolex Series event always feels like a bit of a let down but we should remember that a key part of the PGA Tour season is about to get underway so it is understandable that there isn’t a top 50 player in the world rankings teeing it up this week. We do have six members of the top 100 in the world here though and they are led by the defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen. The others are Romain Langasque, Ryan Fox, Tom McKibbin, Jordan Smith and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

With the big names not here this week this is a golden chance for those who started the DP World Tour season well to extend their lead over them in the Race to Dubai standings with six members of the top 10 in addition to Langasque all teeing it up this week. Daniel Hillier was touched off at the death last week while John Parry won in Mauritius. Shaun Norris, Johannes Veerman, Elvis Smylie and Ryggs Johnston will all be looking on the good work they have done so far this term.

Market Leaders

Thorbjorn Olesen is the highest ranked player in the field this week and he is the defending champion as well. He is also the 12/1 favourite to make a successful defence of the crown and when you consider he was fourth here the year before he won and fifth in the Nedbank Golf Challenge towards the end of 2024 there is clearly a lot to like about the Dane. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he goes close to a successful defence in this company but I’m not a fan of backing defending champions so I’ll look elsewhere.

Patrick Reed is in the field this week representing LIV Golf and he is 20/1 to come away with the win. At his best he would be a warm favourite to win this tournament in this company and a top 10 last week is certainly encouraging. He is on debut on this track which might be a negative although even a regular has only had four spins here if you include the other event held here in 2022. He always seems to have an indifferent round to me though and you can’t afford that here so I’ll pass him over.

Ryan Fox, Tom McKibbin and Keita Nakajima are all next in the market at 22/1. Fox was also in the top 10 in the Dubai Desert Classic last week which was probably the lowest he could have finished given he only shot level par in the final round. He was T11 here last year too which is encouraging. McKibbin was another who made the frame last week and he played the Team Cup which should help. Nakajima finished last season well and was fourth here last year so all will have their followers this week.

Johannes Veerman comes next in the betting at 25/1. The Nedbank Golf Challenge winner at the back end of last year should be primed for a big 2025 off the back of that result and he’ll be looking to show that in a field a lot weaker than the one he beat in South Africa. He was nicely placed at halfway last week but faded a little in the second half of the week but that was in an elite field and this is nothing like that. I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss him here.

Main Bets

I do like a bit of length around here because it makes hitting the greens a whole lot easier and hitting the greens is the standout feature of this golf course so with that in mind I’ll take the Nedbank Golf Challenge winner Johannes Veerman here. He should be confident from beating a better field there on a harder track than this one is and having got rid of any Christmas rust last week the American should be a whole lot better for it here. He knows he has won in better company than this and I expect to see four proper rounds from him here and he is my first main bet as a result.

Danish players have a good record around here so backing Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen immediately makes sense but even more so when you consider that he sits at 10 on the strokes gained on approach statistic for the season so far. He was tenth in the Dubai Desert Classic last week with a lower score in every round and that bodes well for a big week here. If there is a doubt it is that he is on debut here but nobody has a huge amount of experience around here so I’m not sure that is as much of a negative as it might be. The Dane hits it well and attacks the greens and should go well here.

Outsiders

Only Wilco Nienaber has registered a better strokes gained on approach rating on the DP World Tour than Andy Sullivan this season and so the Englishman is worth chancing around here. If he is anything close to his best, and those approach numbers suggest he is hitting the ball well at the very least, then he is more than capable of contending in this field. Sullivan didn’t do a great deal in Dubai last week but in the Nedbank and Alfred Dunhill prior to Christmas he went T14-T7 so he’s in decent touch. He opened the latter with a 64 and if he has that scoring power with him here he has every chance.

Dylan Frittelli is a player I always keep on my side when he comes to the DP World Tour for a weaker field tournament. He is in the top 25 in strokes gained on approach this season and arrives here off the back of a top 10 in Dubai last week where as we know the field was a whole lot better than it is here. He played here without doing a whole lot last year but at least he knows how to tackle the course now. Frittelli defends in Bahrain next week so he’ll want to go there in decent touch and with the approach play going well and him being long enough off the tee I’ll pay to see if he can win a week before his title defence.

Tips

Back J.Veerman to win Ras Al Khaimah Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)

Back him here:

Back R.Neergaard-Petersen to win Ras Al Khaimah Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)

Back A.Sullivan to win Ras Al Khaimah Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)

Back D.Frittelli to win Ras Al Khaimah Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)