Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

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Branden Grace to beat Ross Fisher - 6 points @ 19-20 (SpreadEx)

Miguel Angel Jimenez to beat Peter Uihlein - 3 points @ 10-11 (Betfred/Tote) 

No apologies for putting the young South African up again this week. The Abu course is one that takes a touch of knowing, mostly of when to go 'smash' off the tee but most importantly of the greens which are always fast and give no grace (sorry) to those who struggle with their scrambling or putting.

Knowledge of the course isn't really an issue for Fisher, it's just that he doesn't show anything here with a best of 31st in five outings that include three missed-cuts. On fairways that are narrower than average, he will need to be razor sharp on his first run of the season and he is never as convincing on fast greens as he is in the wind and rain. For all his efforts in contention, Fisher hasn't actually won an event since 2010 and struggles to convert decent opportunities on tracks he likes, let alone the type that he faces here and it is hard to see where he has any advantage over the improving Grace.

The 25-year-old four-time winner on the Euro Tour got plenty of coverage in many columns last week and nearly converted for the masses. After a huge 2012 with four Euro wins and a Sunshine Tour victory, Grace couldn't quite kick-on last season. It wasn't all bad as there were decent finishes scattered around but his failure to press forward was due to losing his accuracy off the tee and placing far too much emphasis on his recovery play. That seems to have sorted itself out now and his last three efforts at home have seen him improve all aspects of his play with finishes of 20/6/2, the latter surely not a '1' simply due to a terrible 2-foot birdie putt on his 65th hole at Durban Country Club. Grace looked to have yet another Volvo in the bag at that point and was surely thinking about the miss when falling short over his next three holes. The recovery was good, however, and shows that he means it when he says he is chasing trophies and even Majors this year. The vital stats are getting to a stage where they will again be top grade - top-10 for GIR and very decent on the greens - he has that final-round 65 and eventual 5th place finish last season to give plenty of positive thoughts and looks primed to give a very good run this week. Either way he should be far too good for a possibly rusty Ross Fisher.   

There will rarely a bad word said here about the legend that is Miguel Angel Jimenez. Turning 50 this week, he could easily make a considerable fortune winning six events a year on the Champions Tour but is here competing and not just for the run money.

'Legend' had had a stellar and a much under-rated career with twenty main Tour victories and amassing over 21million euro in prizemoney and there isn't much more you could teach him. His manner on and off the course is one to be admired and one only need watch his 'delight' when congratulating Thomas Bjorn on his victory at his own favourite course at Crans to see his love of the entire sport. Still, that won't pay the bills so down to brass tacks.

The Spaniard's form here has tailed off a bit , following a couple of top-5s with a best of 11th in recent years but recently he has returned to the very accurate play of yore and will relish the narrow fairways and importance of hitting greens. Never long off the tee, he still has the magical 5-wood in the bag and is quite capable of playing the par-5's to complement his round, whilst having the guile in his game to avoid getting into the serious trouble that so many gung-ho players find around here.

It took a slight downgrade to the Hong Kong Open for him to win his first event for a couple of years but, in truth, he could have won the trophy in much easier fashion, always looking as though he had total control over his game. Becoming the oldest winner on Tour (again!), it is easy to forgive an average effort in Durban last week although his accuracy was as good as ever, and he should come on from that outing to at least perform with credit this week. Despite winning just once, top-5 finishes at Bridgestone, the KLM and Crans show he still has it and should he contend at any point, I dare Radar Riley to ask if a 50-year-old can really win on Tour!

In any matchbet it isn't necessarily the strength of one oppo that is vital but a combination with the weakness of another. It is slightly risky taking on an improver such as Peter Uilhein but the initial thoughts are that he simply doesn't have the experience of the course to challenge for the full tournament.

The Euro Tour Rookie of the year certainly has the right pedigree to succeed being son of the Titleist chairman but has carved a career in his own right with an excellent first season. A win at Madeira before a top-10 in the BMW International and running-up at both the Welsh Open and the Dunhill Links, where he was one putt away from a second-round 59 all give him qualification to play a huge week. However Uilhein rather fell away in November and has just one top-10 in five outings since, including a poor 34th last week in Durban. It may be another case of a youngster trying to follow up a great first season but there looks to be something else not quite right, with his driving accuracy and GIR figures falling way below standard and getting worse. Known as a big hitter, par-5s will always be favoured but he won't be wanting to miss fairways or greens this week on a course that takes some knowing and one week doesn't look long enough to sort out any swing issues. As good as he is and still may be, there are still plenty of 7's and 8's on recent scorecards and with his game in a mini-slump, the 24-year-old may find that the man old enough to be his father knows far too much for him this week.