The DP World Tour continues into 2023 with a new Ryder Cup style team event, The Hero Cup from Abu Dhabi. Great Britain and Ireland take on Continental Europe in a three day tournament. We’ve previewed the format, course, teams and as always provided you with our best tips for the occasion. 

Hero Cup Betting Tips

• Great Britain and Ireland to win  – 4/5
• GB & IRE top points scorer – Tommy Fleetwood – 5/1
• Continental Europe top points scorer – Thomas Detry – 13/2

History and Format

The Hero Cup is being played for the first time in 2023 but the competition is similar in structure to the Seve Trophy, which ran between 2000 and 2013.

The event is being sponsored by the Indian Motorcycle manufacturers Hero MotoCorp and the prize money is a $125,000 split for the winning team, with the losing team picking up $75,000 each.

The Cup is contested over Friday to Sunday and consists of one session of foursomes (Friday), two session of fourballs (Saturday) and one session of singles (Sunday), all in a standard match play format. Unlike other team events, all 20 players will take place in each session.

The Course

The Hero Cup is being played at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and starts off a four week stretch in the Middle-East, with back to back tournaments in Abu Dhabi to begin.

Abu Dhabi GC will be familiar to many, in it’s role as the venue for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for 16 straight years from 2006.

The National Course is a 7,642 yard Par 72 layout that features four Par 5’s, the shortest being the 562 yards 18th over water, four par 3’s and ten par 4’s.

The desert style course was opened in 1999 and is a Peter Harradine design. Though flat and exposed, it does feature several water hazards, tight fairways and strategic bunkers, meaning you need accuracy as well as length off the tee.

The Field

Great Britain and Ireland are led by Tommy Fleetwood, who is a two-time winner at Abu Dhabi GC with back to back wins in 2017 and 2018.

Two of his team have also won here, with Shane Lowry winning in 2019 and Tyrrell Hatton winning the last ever Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship held here in 2021.

17 of these 20 men have won on the DP World Tour and we have two major winners in Lowry and Continental captain Francesco Molinari.

Nicolai Højgaard was a late replacement for his twin brother Rasmus, who pulled out this week due to injury.

Great Britain and Ireland to win  – 4/5

These two sides are extremely well matched. GB&I OWGR average is 85.4, while CE averages out at 81.1.

That said, Tommy Fleetwood’s side surely possess more quality with four players in the top 30, compared to just Sepp Straka for Europe.

Not only that but they have proven winners on this course, which is not something that Francesco Molinari & Co can boast.

I think this will be very close but the extra X-factor will drag GB & Ireland over the line on the final day.

GB & IRE top points scorer – Tommy Fleetwood – 5/1

Captain fantastic Fleetwood has already proven his credentials in the team match play format and comes up against his old Ryder Cup playing partner Molinari in Abu Dhabi.

They memorably won all four matches together at Le Golf National in Europe’s win, back in 2018.

Fleetwood is in brilliant nick and had nine top 10’s over the last 12 months, as well as picking up his 6th tour title at the Nedbank Challenge.

The 31-year-old loves this course, with results of T2nd, T7th, Win, Win in his last four tournaments at the National Course.

Continental Europe top points scorer – Thomas Detry – 13/2

I’ve plumped for the Belgian as my top European for a number of reasons.

Detry has transferred his wonderful form on the DP World Tour over to the main PGA Tour effortlessly in the last couple of seasons, starting the 2022/23 season with six straight cuts including four Top 15’s and a runners up in Bermuda.

He also enjoys it around Abu Dhabi, finishing T55th, T66th and T9th in three of his four attempts here.

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