The disruption to the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia summer of golf and associated border closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have meant precious little competitive golf for our elite European Tour regulars, member comps and range time their only outlet to prepare for another year on tour.

Not counting the Majors and WGC events, the European Tour has currently scheduled 33 tournaments for 2021 starting in Abu Dhabi at the Peter Harradine designed layout that is yet to crown an Australian champion.

As Europe continues to struggle to control the spread of COVID-19, Wade Ormsby is simply grateful that the Tour has conducted itself in such a way that enables players to compete again.

“We got a long e-mail mapping out the state of play for the next three weeks in the desert,” said Ormsby, who got a taste of tournament play at the Blitz Golf Glenelg event in Adelaide two weeks ago.

“The tour have done a great job with all the testing and making sure everything is as tight as possible.

“Yes, it’s going to be quite tight but they have to do that with the new strain of the virus about.

“Luckily we don’t touch back down in mainland Europe until the end of April in Portugal so we’ve still got time up our sleeve for them to get things more under control.”

Ormsby waited until eight weeks into the European Tour’s resumption before he rejoined the tour in August last year and was immediately impressed by the way in which the Tour kept players and support staff safe.

“Any change to the way you normally do things you don’t really like it but on reflection they did a great job with the way they made it all happen and got as many events in as they possibly did in a safe manner,” said Ormsby, who is waiting to hear when he will get the chance to defend his 2020 Hong Kong Open title.

“Everyone wants it the old way but that’s not the world we’re living in at the moment. We’ve just got to be happy that the tour has done such a great job getting events on and spent a lot of money on testing and keeping everyone safe.

“We’ve had so few positive tests even of people entering the bubble which just shows they are doing everything thoroughly and safely.”

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Lucas Herbert has just one start to shake off three months of rust before the defence of his Omega Dubai Desert Classic crown while 2020 ISPS HANDA Vic Open champion Min Woo Lee will be playing his first tournament since the Scottish Championship in mid-October.

Jason Scrivener’s last appearance was the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown in November, the game’s most well-travelled golfer Scott Hend last played in Dubai in the first week of December and Kiwi Ryan Fox will play for the first time since he was tied for 20th at the BMW PGA Championship last October.

The Australasian contingent are part of a stellar field that includes five former world No.1s – Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer – and Major champions Shane Lowry, Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett along with two-time Abu Dhabi champion Tommy Fleetwood.

Round 1 tee times (AEDT)

European Tour
Abu Dhabi Golf Championship
Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE
3pm       Scott Hend, Ahmad Skaik, Paul Waring
3.20pm Ryan Fox, Stephen Gallacher, Mikko Korhonen
3.20pm*              Lucas Herbert, Haotong Li, Gavin Green
3.30pm Wade Ormsby, Marcus Kinhult, Tom Lewis
7.55pm Jason Scrivener, Lucas Bjerregaard, Benjamin Hebert
8.15pm Min Woo Lee, Ashun Wu, Kurt Kitayama

Defending champion: Lee Westwood
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Wade Ormsby
TV schedule: Live 2.30pm-7.30pm, 10pm-12am Thursday; 6pm-12am Friday; 7pm-12am Saturday; 6pm-12am Sunday on Fox Sports 503