Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

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• What? The annual Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, part of the 2009 European PGA Tour. Also the opening match of the "Desert Swing" series. The first ADGC was in 2006.
• Where? Abu Dhabi Golf Club (ADGC) on the National Course
• When? Thursday - Sunday 15-18 January 2009. Tee-times start from 0720-0850 (7:20am-8:50am) and 1135-1305 (11:35am-1:35pm)
• How much? UGA members AED 100 per day or AED 300 for all 4 days, general public AED 125 per day or AED 125 for all 4 days. Children under 18 get free entry if with an adult.
• Tickets from where? ADGC office from 0700-1500 on tournament dates, ADGC website, Time Out Tickets, tel 800-4669 or +971-4-2108567. Tickets on sale from end November 2008.
• Organisers? Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), IMG Middle East
• Main Sponsors? Etihad, Aldar, Emirates Palace, Al Naboodah
• Contact tel? ADTA tel +971-2-4440444, IMG tel +971-4-4088388, ADGC tel +971-2-5588990
• Website? www.abudhabigolfchampionship.com - complete with bright red background and annoying splash page with an unclickable "skip intro" link
  Try www.europeantour.com (the PGA European Tour website) for live scores and even a live radio link.

Anything else?

Tournament Director is Peter German. Competing players include:

Aaron Baddeley (Australia)
Colin Montgomerie (Scotland)
Henrik Stenson (Sweden) (world number 11) (won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2007)
Jeev Milka Singh (India)
Martin Kaymer (winner of the 2008 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship)
Michael Campbell (New Zealand)
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)
Oliver Wilson
Padraig Harrington (Ireland) (world number 4)
Paul Casey (winner of the 2007 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship)
Robert Allenby
Rory McIlroy (Ireland)
Ross Fisher (England)
Sergio Garcia (Spain) (world number 2)
Suren Kjeldsen (Denmark)
Trevor Immelman

See also Dubai Desert Classic - also on the European PGA Tour, at the end of January 2009

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Paul Casey of Britain won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships by one point, with a 2 under-par 70 on his last round, and was 21 under-par at 267 for the tournament. He beat Martin Kaymer of Germany and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa who both finished with tournament scores of 268. Mr Casey was also the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship winner in 2007.

The two hotshots of the tournament, Padriag Harrington (world number 3), and Sergio Garcia (world number 2) finished in 5th= (score 271) and 8th= (score 272) positions respectively. Tiger Woods, the world number 1 golf player, wasn't playing. Paul Casey is ranked number 42 in the world.