2026 Dubai Desert Classic: Preview and three betting tips
Wed, 21 Jan 2026
Wed, 21 Jan 2026
Odds Now’s golf tipster Ross Kilvington kicked off the new golf season in strong fashion last week with two placed selections – David Puig (22/1) at the Dubai Invitational and Hideki Matsuyama (16/1) at the Sony Open.
In the first of his two weekly previews here, Ross takes a look at the Dubai Desert Classic and offers up his three best wagers from across the market.
While we didn’t land a winner on the DP World Tour last week, selections David Puig (T3) and Matt Wallace (T7) gave us plenty of bang for our buck in the Middle East.
A productive start to 2026 indeed. Now, we at Odds Now turn our focus to the Dubai Desert Classic.
Unlike last week's event, this one has been a regular stop on the DP World Tour having been held since 1989, although there was no event in 1991. Emirates Golf Club has hosted on all but two occasions (missing out in 1999 and 2000).
It is also the first Rolex Series event of the season and as such, attracts a fairly strong field.
While the setup isn’t the hardest on the rota, if the wind picks up, it can start to play tricky due to the Majlis course being firmly exposed to the elements.
Rory McIlroy leads the field this week and he has won this event on four occasions (2009, 2015, 2023 and 2024), with his first win in 2009 being his maiden European Tour victory.
With that in mind, let's get into this week's selections.
Backing the 4/1 tournament favourite won't score high points for creativity but it really is impossible to overlook McIlroy's remarkable record in this particular event.
As mentioned, he's a four-time winner here – and that's despite him never managing to post an overall score higher than -14 in any of those victories. I'd suggest if the wind plays ball, the Northern Irishman could quite easily be getting up towards -20 or lower.
McIlroy wasn't anywhere near his best in the Dubai Invitational last week, and yet still managed to secure a T3 finish. That tells you all you need to know about his levels comparative to most of the field here. Any improvement this week and he's going to be near impossible to stop.
While some facets of his game weren't in top order, his Strokes Gained: Putting metric was second in the field, which is an ominous stat. If he maintains that level on the greens, I can't see him outside the top four here.
For Angel Ayora, it is surely a matter of when, not if, he wins a DPWT title. The talented Spainard is one of the hottest prospects on the tour right now.
He finished T13 last week at the Dubai Invitational, but what was perhaps even more impressive than the bare result was the 21-year-old ranking second for Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+1.24). With generous fairways this week on the Majilis course, he could improve on that statistic.
Another encouraging sign was Ayora's T8 finish at the DP World Tour Championship towards the end of last year.
Again, he ranked second for SG: Off the Tee there, while also ranking third for SG: Approach in the season finale. Given that was the biggest event of the year, it seems the big occasions may bring the best out of the youngster.
He has the tools to make a breakthrough this week and odds of 28/1 represent superb value – especially given his strength off the tee.
Julien Guerrier has just one win on the DPWT to date, claiming the Andalucia Masters in 2024. He should undoubtedly have more, though.
The experienced Frenchman has registered nine top-five finishes on this circuit across his two-decades long career and some of those have come very recently – with Guerrier enjoying somewhat of an Indian summer.
At the Nedbank Golf Challenge in December, the 40-year-old finished T6, before sealing a wonderful T3 result last week at the Dubai Invitational.
Guerrier even ranked third for both Stroke Average (69) and SG: Total (+2.55) at the event, finishing just two shots behind winner Nacho Elvira.
Indeed, if it weren’t for a second round 76, Guerrier might have won his second tour title.
Nevertheless, he finished with two rounds of 66 to claim another top five finish and this should set him up nicely for another strong showing at the Desert Classic.
2pt win - Rory McIlroy – 4/1 (AK Bets)
0.75pt EW - Angel Ayora– 28/1 (LiveScore Bet/ Virgin - 1/5 odds, 6 places)
0.5pt EW - Julien Guerrier – 100/1 (various - 1/5 odds, 6 places)
Total staked - 4.5pts
Ross Kilvington is Odds Now's chief golf tipster, covering events from the PGA and DP World Tour across the season.
Ahead of every major event, you can check out Ross' betting card and detailed explanations for his three weekly picks, where he has unearthed several winners in 2025 alone.
Based in Scotland, Ross also freelances for a number of other sports publications.
Ross Kilvington is Odds Now's chief golf tipster, covering events from the PGA and DP World Tour across the season.
Ahead of every major event, you can check out Ross' betting card and detailed explanations for his three weekly picks, where he has unearthed several winners in 2025 alone.
Based in Scotland, Ross also freelances for a number of other sports publications.
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