After a rain delay forced a Monday finish at the Dubai Desert Classic, many fans were keen to see who would be paired with who going into the third round on Sunday, with it possible that Rory McIlroy could be playing with Patrick Reed after a tense exchange between the two (opens in new tab) resulted in Reed reportedly tossing a tee in McIlroy's direction.
Both sit at eight-under-par but, when the tee times were announced on Saturday afternoon, it was discovered that neither had been paired with one another. However, one notable tee time, 8.15 to be exact, features current European Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald, and the man he replaced, Henrik Stenson.
Stenson, Donald and Robert Karlsson at the 2021 Ryder Cup
Originally, Stenson was announced as the European Ryder Cup captain in March 2022 but, after he moved to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series in July, he was subsequently stripped of the captaincy. (opens in new tab)
Following the move, Donald was announced as his replacement (opens in new tab), with the Englishman taking Team Europe into Rome at the end of September.
Now though, at the Dubai Desert Classic, Donald, Stenson and Tyrrell Hatton will make up the tee time at 8.15, with all three sat at two-under-par. Originally, it was unclear as to whether that number would make it to the third and fourth round but, following a few slip ups from golfers out on the course, the cut line was moved to one-under.
Stenson secured victory on his LIV Golf debut, pocketing $4 million in the process
After moving to LIV Golf, Stenson was not seen in any DP World Tour events for the remainder of 2022, with the Swede making his return at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (opens in new tab) last week.
Speaking on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, Stenson stated that he hadn't had anyone "step up to him personally and vent those thoughts" (opens in new tab) around leaving for LIV Golf, with the former Champion Golfer of the Year also expressing his desire to play more on the DP World Tour circuit (opens in new tab), as he added: "I still want to play on this tour. In my mind, nothing has changed from when I started playing on multiple tours."
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