Thorbjørn Olesen is delighted to be back in familiar surroundings as he plots a successful defence of his title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
The Dane's six-shot win at Al Hamra Golf Club 12 months ago was the largest margin of victory on the 2024 Race to Dubai and made all the sweeter by his family being in attendance.
Olesen is a resident of Ras Al Khaimah's Emirati neighbour Dubai, where he enjoyed a solid performance at last week's Desert Classic, and the eight-time DP World Tour winner is happy to be teeing it up again in the country he now calls home.
“I have great memories both on the course but also off the golf course,” he said.
“I had my family here last time and we had a great time with the kids. It's a great hotel and it was just all-in-all a great week and obviously on the golf course it all came together and it's always going to be a special place to me.
“I love it, we moved here about two years ago and the kids love it, my wife loves it and it's great to have these tournaments so close by and they can just drive here and I get to spend more time with them than I do the rest of the year. I really enjoy it here, it's been a great move for us.”
Olesen certainly knows the layout well at Al Hamra, with a top five also under his belt from 2023 to go along with his win.
The winning score in the four DP World Tour events played here has never been higher than 17 under but the 35-year-old knows the course will show its teeth if it the wind gets up.
“If it's windy it's going to be playing pretty tough,” he said. “Last year was pretty calm all four days and with not much rough it's going to be very scoreable and a lot of birdies. But there's a few tricky holes, there's a little stretch where it gets tricky and if you can shoot a good score on those you have a lot of chances on the rest of the course."
Olesen's win last season means he is the only player to have tasted victory on the DP World Tour in each of the last three campaigns, with that form helping him earn dual membership with the PGA TOUR for two consecutive seasons.
He could not keep his card in the States last time around but is confident he can give a more accurate reflection of his talents in 2025.
“Last year the off-weeks on the PGA TOUR were quite difficult,” he said. “I didn't have a place with the family and it made it a little bit trickier to do my practice so I didn't feel like I was that prepared coming to the tournaments and that's something we're going to try and do better this year.
“It was still a really good experience, there are some great tournaments, there was a few I hadn't played before so there are still a lot of positives. Obviously I didn't play well on the golf course but I still really enjoyed it.
“Coming back to here from the US was pretty hard. It takes almost two days with the time difference so it's not easy but we're not going to do it so much this year. We're going to stay over there, my wife is Canadian so we're also going to be in Canada for a bit and try not to make that trip that many times.”
