Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips: 5 Selections From The Panel At Emirates GC
The DP World Tour stays in the UAE for this week’s lucrative Dubai Desert Classic, the first Rolex Series event of the year.
Rory McIlroy is the 18/5 favourite on betting sites to win the title for a fifth time against a strong field comprising five members of the world’s top 30.
Tommy Fleetwood is next in the betting at 15/2, followed by defending champion Tyrrell Hatton (14/1), who clinched victory with a testing five-footer for par 12 months ago.
The exposed Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club is a 7,439 yard par-72 and generally favours players that are long off the tee, but there are several dog-legs which can be tricky when the wind is blowing as expected on Thursday.
Conditions will still be testing on Friday, but the weekend forecast looks relatively calm and warm.
With that in mind, The Panel are skipping the first-round leader market, instead picking out four Dubai Desert Classic outright tips and one top 20 for this week.
Last year, 40/1 shot Tom McKibbin ensured a profitable week for the column by finishing in a tie for sixth and The Panel are adopting a similar each-way strategy, despite the obvious appeal of McIlroy, who has only once finished outside the top 10 in his last 11 appearances at this tournament.
Dubai Desert Classic Tips: Danish Star Looks Tasty
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen landed his first elite title last month at the Australian Open and a top 20 at the Dubai Invitational a week ago suggests he could go well again.
The Dane ended a great year in style by scrambling a par at the 72nd hole in Melbourne to beat home hope Cameron Smith by one shot and last week moved into the world’s top 50 with his performance in Dubai.
Only five players had better Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee numbers last year than Neergaard-Petersen, who averaged 305 yards for driving distance on the DP World Tour in 2025 – good enough to put him inside the top 30.
Previous Dubai Desert Classic winners have featured prominently in the Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green metric and that’s an area where Neergaard-Petersen also excels, finishing the 2025 season inside the top 10 for that statistic.
Neergaard-Petersen certainly seems to like Dubai, having finished T3 at the DP World Tour Championship, one shot behind winner Matt Fitzpatrick, and he posted a top 10 on his debut at this tournament a year ago.
He proved at the Earth Course that he is unfazed by a high-quality field and kicks off The Panel’s Dubai Desert Classic tips at 25/1 with BetMGM.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips 1: Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 25/1 (Each-Way) - With BetMGM (Six Places)
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips:
- Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 25/1 (Each-Way) - With BetMGM (Six Places)
- Daniel Hillier 33/1 (Each-Way) - With BetMGM (Six Places)
- Laurie Canter 60/1 (Each-Way) - With Betfred (Five Places)
- Dylan Frittelli 125/1 (Each-Way) - With Ladbrokes (10 Places)
- Calum Hill 9/2 Top 20 - With SpreadEx
(Odds correct at the time of publication: 2.30pm - 20/01/2026)
If you're looking for a new bookmaker with some great welcome offers, check out our betting sites page where you can find plenty of free bets.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips: Hillier Holds Title Claims
The Panel were considering sticking with Ryan Fox this week at 50/1, but instead they have gone for his fellow New Zealander Daniel Hillier, who finished runner-up to Hatton last year.
Ranked second for SG: Off-the-Tee at the Emirates last year, Hillier was also sixth using the SG: Tee-to-Green measurement, so a similar display should hold him in good stead at the Majlis Course.
Hillier heads to the Emirates GC in great form, too, having closed with a bogey-free six-under-par 65 to finish runner-up to Nacho Elvira at last week’s 60-man field Dubai Invitational.
Having spent his formative years in Wellington, wind should not present too much of a problem for Hillier, whose sole victory on the Tour came at the British Masters, but he proved last week and 12 months ago that he is getting close to the winner’s circle.
Hillier’s form towards the end of 2025 was superb, posting four tops 10s in six outings – including fifth place in Abu Dhabi – and he seems to have carried that into the new year.
With that in mind, he makes the cut as the next of this week’s Dubai Desert Classic tips at 33/1 with BetMGM, which is offering six places.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips 2: Daniel Hillier 33/1 (Each-Way) - With BetMGM (Six Places)
The backdrop to the range this week 🤩#HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/aOzw4c52Tc
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 19, 2026
Dubai Desert Classic Predictions: Laurie At A Canter
Last month, Dubai resident Laurie Canter snubbed a PGA Tour and rejoined LIV Golf which returns to action in Riyadh in two weeks’ time, so this tournament should be good preparation for his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Three weeks after finishing runner-up at the Genesis Championship in South Korea, Canter was just one shot off making a play-off with Fitzpatrick and McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship, so it was a decent end to 2025 for the Englishman.
Canter was not in last week’s Dubai Invitational field, but he has a good record at the Emirates where he has twice posted top-five finishes in his four appearances.
The 36-year-old from Bath topped both the SG: Tee-to-Green and Off-the-Tee stats when he finished third at last year’s Dubai Desert Classic which is a very encouraging sign for his return to this course which suits a long hitter like Canter.
Canter was also fourth on his tournament debut in 2021, so The Panel are happy to take the 60/1 with Betfred, although Ladbrokes is offering 10 places at 45/1 if you wish to take a safer option.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips 3: Laurie Canter 60/1 (Each-Way) - With Betfred (Five Places)
Dubai Desert Classic Each-Way Tips: Frittelli On The Up
Dylan Frittelli is the last of this week’s Dubai Desert Classic each-way selections and can be backed at 200/1 with one of the betting apps.
Those are tempting odds for a player that is starting to pick up momentum, but instead The Panel prefer the offer of 10 places with Ladbrokes at 125/1, although you can get 140/1 with a price boost.
The South African started 2025 well with 10th place at the Dubai Desert Classic, but the rest of the year was woeful save for a decent showing at the Joburg Open – his home tournament.
A birdie on the hardest hole.
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 19, 2026
Dylan Frittelli made one of only 27 birdies on the 18th last week 📈#FortinetThreatScore | @Fortinet pic.twitter.com/Ns8uKxB3Rl
Frittelli started to show some improvement at last month's Alfred Dunhill Championship where he finished T14 and he was inside the top 40 at the Mauritius Open a week later.
Even better was to follow last week when Frittelli headed into the final round in Dubai just two shots off the lead in second place only for a closing 72 to ensure a top-10 finish.
He was second from tee-to-green and eighth off the tee, so the signs are promising that he could have another big week at a big price.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips 4: Dylan Frittelli 125/1 (Each-Way) - With Ladbrokes (10 Places)
Dubai Desert Classic Top-20 Tips: Climb On Hill
Finally, The Panel are on board Calum Hill for a top-20 finish at 9/2 with SpreadEx.
The 31-year-old Scot was well placed for a top 20 in Dubai before Sunday’s play got under way only for a closing 78 to scupper his hopes.
Worryingly, Hill dropped shots at half of the holes he played in the final round, but he has finished inside the top 20 in two of his three outings on this track and he made the cut in the other.
Hill’s putting is generally his strong point and that can prove handy on this course as Li Haotong proved in 2018, but if he can put the rest of his game together and banish the memory of Sunday, another top-20 does not look beyond him.
Dubai Desert Classic Betting Tips 5: Calum Hill 9/2 Top 20 - With SpreadEx
Who do you think will win the Dubai Desert Classic? Let us know in the comment box below!
