By John Tully-Jackson
Matt Kuchar loves travelling and he travels well. The 39-year-old American is set to make his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship bow on Thursday and is making the most of this new destination.

“This is my first week to the Middle East, a place I’ve always seen on TV, always kind of admired and wanted to see for myself. My wife and I love travelling, love seeing new places, and this is one that certainly was on my list.

“Timing’s always a tricky thing with the PGA Tour and trying to fit it into the schedule. But decided to take advantage and come over this year, and it’s an amazing place, just on our first day and a half, we’ve had a wonderful experience. We’re heading to the Louvre this afternoon, so looking forward to taking in some of the sites and being a tourist for a little bit. It’s been a great start.”

Travelling has always been an important part of Kuch’s life, and he takes every opportunity he can to see the world.

“Certainly love seeing new places. There’s so many places still to check off on my list of places to see and do. This Christmas, we made it to Patagonia on a family trip just to holiday and go see a place that I had always wanted to. We certainly enjoy the travel. Love being able to show my family bits and pieces of the world.”

With his wanderlust sated, the world no.15 will now move his focus on to this week’s $3 million Desert Swing opener.

His debut will be closely watched after his countryman Dustin Johnson finished second on his maiden attempt in 2017. True to form Kuchar modestly played down any pressure.

“Being the first event of the year, hard to have a whole lot of expectations,” said the 2017 Open Championship runner-up.

“I’m pleased with the state of my game at the moment, but a few days working at home before I came here and a couple days here has been nice hitting. Just you never quite know, once you tee off on the first hole Thursday morning.

“Certainly my game has proven over the long run that a lot of good golf gets played. Be a bit disappointed if I didn’t play well but the expectation thing is a tricky thing in the game of golf and one, for first week in the year, I have hopes but not expectations.”

The seven-time PGA Tour winner mightn’t be overly familiar with The National but as a serial top-10 player clearly knows how to contend anywhere.

“I think I’m pretty good at charting a golf course. I think my golf education and golf knowledge is fairly high, fairly high golf IQ and trying to figure out how to plot my way around a golf course,” said the repeat Ryder Cupper.

“Certainly it helps to have some knowledge. I’m sure there will be a few missed shots that I probably didn’t understand quite the severity of how bad that miss may end up. Take Gullane a couple years ago at The Scottish Open was a first, first real run for me at Gullane and I finished second.

“I think course knowledge is one thing, and I think executing is another thing. You know, if I execute well, I think I’ll have a good week.”