By Kent Gray
The most interesting man in golf, arguably the most popular man on the European Tour and a genuine, green-jacketed legend headline the marquee groups for the opening 36 holes of the 30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and 2017 Desert Classic/Masters champion Sergio Garcia will open their bid for the famed Dallah trophy at 8am on Thursday from the Majlis’ 10th tee.

DeChambeau arrives in Dubai for the $3.25 million European Tour event fresh from four wins in his last 13 PGA Tour starts and has form at Emirates Golf Club to draw back on too, having claimed low amateur honours when he finished T-18 in 2016. At No.5 in the current world rankings, the 25-year-old American is the highest ranked player in this week’s field and in more ways than one after a visit to the world’s tallest building on Monday:

Fleetwood, the next best at 14 in the OWGR, is searching for his first win in 12 months. Sixth here last year, the 2018 Race to Dubai champion insists he is feeling sharper after several days of practice at Emirates Golf Club following his rusty T-42 performance in Abu Dhabi last week.  Garcia, meanwhile, will make his first start of the year after ending a one-win 2018 campaign with a T-6 at the Hong Kong Open in late November.

Defending champion Haotong Li will tee it up with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter at 7:40am on Thursday, also from the 10th tee.

Henrik Stenson, the 2007 champion, goes off the same tee 10 minutes later in the company of Abu Dhabi contender Louis Oosthuizen and Ryder Cup rookie Thorbjørn Olesen.

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship winner Shane Lowry will come down off cloud nine onto the 10th also in an 8:10am threesome with Englishmen Matt Wallace and Tyrrell Hatton.

Dubai 19-year-old Rayhan Thomas, who famously made the cut here two seasons ago, has been drawn with big-hitting Kiwi Ryan Fox and fellow Indian Shubhankar Sharma who shot to prominence by winning the Maybank Championship and Joburg Open last year, they bat from tee 10 at 7:20am. Indeed, the 10th tee is where it is at on Thursday, especially for nostalgia buffs with Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal off at 8:20am.

Els’ nephew, and Thomas’ amateur competition, reigning British Amateur champion Jovan Rebula, is off the 1st at 7:50am.

30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic – First Round Tee Times
1st tee
07:10 Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTAÑO, Kim KOIVU, Matthieu PAVON
07:20 Peter HANSON, Darren FICHARDT, Hideto TANIHARA
07:30 Lucas HERBERT, Lee SLATTERY, Joachim B. HANSEN
07:40 Nino BERTASIO, Marcus KINHULT, Dean BURMESTER
07:50 Matthew SOUTHGATE, Gavin GREEN, Jovan REBULA
08:00 Kalle SAMOOJA, Raphaël JACQUELIN, Phachara KHONGWATMAI
08:10 Thongchai JAIDEE, Paul WARING, Mikko KORHONEN
08:20 Andres ROMERO, Bernd WIESBERGER, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA
08:30 Bradley DREDGE, Christiaan BEZUIDENHOUT, Thomas AIKEN
08:40 Shaun NORRIS, James MORRISON, Scott HEND
08:50 Ashley CHESTERS, Victor RIU, Nacho ELVIRA,
11:30 Jeunghun WANG, Renato PARATORE, Richard MCEVOY
11:40 Edoardo MOLINARI, Sam BRAZEL, Joost LUITEN
11:50 Jorge CAMPILLO, Andrew JOHNSTON, Andrea PAVAN
12:00 Tom LEWIS, Adrian OTAEGUI, Byeong Hun AN
12:10 Eddie PEPPERELL, Alexander BJÖRK, Kurt KITAYAMA
12:20 Martin KAYMER, Rafa CABRERA BELLO, David LIPSKY
12:30 Lucas BJERREGAARD, Thomas PIETERS, Matthew FIZPATRICK
12:40 Robert KARLSSON, Thomas DETRY, Aaron RAI
12:50 Brandon STONE, Søren KJELDSEN, Richard STERNE
13:00 Richie RAMSAY, Erik VAN ROOYEN, Romain LANGASQUE
13:10 Kristoffer REITAN, Marc WARREN, Oliver FISHER

10th tee
07:10 Gaganjeet BHULLAR, David DRYSDALE, Trevor IMMELMAN
07:20 Ryan FOX, Shubhankar SHARMA, Rayhan THOMAS (AM)
07:30 Thomas BJØRN, Stephen GALLACHER, Miguel Ángel JIMÉNEZ
07:40 Lee WESTWOOD, Ian POULTER, Haotong LI
07:50 Louis OOSTHUIZEN, Henrik STENSON, Thorbjørn OLESEN
08:00 Tommy FLEETWOOD, Sergio GARCIA, Bryson DECHAMBEAU
08:10 Matt WALLACE, Shane LOWRY, Tyrrell HATTON
08:20 Ernie ELS, Colin MONTGOMERIE, José María OLAZÁBAL
08:30 Ross FISHER, Andy SULLIVAN,,Jason SCRIVENER
08:40 George COETZEE, Jaco VAN ZYL, Mike LORENZO-VERA
08:50 Chris PAISLEY, David HORSEY, Ahmed MARJAN
11:30 Callum SHINKWIN, Matthias SCHWAB, Scott JAMIESON
11:40 Yusaku MIYAZATO, Tapio PULKKANEN, Justin HARDING
11:50 Alvaro QUIROS, Justin WALTERS, David HOWELL
12:00 Fabrizio ZANOTTI, Jordan SMITH, Ashun WU
12:10 Wade ORMSBY, Romain WATTEL, Paul DUNNE
12:20 Jacques KRUYSWIJK, Steven BROWN, Victor DUBUISSON
12:30 Benjamin HEBERT, Maximilian KIEFFER, Pelle EDBERG
12:40 Nicolas COLSAERTS, Pablo LARRAZÁBAL, Robert ROCK
12:50 Alexander LEVY, Joakim LAGERGREN, Kristoffer BROBERG
13:00 Jens DANTORP, Haydn PORTEOUS, Victor PEREZ
13:10 Sam HORSFIELD, Sean CROCKER, Adri ARNAUS