Hassan II Trophy - Six to watch

Watch all four rounds of the Hassan II Trophy on Sky Sports - live coverage starts on Thursday at 12.30pm on SS1 & HD1

Last updated: 17th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hassan II Trophy - Six to watch

Molinari: fresh from Doral

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The European Tour returns to Morocco for the first time in almost nine years this week.

European Tour stats package

The Hassan II Trophy is being staged at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam - the same venue that hosted the Moroccan Open back in April 2001.

On that occasion a 25-year-old pro from Luton named Ian Poulter claimed the second Tour victory of his career by two strokes.

Poulter, however, will not be teeing-up this time around, although the runner-up from nine years ago - David Lynn - will be.

This week's event will adopt a pro-am format, with each pro accompanied by one amateur over the opening 36 holes.

Each pairing will play 18 holes over the club's two courses - the Red and Blue - on Thursday and Friday.

Following the 36-hole cut, the leading 65 pros and ties will play the final two rounds over the Red Course.

Both Red and Blue courses were designed by notable architect Robert Trent Jones who steered their lay-outs through the north Africa forest of Zaers.

So who's taking part this week?

Thomas Bjorn: Is slowly retuning to the sort of form that saw the 39-year-old Dane qualify twice for the Ryder Cup and win nine times on the European Tour between 1996 and 2006. His last three starts on Tour read: 8-15-19.

Richard Finch: A two-time winner on Tour and was a runner-up on his most recent outing in India.

Ricardo Gonzalez: Not the most consistent of pros but has the talent to beat almost anybody if he gets a sniff of the trophy.

Francesco Molinari: One of only two players in this week's field to have contested the WGC event in Florida that ended on Sunday. The 27-year-old Italian finished in a tie for 14th, alongside Phil Mickelson, at Doral.

Louis Oosthuizen: The highly-rated South African is yet to win on the European Tour. However, he has been in decent form this season with three top-20 finishes in four starts during 2010.

Danny Willett: Is getting closer to a maiden Tour victory. Has registered top-six finishes this year in Johannesburg and Malaysia, and will tee-up in Rabat on Thursday as one of the leading contenders for the title.