Moor Park club-mates Callum Shinkwin and Matt Wallace will keep each other company in the opening two rounds of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after being paired together.

Bushey professional Shinkwin and his Pinner-based club colleague have been drawn in the final threeball to tee off from the first hole on Thursday at 9.15am GMT.

The local flavour is continued by the third member of the group, Oliver Fisher, who is attached to St Albans’ Centurion Club.

Shinkwin, who finished 40th in last year’s Race to Dubai standings, is playing in his first European Tour event of 2018, while Wallace has arrived in the Abu Dhabi fresh from finishing in a tie for 38th at the BMW SA Open on Sunday.

The event is the first big European Tour tournament of the year, with the marquee group seeing world number one Dustin Johnson begin his campaign alongside 2017 Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy.

Shinkwin, Wallace and Fisher are due to get their second round underway from the 10th at 5am GMT on Friday.