Drumoig’s Connor Syme and Kinross’s Calum Hill taking part in golf’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic

Connor Syme playing in a pro-am game prior to this week's Hero Dubai Desert Classic (Pic: Warren Little/Getty Images)

They’re joined by Bob MacIntyre, Richie Ramsay, Ewen Ferguson, David Law, Scott Jamieson, Grant Forrest, Marc Warren and Stephen Gallacher.

Starting today, the tournament – won by the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau over the years – takes place on the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club.

The total prize purse for the tournament is $9m, with the winner standing to pocket $1,530,000. The runner-up gets $990,000, with the remaining top ten finishers earning $180,000 to $563,400.

Calum Hill taking part in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links last week (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Glasgow-born Colin Montgomerie is one of only two Scottish winners in the 34-year history of the event, coming out on top in 1996, Linlithgow’s Gallacher being the other, with back-to-back successes in 2013 and 2014.

World No 1 Rory McIlroy, a winner there in 2009 and 2015, is the favourite this time round, his biggest rivals being fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, Merseyside’s Tommy Fleetwood and, following his win at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last weekend, France’sVictor Perez.

Syme and Hill were also in action at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi, the former tying for 28th on nine-under-par and picking up prize money of $78,750 but the latter failing to make the cut.

The Hero Dubai Desert Classic is being screened live on Sky Sports Golf.