Editor’s Letter
150 Not Out KENT GRAY kent.gray@motivate.ae Twitter: @KentGrayGolf / @GolfDigestME
OLF DIGEST MIDDLE EAST first hit the shelves in November 2009 to coincide - by no happenstance - with the launch of the European Tour’s shiny new Race to Dubai. Now, 149 print editions and 13 JGE season-deciders later, the game stands on the precipice of an even more seismic moment. Like every issue that has led to this one, we’re not lost for words or well-sourced insight into the one subject dominating all - the fascinating power–play for the pro game. We honestly haven’t a clue how this fast-moving, multi-faceted thriller will play out beyond imminent decisions that will reverberate around the globe for years to come, whoever wins and whatever transpires. What we can say for certain is that the Middle East’s role in the future of golf has never been more influential. The European Tour has become the DP World Tour with now six events, three of them premier Rolex Series affairs, to be played on Middle Eastern fairways in 2022. The Asian Tour has muscled its way back into the region with the help of a $200 million Saudi investment, while the field for next month’s Saudi International – the reawakened circuit’s 2022 season-opener - is nothing short of epic. Not that it’s 100 percent locked down as the PGA Tour-DP World Tour alliance fight tradition’s corner against an opponent – the Greg Norman-fronted and Asian Tour-aligned LIV Golf Investments – that has finally emerged from the shadows and come out swinging. Don’t dismiss the Premier Golf League as a long shot contender either, nor how complicated all this sparring has become. Our sesquicentennial edition – and the title’s accompanying website – continues to demystify the biggest story since GDME’s launch 12 years ago with passionate arguments in print and online from those plumbing for the status quo and others pitching a revolution. To mark the milestone, Golf Digest Middle East has proudly become the world’s first Arabic language golf magazine with the 150th edition you’re reading also fully transcribed for our growing audience in Saudi Arabia. Not since the Royal & Ancient game first met grass in the Middle East with the opening of Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis course in 1989, has the game here enjoyed a more culturally appropriate moment. Whatever happens next is anyones guess. The only guarantee? That the region will have a big say and that Golf Digest Middle East will chronicle it. Enjoy the Morikawa v McIlroy prize fight at this month’s 17th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links and the repeat double-act at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, which has been upgraded to $8 million Rolex Series status for its 33rd edition a week later on the Majlis. Stay tuned too for what we suspect will be fluid field updates for the $5 million Saudi International and coverage of the new $2 million Ras Al Khaimah Championship which will be played in the same Feb. 3-6 timeslot. The Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and a fifth Desert Swing event – still to be announced at time of print – will follow after that. Great golf and behind the scenes intrigue – for 150 issues and counting. Thanks for thumbing these pages and clicking along on this increasingly captivating ride.
G
8 golfdigestme.com | january 2022
