Play It Forward

Collin Morikawa ruled the roost at the DP World Tour Championships last November.

We have had Seve. We have had Tiger. We have had Rory.

Now is time for the UAE to nurture its own talent and let them blossom on the biggest stages.

The recent announcement by the DP World Tour to continue to invest in the future of golf in the UAE comes with a guarantee the growth of the game is in safe hands for the forseeable future, and the UAE is ready to come out swinging.

In April, the DP World Tour announced a long-term partnership with the Emirates Golf Federation until at least 2031, continuing the tour’s commitment to developing golf in the UAE from the grassroots up. And we are now ready to take the game to the top level.

This is a relationship that goes all the way back to pretty much the beginning of golf in the UAE, and it continues to prosper.

The Emirates and the European Tour Group, which incorporates the DP World Tour, Challenge Tour and Legends Tour, have had a long-standing relationship with the UAE, going all the way back to 1989, when the fi rst Dubai Desert Classic was played at Emirates Golf Club (pictured below).

WHAT THEY SAID

Tom Phillips

European Tour Group’s Head of Middle East

“We are delighted to confirm this partnership following our four hugely successful weeks in the UAE at the start of the year, delivering on the pledges we made at the launch of the DP World Tour in November.”

Ahmad Skaik

UAE’s No. 1 Emirati player

“This deal is very good for the region and I am very excited about the future. For me, I am going to try to take every opportunity possible and play as many events as I can to get better and better.”

Rafa Cabrera Bello

Ryder Cup player, Four-time DP World Tour winner and Dubai resident

“I’ve been living in Dubai for more than six years now and I’ve been collaborating with the EGF on a number of different things to help to grow the game in the region. My

door is always open to help. ▶ “Over the last 15 years since

I’ve been coming to the UAE with the Tour, I’ve seen the courses get better and better, the events get bigger and bigger with more and more top names playing in them. So, we are getting it right and it’s just a matter of time before we see a top player come from the UAE. They have all the facilities and infrastructure, and golf is becoming more and more popular with the kids.”

General Abdullah Alhashmi

Vice-Chairman of the Emirates Golf Federation

“We have been working with the Tour for more than 30 years and with DP World’s involvement now with the Tour, it became even more important for us to work together

for the future of golf in this region. ▶ “This partnership will

take us to the next level. Having two Challenge Tour events is an important part of this so we can exchange spots with other federations and take our players abroad. That is part of our vision to develop golf here and develop our players

to compete in the professional game. ▶ “Hopefully one day

we will have a winner on the DP World Tour, but we need the gradual progress, and taking our players step by step through the Challenge Tour first is important. It will provide tournaments in this region to give players from the Arab world the chance to play at a higher level and compete against other players from different countries.”

Jamie McConnell

Coach at Claude Harmon Performance Golf Academy Dubai at The Els Club

“The EGF have been going from strength to strength lately under their new leadership and I think this is a

major landmark on that journey. ▶ “The link between the

EGF and the European tour just shows the commitment to the development of golf from both parties. Showing such a strong investment in grassroots golf and junior development is a credit to the European tour and can

only benefit golf development in the region. ▶ “Having the

support of the European Tour & DP will allow them to put more resources than ever into introducing more juniors into the game and give them the best opportunity possibly to follow in Ahmed Skaiks footsteps and play on the biggest stage of all.”

Toby Bishop

Dubai-based amateur golfer

“The new partnership between the DP World Tour and Emirates Golf Federation is a great step in aiding development of the game in this region. To have such a large pool of talented golfers coming through the UAE in recent years, is something very special considering the size of our country. I believe this just highlights the top-class facilities, training academies and continued support golfers are exposed to all year round.

▶ “To be given the opportunity to grow all levels of the game,

from grassroots to elite level golfers, brings me great joy as we hopefully see a greater representation of Middle Eastern-

raised golfers on the professional circuits. ▶ “I hope many

future generations are able to utilise this, and are as fortunate as I have been to develop their games in such a blossoming region, full of opportunities.”

Danny Jakubowski

Coach at Yas Links, Abu Dhabi

“The future of growing the game golf will continue to get a boost with the EGF now collaborating even more with the DP World Tour. Directing Junior development programmes here in the UAE is one thing that the golf clubs do really well, but the additional boost of introduction, development and ultimately specialisation that comes from these partnerships

is vital to growing the game. ▶ “Thanks to the expansion,

from a pool of young golfers, talented individuals are given opportunities such as EGF national squads and scholarship programmes. I have seen kids that started as 10-year-olds to now competing at a very high level and looking into the professional ranks and it is only a matter of time until these initiatives come to fruition here in the UAE.”

The ball was rolling. Both the UAE and the game of golf in the region then went off to scale unfathomed heights, with more than 20 top-class golf courses helping transform the landscape of the nation in the years to come, offering green oases amid the skyscrapers. The sport itself exploded on to the global map as the best players came to town.

We saw rapid expansion, with the arrival of the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2006, marquee players such as a certain Tiger Woods, and the inception for the Race to Dubai and Dubai World Championship in 2009.

Since then, the European Tour group has enjoyed an enduring relationship with the UAE, which was underlined when DP World, the Dubai-based supply chain and logistics solutions provider, came in to sponsor the season-ending competition at Jumeirah Golf Estates and then in November last year as the title sponsor of the group’s main tour.

This season, the UAE will host at least five DP World Tour events, including the inaugural Ras Al Khaimah events that made up part of the historic four-week ‘UAE Swing’ in January and February.

This is a far cry from, not too long ago, the no-grass events that we used to associate with desert golf.

Going forward, we will now see a minimum of two Challenge Tour events in the UAE each year from next season, alongside at least five DP World Tour tournaments, with the focus on giving Emirati and locally based golfers.

Not only will this give the nation more exposure as the go-to destination for golfers, it also presents opportunities for our homegrown best to play against some of the finest in the world

(above) Tiger Woods was the big draw at the 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. (left) The Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic has become a mainstay of the UAE golf scene.

and allow them to forge their own careers in the game.

Along with helping enhance the careers of top players such as Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Rafa Cabrera Bello, to name a few of the many players who have set up home here, the expansion has allowed our very own stars such as Toby Bishop, Josh Hill and Ahmad Skaik emerge as real hopes for the future.

One of the most refreshing aspects of last week’s announcement was the expansion of the Tour’s support of junior golf development in the UAE to enhance grassroots and player performance programmes, paving the way for future Bishops, Hills and Skaiks.

It is an exciting time and all involved are keen to see the results.

“The DP World Tour committing to a 10-year partnership with the EGF is fantastic news for golf in the Middle East,” Daniel van Otterdijk, Chief Communications Officer of Group Communications at DP World, told Golf Digest Middle East. “It will assist in creating playing opportunities as well as a pathway towards the highest echelon of the sport for our Emirati golfers.

“One of DP World’s key objectives in our partnership with the Tour is to help grow golf at grassroots level, and in doing so we are adding at least two UAEbased Challenge Tour tournaments per year, with 30 entries being granted for EGF members.

(clockwise from above) The UAE’s No. 1 amateur golfer Ahmad Skaik, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox celebrates his win at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in February, Dubai’s homegrown talent Toby Bishop.

“The Challenge Tour has a spectacular history with the Middle East, with several of its previous season finale events being held in Dubai, Oman and Ras Al Khaimah in 2013, 2014 and 2015, so it is excellent news that the region will continue to be a hub for all of the best up and coming golfers that we can only hope are destined for the DP World Tour.

“While we toast the expansion of the game in the UAE, we are also seeing results on the practice greens as the likes of Josh Hill, Toby Bishop and Ahmad Skaik emerge as real contenders.

“Everyone in this region is rooting for a UAE golfer to compete on the DP World Tour,” said Van Otterdijk. “The EGF has worked thanklessly over the years to help to develop the talents of Khalid Yousuf, Rayhan Thomas and the latest gems: Josh, Toby and Ahmad. We truly hope it won’t be too long before one of these talented young men are competing and winning on the DP World Tour. Opportunities to play on Challenge Tour events will be wonderful for their development, and allows us an opportunity to see how the best golfers in this region fare on the big stage.

Skaik himself, the UAE’s no.1 golfer and Englishman Hill have competed in numerous DP World Tour events such as the Slync.io Desert Classic and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, impressing both local and international fans alike, so it will be intriguing to see them compete on other courses in the region on the Challenge Tour.

The UAE has helped forge careers from Ryder Cup Captain Henrik Stenson and former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy all the way through to Hill, Bishop and female pros Chiara Noja and Alison Muirhead. But it does not stop here. Van Otterdijk explains the vision for the future:

“Dubai has a rich history of golfing icons that have lived here from Henrik to Thomas Bjorn to Rafa and Rory to name a few. There is no better place in the world to live as a golfer — you are able to practise all year round on exceptional courses, whilst having access to world-class training facilities. With the addition of the two Challenge Tour events for 30 EGF members each season, the UAE has got to be one of the best places to grow and nurture a young golfer with the ambition to one day compete on the DP World Tour.”.