Worldwide Golf Summer 2022

T H E M I D D L E E A S T ’ S N O .1 G O L F M A G A Z I N E

EST

1999

Worldwide Golf

SUMMER

2022

St Andrews

Celebrates 150th edition of The Open

Tiger Woods

Can he secure a fourth Claret Jug?

DP World Tour Championship

Tickets released soon

COLLIN

MORIKAWA A S S AS SI N

FEATURE

FOCUS

TAR GET S

MATT F ITZ PATRIC K

LO O KIN G BAC K AT HIS DECA DE O F S UCC ES S

ST

AN DR EW S

G R OW I N G T H E GA M E

H OW TH E D P WORLD TOUR BECAM E TH E FRONTRUNNERS

Worldwide Golf is the Official Media partner to the DP World Tour in the Middle East and the official magazine of the Emirates Golf Federation

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VOICE OF THE TOUR KEITH PELLEY,

Chief Executive, DP World Tour Keith Pelley took up his seat as CEO of the European Tour group in August 2015 and since then has overseen a period of exciting innovation and change, driving the creation of the modern, global Tour it is today.

I

n the first 50 years of our Tour’s history from April 1972 to April 2022, there were many announcements and advancements which contributed significantly to the evolution of global golf.

Recently, this list included the launch of the Rolex Series and DP World becoming the title sponsor of the European Tour group’s main tour last November, events which both took place in Dubai.

Now, in the early stages of our second half century, we have already outlined another which in years to come will be looked back upon as being a key development in our sport.

Our new 13-year operational joint venture partnership with the PGA TOUR will draw golf’s leading two Tours closer together and substantially enhance the meritocracy that has successfully served professional golf on both sides of the Atlantic through until 2035.

It will build on the success of the Strategic Alliance we signed together in November 2020, which has already delivered numerous tangible benefits for our members. For example, the Alliance enabled us to expand our commercial family, helping us to secure Tour Partners and assisting with new title sponsors such as Horizon for the $6million Irish Open, and Genesis for the Scottish Open, one of our five Rolex Series events.

The latter, our first co-sanctioned event with the PGA TOUR, boasts the strongest field for a regular Tour event in our entire history, with 14 of the top 15 players in the world teeing up, leading to a current strength of field number of almost 670 with the winner receiving 70 points.

Our members have also had access to the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky and the Barracuda Championship in California, offering new playing opportunities and the chance to earn a full PGA TOUR card with a victory.

From 2023, as part of our enhanced partnership, the leading ten players on our end of season DP World Tour Rankings, in addition to those already exempt, will earn PGA TOUR cards for the following season.

DP World Tour players will now also have access to

the new international events announced by PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, and we will spend the coming weeks working together on these events and with our Tournament Committee to reshape our schedule for 2024.

As you can probably imagine, this announcement did not come together overnight. It is not a simple or quick process for two complex members organisations to reach an agreement such as this one, which benefits the range of both our memberships, as well as the wider framework of professional golf.

The effort will be worth it though, leading to even greater strategic opportunities for both our Tours in the future, as well as for our existing partners on the Sunshine Tour, the Emirates Golf Federation and the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, providing a more global vision for golf with increased resources.

Clear pathways now exist for international players to graduate from these Tours to the DP World Tour and to the PGA TOUR, while for our own members who opt not to play on the PGA TOUR, our Tour will have guaranteed prize fund security.

The PGA TOUR have been terrific partners over the past 18 months, going way over and above how a normal equity partner would act. This expanded operational joint venture partnership now offers our members a long-term sustainable plan and guaranteed growth, and that cannot be underestimated.

We are extremely proud of our Tour’s history over the past 50 years and I am so honoured to be the Chief Executive of this great institution. Our staff care passionately about delivering the best possible environment for the truly genuine, decent and incredibly talented and hard-working members of our Tour.

That will never change and through our expanded partnership with the PGA TOUR, I believe we are well-positioned to continue to do that.

In a world where people in many walks of life are struggling, and there is a high level of uncertainly, our joint operational partnership with the PGA TOUR gives us a degree of security that is almost unimaginable.

Simply put, we are stronger together.

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14

CONTENTS 24

OPEN PREVIEW

DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS COMING SOON

With just over four months to go until the seasonending DP World Tour Championship, the organisers have announced tickets will be available soon for one of Dubai’s most-loved events.

The final men’s Major Championship of the year is here and what better place to celebrate the 150th edition of The Open Championship than the iconic St Andrews.

FEATURES 28 COLLIN MORIKAWA The Champion Golfer of the Year reveals his “annoying” competitiveness is back just in time for his defence of the Claret Jug. 32 MATT FITZPATRICK We look back at meeting Matt for the first time and take a closer look at his decade of success.

36 TIGER WOODS

Can arguably the world’s greatest ever player defy the odds and lift the Claret Jug for the fourth time? We certainly hope so!

28

32

36

42

46

50

42 CONTENT QUEENS

We caught up with Dubaibased content creators Emma Lacey and Jade Stones to find out what they make of the opportunities for women in golf and why they enjoy showing the fashionable side of the game.

46 JON RAHM It might be over a year away, but you can guarantee Jon Rahm will be leading the way for Europe at the next Ryder Cup. Here, he gives us an insight into his love for the contest and why he thinks Henrik Stenson will be the perfect Captain.

50 GROWING THE GAME There’s been a lot of talk about ‘growing the game’ over the last few months. We look into the reasons why the DP World Tour are the kings of it with their bold and innovative ideas.

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We can’t wait to welcome our loyal customers and new consumers to our new flagship store, which offers the best golf products available in the UAE.”

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CONTENTS 55

Jenny Hennessy

The Chicks With Sticks Founder looks back at a fantastic month for women’s golf with Minjee Lee winning the largest ever cheque by a female golfer and Linn Grant becoming the first ever women to win on the DP World Tour.

INSTRUCTION

56

DEVELOP A ROUTINE LIKE THE PROS

58

MASTER WEIGHT TRANSFER

A pre-shot routine can make all the difference between a bad shot and a good shot. Matthew Hodgkiss, PGA Professional at The Track Meydan, walks us through his simple strategy to get us firing lower scores in no time.

Divan Ehmke, PGA Professional at MyGolf Dubai, demonstrates a few simple tricks to help us master weight transfer on the backswing.

60

SWING EASY FOR ALL YOUR GOLFING NEEDS

Alex Mickleburgh, Retail Manager & Custom Fit Specialist at The Els Club, walks us through his best buys at the recently renovated Pro Shop at the club.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Oosthuizen’s win at The Open made me fall in love with the game

I

first started watching golf when I was around eight years old, tuning into the Masters Tournament and Open Championship when it used to be broadcast on the BBC. We never had Sky Sports in the house when I was a youngster so it was the two tournaments a year for me and I certainly wasn’t an avid fan, but it certainly piqued my interest.

It wasn’t until two years later in 2010 when I really started taking an interest in the game and became a more regular viewer and it was down to one course and one champion – Louis Oosthuizen lifting the Claret Jug at St Andrews. Well, it was also the fact that I had managed to convince my dad to purchase a Sky Sports subscription near that time as well, but we’ll leave it at the South African and the world’s grandest course!

I can’t even pinpoint the exact reason why Oosthuizen made me fall in love in with the game that week, but I do vividly remember being blown away by watching him strut up the beautiful 18th in front of the packed galleries – I may have only been ten but those images still play through my head when watching the tournament each year. I followed his progress for many years after that famous win and was lucky enough to interview him for the magazine over Zoom during lockdown a couple of years ago. He was as genuine as they come and very open in talking about a range of subjects, from that famous to win to being labelled the nearly man following his string of runner-up finishes at every single Major Championship.

Since the day the likeable South African secured his place in Major history, I like many others eagerly await

the Open Championship each summer and for good reason. There is no other tournament quite like it – the links style courses, the grandeur of the Claret Jug, the weather causing absolute chaos, the fact that literally anybody can qualify and how easily a player can go from hero to zero in a matter of seconds – Jean Val de Velde springs to mind in 1999 at Carnoustie! The latter two points mentioned could ring true for a few tournaments across the globe but The Open just hits differently.

TIGER’S OPEN RETURN It will be interesting to see how Tiger gets on at St Andrews, the course he has confessed as his favourite. He, of course, has great history with the Championship, winning it on three occasions, two of them on the Old Course, but can he contend this week or could it be his Major bow? Everybody could see he was in visible pain at his last two outings at the Masters Tournament and PGA Championship, but something tells me he might have something up his sleeve when he returns to the tournament for the first time since 2019. Don’t forget, just a year before that he finished runner-up to Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie. It may seem like Tiger’s grandest days are behind him, but you just never know with the big cat and the flat layout of St Andrews is definitely going to work in his favour.

So, buckle up for four days of fascinating golf. It’s The Open Championship, baby!

Thomas W ragg

ISSUE No.248 SUMMER 2022 • Published by: Worldwide Sporting Publications Ltd • Published in Dubai by: Prografix • PO Box 24677 • Dubai, UAE (Tel) +9714 340 3785 Editor-in-Chief: Alex Gallemore • Editor: Thomas Wragg (tom@wspdubai.com) Publisher: Mike Gallemore (mike@wspglobal.com) • General Manager Dubai: Richard Bevan (rick@wspglobal.com) Editors: • Production/Design Editor: Thameem Rayyan • Editorial Panel: Mike Gallemore, Alex Gallemore, Richard Bevan, Thomas Wragg • Photography: Getty Images • June 2009 SSN 1- 46805671 • Approval UAE National Media Council: Ref.816 30/5/2007 Trade Licence No. 1/104375/15280 • Worldwide Golf specifies that post-press changes may occur to any information given in this publication and takes no responsibility for goods or services advertised.

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C E L E B R A T I N G T H E 1 5 0 TH E D I T I O N O F

CHAMPIONSHIP

T

he oldest of the four Major Championships, The Open, will celebrate it’s 150th ediiton when play gets underway at St Andrews on July 14. First played in 1860 at Prestwick, then a 12 hole layout, with just eight players, the tournament has gone on to become arguably the most prestigous tournament in the world of golf thanks to the grandeur of the Claret Jug, the challenge of battling the links style courses and the Who’s Who of greats that have etched their name into tournament folklore.

Of the 149 stagings of the Championship, it has been held 96 times in Scotland, 51 times in England and twice in Northern Ireland with 14 different courses

playing host, seven in Scotland, six in England and one in Northern Ireland, with the Championship visiting each course roughly once every ten years, except for St Andrews, which now hosts it every fifth year.

Tradition dictated that from 1860 until 1921, The Open would always be played on a links, or seaside style of course, but this was later sanctified into the Championship rules in 1922 when the Committee declared that, “The Open shall henceforth be played only on links courses, to provide a true test for the skilled players.” Here, we take a look at all 14 venues that have hosted golf’s original Major and look back at some of the most memorable and magic moments.

The Open Preview

Prestwick

Ayrshire, Scotland

1860, 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872, 1875, 1878, 1881, 1884, 1887, 1890, 1893, 1898, 1903, 1908, 1914, 1925 Home to the first ever Open Championship, Prestwick was designed with an unusual routing, featuring many blind shots and unusual angles to test the unwary golfer. Originally a 12-hole course, Old Tom Morris retained these playing characteristics when he was tasked with adding an extra six holes. Although Prestwick no longer plays host, its record of having hosted the Championship is bettered only by St Andrews.

St Andrews Fife, Scotland

1873, 1876, 1879, 1882, 1885, 1888, 1891, 1895, 1900, 1905, 1910, 1921, 1927, 1933, 1939, 1946, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1970, 1978, 1984, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 The likes of Willie Park Snr and Old Tom Morris could never have imagined what The Open would become when they played in the first Championship at Prestwick in 1860, with a field of just eight players. Now, 162 years and 149 Opens later, the Home of Golf will host The 150th Open at the Old Course, St Andrews.

In what is sure to be a historic Open with record crowds, the world’s greatest players will descend on Fife to try and capture the Claret Jug.

FLASHBACK

2015

The Auld Claret Jug had a new name etched upon its famous base after a thrilling 144th Open Championship at St. Andrews. American Zach Johnson clinched his second Major in impressive fashion after dashing the hopes of former champion Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman with some clinical putting in their four hole play-off. Johnson, who added the Home of Golf to Augusta National as famous venues where he has prevailed, drained superb birdie putts on the opening two holes of the play-off, and when Oosthuizen’s birdie putt on the final hole slid by he was

Musselburgh East Lothian, Scotland.

1874, 1877, 1880, 1883, 1886, 1889 Musselburgh Links played a critical part in the early development of The Open, with the Championship’s first ever victor, Willie Park Sr., being a professional based there. Initially hosting the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the original holes haven’t undergona any significant changes with evidence suggesting that golf has been played here since as early as 1672.

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crowned the winner.

The South African was aiming to follow in Tiger Woods’ footsteps as a winner of two successive Opens at St. Andrews having won back in 2010, but fell at the final hurdle. Despite missing out on victory, Leishman, was happy just to be in the hunt once again, back playing after his wife was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome and only given a 5 per cent chance of survival upon diagnosis earlier that year.

She would later go on to make a full recovery.

The Open Preview

Muirfied

Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland 1892, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1912, 1929, 1935, 1948, 1959, 1966, 1972, 1980, 1987, 1992, 2002, 2013 Home of the first 72 hole Championship in 1892, Muirfield has gone on to host 15 more with the course offering perhaps the fairest test of all The Open venues. The two circuits of nine rotate in opposite directions, the back nine looping inside the front nine, ensuring that golfers never face the same wind direction on two consecutive holes.

Royal St George’s

Sandwich, England

1894, 1899, 1904, 1911, 1922, 1928, 1934, 1938, 1949, 1981, 1985, 1993, 2003, 2011, 2021 Collin Morikawa’s memorable triumph last year marked the 15th time that the Kent venue has held The Open, dating back to 1894 when it became the first course outside of Scotland to host the tournament.

The course boasts some of the most fascinating names to win the tournament, incluidng J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and Greg Norman.

FLASHBACK

2011

Clarke’s long wait for Major glory ends Over the years The Open has been the men’s Major which has supplied the most surprising list of winners – and 2011 is a prime example when 150/1 long- shot Darren Clarke emerged victorious.

Arriving on the back of finishing 66th at the Scottish Open a week earlier, not many thought Clarke would be the one left clutching the Claret Jug, and yet there he was, Champion Golfer of the Year.

The top ranked players in the world going into the event were Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, while Rory McIlroy was the star attraction having just broken through in spectacular style at the U.S. Open.

However, none of those three broke par on the opening day and after round one the leaders were Thomas Bjorn and young amateur Tom Lewis, after they returned 65s. Clarke had opened with a 68 and after posting the same score on day two he found himself in a share of the lead on 4-under-par at the half-way stage alongside Lucas Glover. A third successive round in the 60s saw Clarke take a one- stroke lead over Dustin Johnson into the final

round with Rickie Fowler and Bjorn three back.

Phil Mickelson, who started five strokes behind, showed glimpses of his growing appreciation for British links golf with a final round charge and would wind up in a share of second place – the American would win The Open two years later at Muirfield. At one stage Mickelson moved into a share of the lead with Clarke, but the Ulsterman responded with an eagle on hole 7, and from there he never relinquished his lead. Johnson remained within touching distance for most of the day, but a pushed approach to the 14th saw him go out of bounds which led to a double bogey.

Clarke then had a four-shot lead and closed it out with a bogey on 18 to win by three from the American pair. Bjorn was fourth, a trio of Americans – Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim and Chad Campbell – were fifth while Simon Dyson finished in a share of ninth as the leading Englishman. At 42, Clarke became the oldest first-time Major winner and followed fellow Northern Irishmen Graeme McDowell (2010 US Open) and Rory McIlroy (2011 US Open) into golfing lore.

Royal Liverpool

Hoylake, Wirral, England

1897, 1902, 1907, 1913, 1924, 1930, 1936, 1947, 1956, 1967, 2006, 2014 Rory McIlroy will return to the scene of his Open Championship triumph in 2014 next year as Royal Liverpool hosts the Championship for the 13th time. Two of the three amateurs who have won The Open were Hoylake members: John Ball and Harold Hilton. The other amateur winner, Bobby Jones, won his third Open at Hoylake, an event which was the second of four steps in his unmatched Grand Slam.

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Royal Cinque Ports East Lothian, Scotland. 1909, 1920 Home to the Championship on two occasions, Royal Cinque Ports is a traditional links with large sand dunes, undulating fairways and an out-and-back routing which demands that players finish their rounds into the teeth of the prevailing south-westerly wind. George Duncan recovered from 13 shots back to win the last Open Championship held at the East Lothian venue.

Royal Troon

Ayrshire, Scotland

1923, 1950, 1962, 1973, 1982, 1989, 1997, 2004, 2016.

Set to host the Open Championship once again in 2024, Royal Troon is designed in the traditional out-and-back manner of the Old Course at St Andrews. The test begins with a gentle opening through some of the most striking links land to be found at any of the Open venues and concludes with a back nine as tough as any finish in the world. The venue most recently staged the Championship in 2016, when Henrik Stenson became the first Swedish man to win a Major Championship following an epic duel with Phil Mickelson.

Royal Lytham & St Annes, Lancashire, England

1926, 1952, 1958, 1963, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1988, 1996, 2001, 2012 The Lancashire venue got the perfect introduction to the Open Championship golf when legendary American amateur Bobby Jones secured victory when the tournament was first played there in 1926. In 1979 Seve Ballesteros lit the fuse of European golf with a brilliant short game display – as well as a recovery shot from a car park – to finish three shots clear of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw. Seve returned in 1988 to win his third Open title.

Prince’s 1932 Royal Portrush Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Sandwich, Kent, England

1951, 2019

Home to the Championship on just one occasion in 1932 when Gene Sarazen set a new scoring record for the Championship of 283 using the newly invented sand wedge. The present-day 27-hole layout is the result of a 1950 re-design Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison following war-time damage to the original course.

Golf at Royal Portrush dates back to 1888, making it one of the oldest golf clubs in Northern Ireland. It was originally a nine-hole course known as The County Club before being extended to an 18-hole layout just a year after opening. The Open returned to the venue for the first time in 68 years in 2019 with home favourite Shane Lowry merging triumphant at Royal Portrush. The Open will now head back to the County Antrim coast in 2025 for The 153rd Open.

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The Open Preview

Carnoustie

Angus, Scotland

1931, 1937, 1953, 1968, 1975, 1999, 2007, 2018 Golf at Carnoustie dates back to 1842, making it one of the ten oldest clubs in the world, and it was in 1850 when Alan Robertson of St Andrews designed the basic layout of the championship course that is so revered today. Old Tom Morris tweaked the course and extended it to 18 holes in the early 1870s before James Braid put his touches to it in 1926. There was some muttering among members at that time that Braid’s vision didn’t have a strong enough closing cluster of holes, and so, just ahead of the 1937 Open, the last three holes were re-designed again by James Wright. Ben Hogan won on his only Open apperance here in 1953.

FLASHBACK

1999

Jean Van de Velde meltdown

“No one remembers who came second.” Sadly, this famous old saying doesn’t ring true for Jean Van de Velde. Who could forget his infamous meltdown at Carnoustie at the 128th Open Championship?

The Frenchman started the final day with a five-shot lead over Justin Leonard and Craig Parry and was the only competitor in the field who was at par or better. But the pressure of leading a Major got to the then 33-year-old in the early stages as he struggled to find form which led to falling to four-over-par with six holes left. Ahead of him, Paul Lawrie, who was ten stokes back at the start of the day, was piecing together a fine round and signed for four-under-par 67 to finish on six-over-par and take the clubhouse lead.

Having gained a shot back from the unforgiving course on the 14th, Van de Velde walked up to the final tee with a three-shot lead, knowing that a double-bogey would seal a maiden Major championship. Surprisingly, he chose to drive off the tee and ended up far right on the 18th.

Things went from bad to worse when he decided to go for the green with his second shot, only to

1977

Turnberry

end up hitting the grandstand causing the ball to bounce back 50 yards into knee-high rough. Van de Velde was not shaken. Instead of hacking the ball out sideways, he inexplicably went for the green once again, this time sending his ball to a watery grave in the infamous Barry Burn. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, he removed his shoes and socks and climbed in, believing he could play the ball as it was sitting on top of the water. By the time he got to his ball the water had submerged it, leaving no shot. After taking a penalty drop, he pitched his fifth into the greenside bunker before chipping to within eight feet of the pin with his sixth. Astonishingly, Van de Velde held his nerve to make the putt and secure his place in the fourhole aggregate play-off with Lawrie and Leonard.

Lawrie went on to win the play-off by three strokes from the pair to seal the biggest comeback in Major history but the day will always belong to Van de Velde’s moments of madness on the 18th and the iconic image of him stood ankle deep in the Barry Burn looking forlornly at his submerged ball.

Royal Birkdale

Southport, Merseyside, England

1954, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1976, 1983, 1991, 1998, 2008, 2017

Ayrshire, Scotland 1977, 1986, 1994, 2009 Home to one of the greatest showcases of golf in the game’s history: the famous ‘Duel in the Sun’ in 1977. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson went head-to-head over the final two days, with Watson eventually finishing a shot clear of his rival – and 11 shots ahead of the rest of the field. Thirty-two years later, Watson came ever so close to another historic victory at the age of 59, but ultimately lost to Stewart Cink in a play-off.

Since first hosting The Open in 1954, the course has been the most regular venue for the Championship other than St Andrews. The famous art-deco clubhouse was built in 1935 and stands as one of the most eye- catching buildings among the links courses on The Open rotation.

It overlooks the 18th green and can also be seen coming up the ninth fairway. The course is similar to Muirfield in that the holes meander in different directions, making it tough to play on a windy day. At the classic loops of holes at St. Andrews if the wind is consistent it will blow one way for nine holes and then the opposite way for the back nine but the opposite is true at Royal Birkdale as the holes snake this way and that across the rugged dunes just south of the town of Southport.

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What they said

A

PLETHORA OF GOLFING SUPERSTARS HAVE LIFTED THE CLARET JUG SINCE THE TOURNAMENT WAS FIRST HOSTED IN 1960 INCLUDING SEVE BALLESTEROS, TIGER WOODS, GARY PLAYER, TOM WATSON, JACK NICKLAUS AND RORY MCILROY. WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THOSE THAT HAVE ADORED THE CHALLENGE OF TAKING ON THE BATTLE OF THE MIGHTY LINKS COURSES OVER THE YEARS.

“Any golfer worth his salt has to cross the sea and try to win the British Open.”

Jack Nicklaus

“This is what it’s all about isn’t it?”

Tom Watson to Jack Nicklaus during the ‘Duel in the Sun’ at The 106th Open Championship.

“I never felt I could be a complete professional without having won the British Open. It was something you had to do to complete your career.”

Arnold Palmer

“I’ve won two Opens at St Andrews, it’s the Home of Golf, it’s my favourite golf course in the world. I will be there for that one.”

Tiger Woods

“When Ballesteros triumphed at the British Open in 1979, for his first Major win, he hit so few fairways off the tee that he was often mistaken for a gallery marshall.”

Dan Jenkins, Sports Illustrated golf writer

“They thought they could come here and rip it apart.

Who the hell do they think they are?”

Carnoustie course superintendent John Philp on The 1999 Open Championship

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“Wind is part of the British Open. It is an examination and it took me a long time to pass the examination.

Eighty per cent of the fellows out there have not passed the test.”

Gary Player

“To me, the British Open is the tournament I would come to if I had to leave a month before and swim over.”

Lee Trevino

The Open Preview

“That was one of the great moments of my career, making a three there and then walking the walk.”

“To win here at St. Andrews is a lifetime dream for anybody. And mine’s come true today.”

Nick Faldo on making birdie on the 17th at this final Open Championship appearance in 2015

John Daly after lifting the Claret Jug in 1995

“I can’t wait to wake up on Monday morning and find out what it’s going to feel like then. It’s just going to be incredible.”

Shane Lowry on his victory at The 2019 Open Championship

“That was the best round of my life.”

Seve Ballesteros on his final round of The 1988 Open Championship

“Forget the relentless aggression or the pursuit of recordbreaking winning margins. On the last day of The Open, a one-shot win is as sweet as six.”

“This is the first major my mum has been to that I’ve won, so Mum, this one’s for you.”

BBC chief sports writer Tom Fordyce

Rory McIlroy after winning at Royal Liverpool in 2014

“I get a little upset when you hear people say, ‘Oh it’s ridiculous, if you’ve got a six to win, I could do it.’ Well, until you’re in that position, on that tee with the chance to win the biggest event in the world, you can’t realise how hard that is. You can’t stop your body shaking, your hands shaking. You’re not in control of what’s happening.”

Paul Lawrie looking back on victory in 1999 at Carnoustie.

Gary Player

“I have come a long way. When I turned pro I would have settled for becoming a journeyman. It’s been great to be named as someone who could win a Major. To actually go and do it, well I don’t know what to think.”

Padraig Harrington after winning in 2007

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Stat attack

The 2022 Open Championship begins on Thursday, July 14 and ends on Sunday, July 17.

6 7 46 3 1860 17 1966

Harry Vardon holds the record for the most Open Championship wins, which has stood since 1914.

Jack Nicklaus

holds the record for most runner-up finishes at The Open. It’s a good job he won the Claret Jug on three occasions!

Jack Nicklaus named his course in Ohio, Muirfield, after the course where he won his first Open Championship in 1966.

Gary Player

won the British open in 1959, ‘68, and ‘74, making him the only golfer in the 20th century to win The Open in three different decades.

Gary Player has made 46 starts at the Open Championship

The first Open Championship is played at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland.

Only eight men were in the field.

Young Tom Morris remains the youngest Open champion, aged 17 years and 156 days in 1868 a year after his father, Old Tom, had become the oldest ever champion at Prestwick.

1963

When Bob Charles won the 1963 Open, he became the first New Zealander – and the first left-handed player – to win a Major Championship.

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19 J.H. Taylor

won his last British Open in 1913 – 19 years after winning his first in 1894.

That span is the longest between any golfer’s first and last Open wins.

396 Ben Curtis

264

was a PGA Tour Rookie ranked no. 396 in the world when he won the 2003 British Open.

62

Branden Grace shot the lowest round ever recorded at the tournament at Royal Birkdale in 2017. This remains the lowest ever round to be shot in Major Championship history.

39

Ernie Els holds the most career sub70 rounds at The Open with 39.

holds the record for the lowest 72-hole score with his 264 at Royal Troon in 2016.

10 129

In 1883 the eventual winner, Willie Fernie, had a 10, the only time a champion has had a double-digit score for a single hole on his card.

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Louis Oosthuizen posted the lowest 36hole total last year at Royal St George’s. The South African ended the tournament in a share of third.

ON EARTH BEST TOURNAMENT

G

olf fans in the UAE rejoice! FREE general admission tickets for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai are set to be released soon with this year’s 14th edition set to be one of the biggest and best yet.

Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Earth course will once again welcome the top 50 players on the DP World Tour Rankings for the fifth and final Rolex Series event of the season from November 17-20 and some of the hottest names in the game could be making the trip to Dubai for the prestigious tournament.

While no guarantee can be made of the players competing until nearer the tournament, it’s set to be one of the strongest ever editions if the DP World Tour Rankings are anything to go by. Two of this year’s Major champions, Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas, both currently occupy spots inside the top ten while former DP World Tour Championship winner Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa are on course to qualify for one of the DP World Tour’s most beloved tournaments.

Chuck in the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Shane

Lowry, Seamus Power and Tyrrell Hatton and you have yourself one of the strongest fields on the Tour this season.

This year’s tournament will also boast a record US$10 million prize fund, making the season finale the first DP World Tour event in history outside the Majors and WGCs to feature an eight-figure prize fund.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Aside from being one of the standout events on Dubai’s annual sporting calendar, the tournament has also rightly earned its place as a must-attend event on the social calendar thanks its vast array of attractions, activations and F&B options available in the Championship Village.

Women attending last year’s tournament were treated to a Ladies Day for the very first time with free drinks, ladies golf clinics and a Best Dressed competition among many of the perks included during the third round of the tournament. Due to the resounding success of the initiative, it will make a return later this year, while the tournament will also host a dedicated Family Day with a variety of family friendly activities to keep the little ones entertained.

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Aside from that, fans can once again expect a jam-packed schedule of entertainment off the course, which has previously included live music from some of the finest artists in the region, magical trick shot shows plus much more.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be releasing our free general admission and Premium Experience tickets in the not so distant future,” said Tom Phillips, Head of DP World Tour Middle East.

“Since the first DP World Tour Championship in 2009, spectators have been a key part in making the tournament one of the best events on the schedule, thanks to their love for the game and enthusiasm out on course.

“The team at DP World Tour Middle East are working tirelessly behind the scenes to make the tournament bigger and better than ever and we can’t wait for fans to see what we have in store later this year at Jumeirah Golf Estates.”

Keep an eye out on the DP World Tour Championship social media pages and dpwtc.com for more info on ticket announcements, including news of an Early Bird discount on Premium Experiences. Roll on November!

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Earth Lounge Enjoy the DP World Tour Championship action in style with stunning, unobstructed views of the 16th green at the Earth Lounge. Guests can take advantage of a BBQ lunch, snacks, free flowing hops, grape and soft drinks, as well as enjoying a grab n go breakfast, while taking in the top 50 players on the DP World Tour Rankings.

Early Bird price: From AED499 Normal price: From AED599

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STRENGTHENING

OF THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

L

ast month the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR moved to significantly strengthen not only their existing alliance but also help develop players to compete at the pinnacle of men’s professional golf, by unveiling a ground-breaking new 13-year operational joint venture partnership.

The partnership, through to 2035, builds on the success of the existing Strategic Alliance between the two Tours that was unveiled in November 2020 and which has already seen tangible benefits

for members of both Tours, not least the cosanctioning of the Genesis Scottish Open on the DP World Tour, alongside access for both memberships into the Barbasol

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Championship and the Barracuda Championship on the PGA TOUR. DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley “passionately” believes, “this move will significantly enhance the meritocracy that has successfully served the professional game on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 50 years.”

At what is a tumultuous time for the game, the unveiling of a 13-year JV partnership is another seismic moment in the power play for professional golf. It was no coincidence the announcement was timed as three of LIV

Strategic Alliance

Golf’s new rebels were being trotted out in Portland for a promotional presser ahead of the breakaway league’s second event.

In a nutshell, the “ground-breaking” deal through 2035 will see the PGA Tour increase its stake in European Tour Productions from 15 to 40 percent for an undisclosed but reported US$100 million. That will help fund a guaranteed increase in prize funds on the DP World Tour, from 2022’s already record payouts, over the next five years. More significantly, the top-10 players (not already exempted) in the DP World Tour Rankings from 2023 will earn PGA Tour cards for the following season.

A joint media release hailed the partnership as a clearly defined pathway to “the very pinnacle of the men’s professional game on the PGA Tour”. DP World Tour members will now have “direct and formal access” to the PGA Tour and beneath that, players from the Sunshine Tour and ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, with whom the DP World Tour already has existing strategic alliances, now enjoy a formal pathway to the DP World Tour.

The DP World Tour will also work closely on the development and implementation of the new international events announced

by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan last month. DP World Tour members will gain access to those events, one of those has been touted to take place in the Middle East from 2023.

“Our two tours have undoubtedly drawn closer over the past few years and today’s announcement strengthens both tours for the betterment of both memberships,” said Pelley.

“It is a natural extension and progression of what we have been doing over the past few years and I passionately believe that this move is the right thing for our players, our Tour, our fans, and the game of golf in general.”

It was a sentiment, not unsurprisingly, echoed by Monahan who will be relieved LIV Golf’s overtures to the DP World Tour (which Pelley acknowledged Tuesday) haven’t resulted in a further fracturing of the pro game. This despite a reported split in the DP World Tour membership, some of whom have asked for stiffer sanctions against LIV Golf defectors and others who have called for Pelley to spurn the PGA Tour for a lucrative deal with the Saudi-funded rebel league.

“It was clear from the outset that our strategic partnership with the European Tour Group was a powerful agreement for both sides, and we are thrilled with today’s announcement of this expanded partnership,” Monahan said.

“We will continue to collaborate on a global schedule and key commercial areas as we draw our organisations and memberships even closer together while innovating to provide the most entertaining and compelling golf possible to fans around the world. On behalf of the PGA TOUR, I want to credit and commend Keith Pelley and his team at the European Tour Group for their incredible commitment to this effort.”

PAUL MCGINLEY Lots of opinions that DPWT will be a feeder tour to PGAT - European players have always gravitated to America and come back to play our bigger events and this will continue. This deal formalises clear pathways as well as securing enhanced prize funds from this year’s record levels.”

PADRAIG HARRINGTON There is plenty of room in golf for two big tours and that’s why I was worried about The European Tour getting squeezed out. But with the announcement, Europe looks like it has a very strong future, a strong future for its players, younger players, and a strong pathway to growing our games and build from there.”

SHANE LOWRY I think it strengthens world golf and the fact that the two main tours in the world have come together. I think that’s only good for golf.”

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OPENLY

Ruthless Collin Morikawa’s trademark fade - and his “annoying” competitiveness - is back just in time for his defence of the Claret Jug.

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“I

f a golfer is to be remembered, he must win the title at St Andrews.”

Bobby Jones’ take on the importance of The Open Championship at the Home of Golf might be immortal but it doesn’t really apply to someone like Collin Morikawa, as much as the deceptively laid-back Californian would clearly love to successfully defend the Claret Jug on the Old Course this month.

The 25-year-old’s extraordinary rise to the top table of professional golf means he could pretty much disappear from the world’s famous fairways tomorrow and forever command a storied place in royal and ancient folklore.

From Cal-Berkeley star to Walker Cupper to World Amateur No.1. From pro debut to a PGA Tour card within two months. How about winning his fifth PGA Tour start as a pro at the 2019 Barracuda Championship after making the cut in his very first Major a few weeks earlier en route to a share of 35th at the 2019 U.S. Open.

Talking of cuts avoided, Morikawa achieved that a ridiculous 22 successive times off the bat. Eat your heart out Justin Rose (sorry to relitigate those 21 successive cuts missed, Rosey). Indeed, the only one not overly impressed with that Morikawa stat is probably Tiger Woods whose 25 straight cuts made remains the longest streak to start a pro career.

But even Tiger must have appreciated the gently faded driver to seven feet at TPC Harding Park’s 16th green in the final round of the 2020 PGA Championship.

It was one of the greatest shots in Major Championship history, enabling Morikawa to eagle the drivable par-4 and separate himself in the first post-Covid biggie.

He won on debut at last year’s Open Championship too but more on Royal St George’s and the critical Scottish Open backstory soon.

There’s still more remarkable feats to tick off first. Like the 16 bogey-free holes Morikawa played to close out the WGCWorkday Championship in 2021. Or the 31 bogey-free holes to close out the 149th Open Championship at Sandwich. And how can we forget Morikawa becoming the first American to be crowned European No.1 after clinching the DP World Tour Championship last November, a memorable week at Jumeirah Golf Estates indeed. Or the unbeaten, 3.5 point Ryder Cup debut which included the clinching half-point against Viktor Hovland in Sunday’s singles at Whistling Straits. And on, and on, it goes…

Morikawa doesn’t fit the mould of the modern-day pro, outwardly at least. He doesn’t bomb it off the tee or in the media centre when the questions get a bit curly.

You won’t see him slam clubs or engage in a Twitter rant. But behind the clean-cut facade lurks a fierce competitor.

“Competing is my life,” Morikawa concedes. “I mean, I’m stupidly competitive.

It can be a problem with people who are not competitive. Like it can be annoying.”

Morikawa won The Open Championship on debut

To be fair, it has proved a problem with Morikawa’s uber-competitive peers. And downright exasperating for golf’s rank and file pros who can only marvel at the rise and rise of Collin Morikawa, five-time PGA Tour winner, and counting.

OPEN MIRACLE You have to rewind to Pádraig Harrington in 2007-2008 to find the last player to successfully defend The Open, meaning the odds are clearly against Morikawa at St Andrews.

That he even has a shot at history is remarkable though given the now world No.4 had zero links experience when he turned up for last year’s Scottish Open, the traditional pre-Open dress rehearsal. It showed with Morikawa hating how his irons interacted with the firmer Renaissance Club turf while he also struggled on slower greens than he was used to. It all added up to a share of 71st, hardly an encouraging precursor to Royal St George’s.

But remember, Morikawa is different gravy. While most pros would have shrugged shoulders, resigned themselves to an early flight home and chalk it up to experience, the American went searching for an immediate solution. Where others wouldn’t dear meddle with a proven formula on the eve of a Major, Morikawa made the brave decision to change out three irons for more forgiving models. The other masterstroke, quite literally as it turned out, was a subtle

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change of grip on long putts. Rounds of 67-64-68-66 were consigned to history as an Open championship record score of 265 at Royal St George’s as Morikawa became the first player in history to capture two separate Major titles on debut.

Had it not been for the realism of Renaissance, Morikawa knows the outcome - an eventual two-stroke victory over Jordan Spieth - would have been much different.

“I mean, I seriously owe everything to this week,” Morikawa said of the eve of this year’s Genesis Scottish Open.

“I think the event before this for me last year was, I think, the U.S. Open at Torrey and my game felt has good as it had the entire year. I came over here and it was a little windy but nothing crazy and I was hitting 9-irons to edges of the greens, and it just wasn’t acceptable.

“You know, sometimes I’m right and sometimes I’m wrong. I always like to think I’m right but that’s never the case, and I just kept complaining to J.J. [caddie J.J. Jakovac] that like my irons felt (off), I couldn’t explain why, I just couldn’t hit the ball in the centrr of the face.

“Without this extra week of just prep here at Renaissance and playing here at The Scottish Open, I would never have thought about changing irons. So if I had just shown up to The Open Championship last year, it probably just would have been a repeat of what I saw last year during this event, hitting maybe fairways and then missing

COLLIN MORIKAWA every green, which you know, is not the case for trying to win Major Championships.”

Fast-forward to the present day and Morikawa had more bad news for his peers. His trademark cut, which has been conspicuous by its absence for much of the year, is back, and importantly so on demand.

It makes a third top-five in this year’s Majors distinctly possible, especially as he struggled to fifth place without it for much of last month’s U.S. Open at Brookline.

“Fades are back. I think -- I’d like to say the fades are back because I am able to hit the cut shot again but over the last couple days, playing in Ireland and playing at Adare Manor [in the JP McManus Pro-Am], I actually worked the ball a lot more than I have probably, ever.” Morikawa said.

“And I’m not saying I’m hooking the ball and slicing the ball but I’m just playing the right shots and the only time I’ve watched a couple guys do that is J.T. and Tiger. The few times I played with him -- I played with J.T. at The Players when it was super windy, right.

And to watch him play that, I think he was bogey-free, he had full control of his golf ball. He worked it both ways. And then the few times I played with Tiger, even though this is the older side and end side of Tiger’s career, he worked the ball when he needed to, right. He played the right shots.

“I think past two days [at Adare Manor], like I got in that mindset of like I’m just going to play the right shot and play the percentage shot. So it’s cool of having control of the ball and being able to work it both ways, because out here, I think you’re going to need it.”

“Out here” has become a battleground for the very future of the pro game. Morikawa has hitched his wagon to the PGA-DP World Tour alliance and is thrilled there is now a clear pathway for Europe’s top players to compete on the PGA Tour. Likewise, he’s excited by the January-August PGA Tour schedule which might open more opportunities in Europe later each year.

He’s a duel member of both tours already and clearly has his sights set on legacy rather than Riyals.

WORLD DOMINATION For sure, he covets more Majors and to be remembered for winning the 150th Open at St Andrews like Bobby Jones implored.

There’s also the No.1 ranking which was so close after won the DP World Tour Championship. When he led December’s Hero World Challenge by five strokes with 18 to play in Bermuda, it seemed he would supplant Jon Rahm and have it all including world domination. But golf is golf and not even Collin Morikawa is infallible. He signed for a disappointing 76 and now has Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, as well as Rahm, to overtake.

Cue the ruthless competitor, a player able to quickly identify riddles and find solutions.

“Yeah, I think that might have played a factor in how I was performing beginning of the year,’ admitted Morikawa who has gone

Without this extra week of just prep here at Renaissance and playing here at The Scottish Open, I would never have thought about changing irons. So if I had just shown up to The Open Championship last year, it probably just would have been a repeat of what I saw last year during this event, hitting maybe fairways and then missing every green, which you know, is not the case for trying to win Major Championships.” winless since Royal St George’s.

“All I cared about -- not all I cared about, that’s a lie. What I cared about was trying to get to No. 1 in the world. I’ve heard players talk about this and I’ve paid attention to it, and where I’m at now, Scottie has built a gap between us and I just want to get back in the winner’s circle.

“That’s what it was like since I’ve turned pro and it hasn’t changed but when you know you’re on the cusp of something and you’re so close to that, sometimes that kind of jumps precedent to what you really need to focus on, right. And I was so focused on hitting that perfect cut and hitting these perfect shots that I knew could get me to No. 1 in the world that it kind of took over rather than me just playing golf.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t hit me until, you know, a few weeks ago at the U.S. Open where I said, screw it, let’s just go play golf.

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That’s what I did. The amount of college, like, swing videos I watched were endless and I think it didn’t just show me, you know, how I swung it back in college because, yeah, maybe I want to swing it like that.

“But it made me get back to that mentality of like, I want to be here and I want to compete against these guys and I want to beat every single one. Doesn’t matter what I’m ranked in the world. When I was 1,000 in the world coming out here, I still believed that I could be No. 1 and I still believed that I could beat all these guys.

“I think when I put my head to that and put my mindset to that point, I’m like, okay, we’re just here to play golf. We’re here to enjoy it and we’re here to win.”

Don’t be surprised if the only one really enjoying it at St Andrews is Morikawa. It’s not like he doesn’t have form, nor that his peers haven’t been pre-warned.

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ADECADE SUCCESS MATT FITZPATRICK

OF

By Alex Gallemore

T

o make it in any sport, you need a grit and hunger to succeed, regardless of any physical advantage you may possess. Matt Fitzpatrick still looks like a schoolboy and not a linebacker like Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, but he’s taught himself to punch above his weight in a sport that is now dominated by power.

Matt was born with this single mindedness and when you think he’s mapped every shot he’s played since being an amateur to give him the edge, it just goes to show the focus he had from the start. I first met Matt over ten years ago at Pete Cowen’s driving range in Sheffield, it was tipping down with rain and this young lad was hitting frozen ropes for fun. The main thing that struck me was the focus he had while practicing.

He wasn’t trying to bust it through

the back of the range like every other teenager, he was practicing with pure focus – on every shot! Now that wasn’t normal. So, when he lifted the U.S. Open trophy it didn’t come as surprise to many close to him, in fact Pete Cowen in last month’s column pretty much said that Matt was going win a Major and had been quietly knocking on the door for a while.

I hope he celebrated harder than when he won the British Masters back in 2015 - I bumped into Matt and his brother Alex coming back from Woburn that evening on the M6 services. They were tucking into a Subway and Coke having forgotten to eat after the presentation. Since sharing that meal deal with his brother, Matt has gone on to earn more than $10 million, and the U.S Open victory has made him hungry for more Major honours.

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2012-2013

AMATEUR SUCCESS Fitzpatrick enjoys a glittering amateur career, which includes winning the Boys Amateur Championship in 2012. A year later he tops the World Amateur Golf Ranking after winning the 2013 US Amateur - a tournament featuring Bryson DeChambeau, World No 1Scottie Scheffler, Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris – at The Country Club, Brookline. That same year he claims the Silver Medal as low amateur at The 2013 Open Championship and represents Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup.

2014

2015

Fitzpatrick turns professional after the 2014 U.S. Open, forfeiting his exemption to the 2014 Open Championship that was granted to him following his US Amateur triumph. The Sheffield-born star makes his first professional start at the 2014 Irish Open, finishing in a share of 29th. He makes a number of outings on sponsor and tournament invites throughout the rest of the season before finishing the year on a high by gaining his DP World Tour playing privileges through Qualifying School.

In his rookie season on Tour, Fitzpatrick ends the year 12th on the season-long DP World Tour Rankings after registering eight top five finishes, which includes a share of fourth at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship and his first Tour victory at the Betfred British Masters. The triumph at Woburn is the first for an Englishman since Lee Westwood in 2007 while Fitzpatrick also becomes the first rookie to win wire-to-wire since Pablo Larrazábal did so at the 2008 Alstom Open de France.

FIRST TRIUMPH

TURNING PRO

2016

2017

MAIDEN RYDER CUP

The youngster finishes in a share of seventh on his first professional start at the Masters Tournament before going on to collect his second piece of DP World Tour silverware at the Nordea Masters.

WINNING RUN CONTINUES

His form helps him secure a debut Ryder Cup appearance later that year at Hazeltine National, but finishes the week with zero points from two matches. He bounces back superbly from his Ryder Cup disappointment to win the DP World Tour Championship two months later and in doing so, at the age of the age of 22 years and 80 days, becomes the youngest Englishman to win his first three DP World Tour titles.

This beats the previous best of Sir Nick Faldo, who was 22 years and 300 days, when he won his third event the 1980 Sun Alliance PGA Championship.

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Fitzpatrick extends his run of consecutive winning seasons to three after beating Australia’s Scott Hend at the third hole of a sudden-death play at the Omega European Masters. Aged 23 years and nine days, Fitzpatrick becomes the youngest player to reach four DP World Tour wins since Matteo Mannassero won the 2014 BMW PGA Championship aged 20 years and 37 days.

MATT FITZPATRICK

2019

2018

SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE

Becomes the first person to successfully defend his title at the Omega European Masters since Seve Ballesteros in 1978 with a play-off victory over Lucas Bjerregaard at Crans-surSierre. Despite the victory, Fitzpatrick fails to earn enough points for an automatic spot in Europe’s Ryder Cup team and is overlooked by Thomas Bjorn in his four Captain’s Picks, choosing to go with the experience of Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson.

2020

DUBAI DOUBLE

FIRST WINLESS SEASON

Fitzpatrick sets his sights on earning a PGA Tour card and does just that that thanks to a runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a share of fourth at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Fails to win an event on the DP World Tour for the first time since turning professional but posts four second place finishes to end the season fifth in the DP World Tour Rankings – his highest finish yet.

2021

RYDER CUP REDEMPTION?

Looks as if he is headed for a second straight season without a win before coming up trumps in the DP World Tour’s finale – the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates. As well as rising to a career-high of 16th in the Official World Golf Ranking with the victory, Fitzpatrick also finishes the season second in the season-long Rankings, beating his previous best of fifth from the year before.

Fitzpatrick qualifies automatically for the delayed Ryder Cup but fails to banish the demons of his two disappointing defeats from 2016 as he finishes the week with zero points from a possible three en route to Europe’s record-breaking defeat at Whistling Straits. Just as he did in 2016, Fitzpatrick bounces back to win the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters at famed Valderrama with a bogey-free final round.

2022

“I’ve heard lots of people from golf and from other sports and they say that when they reach their career goals, get that massive win, it doesn’t feel as good as they maybe expected. It was the absolute polar opposite for me, it was just an unbelievable feeling, one that was way better than I expected. It’s been such an incredible couple of weeks – I can’t believe it’s been two weeks, it’s gone so quickly.”

MAIDEN MAJOR Fitzpatrick begins 2022 with a fine run of play in the in the States, posting five top-10s in his first six starts on the PGA Tour. That form gives him the confidence of claiming a first Major title and he nearly does just that at the PGA Championship, finishing just two strokes adrift of eventual champion Justin Thomas at Southern Hills. But just three starts later, Sheffield’s superstar etches his name into Major silverware with a superb display at the Country Club in Brookline to win the U.S. Open - nine years after winning the U.S. Amateur Championship at the same venue, becoming just the second golfer next to Jack Nicklaus to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur on the same golf course.

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Old

COURSE Worldwide GOLF 36

LOVE AFFAIR

Will Tiger Woods sign off from Major Championship golf at his beloved St Andrews?

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W

ith a keen appreciation of golf’s birthplace and having won two of his three Claret Jugs at St Andrews, Tiger Woods was never going to jeopardise missing the 150th edition on the Old Course. It’s why the 46-year-old withdrew from last month’s U.S. Open at Brookline after making the cut at the Masters (T47) before hobbling out of the PGA Championship in May following a third-round 79 played in visible pain.

“This is a pretty historic Open that we are going to be playing. I’m lucky enough to be part of the past champions that have won there, and want to play there again,” said Woods. “And I don’t know when they are ever going to go back while I’m still able to play at a high level, [so] I want to be able to give it at least one more run at a high level.”

In what shape Woods will turn up for the 150th Open remains to be seen. He drove the ball well at the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor, the 2027 Ryder Cup venue, the week beforehand but showed visible signs of rustiness in other parts of his game in finishing seven over for the 36 holes. More notably, he rode a motorised cart in Co. Limerick and has only walked two official events - the

“I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or [a] false leg or different body pieces that have been placed or fused, I’ll always be able to play.

Now if you say play at a championship level, well, that window is definitely not as long as I would like it to be.”

Masters and PGA - since sustaining traumatic injuries to his right leg in a single-car accident in February 2021.

“I don’t know. I really don’t,” said Woods when asked in Ireland how long he believes he can compete at the highest level.

“If you asked me last year whether I would play golf again, all of my surgeons would have said no. But here I am playing two Major Championships this year.

“I will always be able to play golf, whether it’s this leg or someone else’s leg or [a] false leg or different body pieces that have been placed

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or fused, I’ll always be able to play.

Now if you say play at a championship level, well, that window is definitely not as long as I would like it to be.”

Which is why Woods is doubling down on this historic Open. “...Just look at the names on [the Claret Jug] and you just go right through time, it’s like a time warp, and just how they put the names on...they start at the bottom and they added the lip and they added the bases and just the little things. And everyone who won that championship, they know how hard it was and looking at some of the scores, I’m thinking, even with a gutta-percha, how did they shoot those scores. It’s awfully impressive and to have won The Open Championship and for me specifically to have won at the Home of Golf is even more special.”

The third of Woods’ thus far three Open Championship wins came at Royal Liverpool in 2006, the year after he’d doubled down on Grand Slams completed at the Old Course following his record break-through in the world’s oldest Major Championship in 2000. But nothing can compare to an Open on the Old Course.

“It’s my favourite course in the world.”

2000

“I

MILLENNIUM GRAND SLAM

f there is any two tournaments you want to win, you are going to want to win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and you are going to want to win the British Open at St Andrews.”

When Tiger Woods turned up for the 129th Open Championship at the Home of Golf, he’d already achieved the first half of that dream in astonishing fashion, waltzing to a 15-stroke victory in the 100th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with a performance that set or equalled no fewer than nine records.

As history charts, Woods was in his absolute pomp, in the midst of a legendary season in which he won six consecutive events and would eventually capture nine of the 20 PGA Tour events he entered.

A month after Pebble, everything was set up for a memorable “Millennium Open”.

Scotland turned on a glorious week of

weather, record galleries turned out and the Old Course was playing hard and fast. It was even the first time The Open has been telecast in high definition. The venue and the occasion demanded a worthy champion and Woods did not disappoint, completing the career Grand Slam with a commanding performance in the benign conditions, winning by eight strokes from joint runners-up Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn. It was the largest winning margin at an Open since J.H. Taylor in 1913.

Woods had been feted for avoiding a three-putt all week on Pebble’s glassy greens and at St Andrews avoided all 112 of the recently revetted bunkers in compiling rounds of 67-66-67-69. There were three bogeys but none until the weekend when the contest was essentially over.

His -19 aggregate of 269 was the lowest score on relation to par, edging Nick Faldo’s

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1990 mark which had also been set at St Andrews. It remained the record for all Majors until Jason Day broke it at the 2015 PGA, finishing -20 on the Straits course at Whistling Straits.

Woods joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Open at Pebble and The Open at St Andrews and became just the fifth golfer - and the youngest at 24 to complete the career Grand Slam after Gene Saraze, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Nicklaus.

“To have the opportunity to complete the Slam at St Andrews makes it even more special,” said Woods who would famously go on the complete the “Tiger Slam’ holding all four Major titles concurrently when he won at Augusta the following April (2000 U.S. Open at Pebble, 2000 Open at St Andrews, 2000 PGA at Valhalla and 2001 Masters at Augusta).

TIGER WODDS

ST ANDREWS - OPEN CHAMPIONS’ ROLL 1873

1946

1876

1955

Tom Kidd (SCO) 179 N/A Bob Martin (SCO) 176 N/A

1897

Jamie Anderson (SCO) 169 N/A

1882

Bob Ferguson (SCO) 171 N/A

1885

Bob Martin (SCO) 171 N/A

1888

Jack Burns (SCO) 171 N/A

1891

Hugh Kirkaldy (SCO) 166 N/A

1895

John Henry Taylor (ENG) 332 N/A

1900

John Henry Taylor (ENG) 309 N/A

1905

James Braid (SCO) 318 N/A

2005

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A SECOND SLAM AT ST ANDREWS

ive years after sealing his first career Grand Slam at St Andrews, Woods notched up another by becoming just the fifth player after Bob Martin, J.H. Taylor, James Baird and Jack Nicklaus to win the Claret Jug for a second time on the Old Course.

Tiger’s second slam and 10th Major win were firsts for a player under 30 but it turned out the 29-year-old had to share the limelight with Nicklaus earlier in the week as the 18-time Major champion holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to sign off his 38 year and three win association with The Open. Nicklaus shared the moment with playing partners Luke Donald and Tom Watson on the Swilcan Bridge and then savoured a near 10-minute standing ovation

as he traversed the most famous closing hole in golf for the final time in competition, The week ultimately belonged to Woods though as he became just the sixth player after Ted Ray, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Henry Cotton and Tom Weiskopf to win The Open wire-to-wire with rounds of 66-67-71-70. His -14, 274 score was five clear of Colin Montgomerie’s, the Scot finished second in a Major for a fifth time.

“You never though that, in your wildest dreams, as a kid, that you could have 10 [Majors] in your 20s. You just hope that you can win maybe one or two, here and there. I got 10, I’ve past some legends of the game and that’s... it’s hard to comprehend. I just got one more than Hogan and Watson and Player, so I think that’s pretty cool. It’s as good as it gets.”

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1910

James Braid (SCO) 299 N/A

1921

Jock Hutchinson (USA) 296 +8

1927

Bobby Jones (USA) 285 +7

Sam Snead (USA) 290 +2 Peter Thomson (AUS) 281 -7

1957

Bobby Locke (RSA) 279 -9

1960

Kel Nagle (AUS) 278 -10

1964

Tony Lema (USA) 279 -9

1970

Jack Nicklaus (USA) 283 -5

1978

Jack Nicklaus (USA) 281 -7

1984

Seve Ballesteros (ESP) 276 -12

1990

Nick Faldo (ENG) 270 -18

1995

John Daly (USA) 282 -6

2000

Tiger Woods (USA) 269 -19

2005

Tiger Woods (USA) 274 -14

1933

2010

1939

2015

Denny Shute (USA) 292 +4 Dick Burton (USA) 290 -2

Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 272 -16

Zach Johnson (USA) 273 -15

TIGER AT ST ANDREWS 1995 T68 2000 Won 2005 Won

2010 T23 2015 Cut

Content

Queens IF YOU FIND YOURSELF ENDLESSLY SCROLLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED TWO DUBAI - BASED GOLF CONTENT CREATORS CROP UP ON YOUR FEED IN THE FORM OF EMMA LACEY AND JADE STONES, ALSO KNOWN AS TEE_OFF_AT_10 ON INSTAGRAM. THE DUO, WHO ARE BOTH BRITISH BUT WERE BORN IN THE MIDDLE EAST, STARTED THEIR CHANNEL IN 2020 TO DOCUMENT THEIR HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE GOLFING JOURNEY WHILST ENCOURAGING MORE FEMALES TO TRY THE SPORT. Worldwide GOLF 43

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hey Initially had reservations about learning to play the game from scratch at the age of 30, especially as the pair had the perception the game was mostly for ‘highly skilled, impeccably kitted out, older men’. But that didn’t deter them and they picked up the clubs for the first time, both starting together at the same level – absolute beginners. Two years on from starting the channel, their page now boasts over 2.6K followers while their golf game has come on leaps and bounds, thanks to coaching and numerous trips to the driving range each week. We caught up with the duo to find out more about their channel, what they make of the opportunities for women in golf and why they enjoy showing the fashionable side of the game.

Worldwide Golf: Tell us about your background?

JADE: I was born in the Middle East and have grown up and lived in Dubai for 31 years. Emma and I both went to Dubai College together and coincidently ended up attending the same university in Manchester to study

Graphic Design. I am now working as a freelance Graphic Designer.

EMMA: I was born in Oman and moved around a lot with my family when I was young, spending time in the Philippines, England and Ireland. I moved back to the Middle East, settling in Dubai in 2001. I spent four years in the UK at university in Manchester and have been back in Dubai working as a Graphic Designer since 2012.

WWG: When did you both get started in golf and how did that come about?

JADE: I’ve always grown up watching golf with my dad and attending golf events in Dubai, but never felt the urge to try it myself. That was until I moved to a house overlooking the Montgomerie driving range.

Watching the golfers practice every day on the range really fueled my interest and curiosity. At the age of 30 and with Emma by my side, we decided to join the ladies group lessons at the Montgomerie Academy.

EMMA: My dad tried to get me into golf as a kid, I even had a mini club, but I wasn’t interested! A couple of years ago, he bought me some second-hand clubs from a charity shop. They were gathering dust

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for a few months until Jade persuaded me to join her for lessons at the Montgomerie Academy. It didn’t take much arm twisting as I’m always up for a challenge.

WWG: How much progress have you seen in your game since you first picked up a club?

JADE: Our swings have progressed so much since our first lesson, it’s like night and day! Having continuous lessons with Scott Graham as our coach has been extremely motivating and beneficial to our game, as we are constantly making small adjustments to our swings in order to improve on the course.

EMMA: It’s mind blowing to watch footage of ourselves when we first picked up a club versus now, you can really see a huge difference! We’ve never been worried about progressing rapidly, we’ve taken our time to really get comfortable with our clubs.

WWG: Why did you decide to make your Instagram channel?

JADE: We wanted an outlet to share the highs and lows of our golfing journey, whilst also wanting to encourage more females to try out the sport, by showing

the fun and fashionable side of the game.

EMMA: We were keen to connect with other female golfers and discover golfing communities and brands outside of our small bubble in Dubai.

WWG: Have you had any feedback from your followers since starting your channel?

JADE: We receive lovely messages from fellow golfers who are always really encouraging and supportive. Thankfully we have only had the odd troll giving us unsolicited advice on our swings!

EMMA: We’ve been very pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming support for women’s golf, especially from this region!

WWG: How important do you think it is to have female golf content creators in what is typically a male-dominated area?

BOTH: It’s really important to have more of a female presence online in a male dominated game. Having female content creators that aren’t professional golfers, makes the game more accessible and inclusive to other women. Their social media posts throw out the old stereotypes of the elitist sport and show a friendlier and less daunting side of the game. We definitely would have picked up a club earlier if we had seen more female golfers online, showing us that anyone can play the game regardless of gender or age.

WWG: Women’s golf really seems to be in the spotlight over the last few years with enhanced coverage on TV, bigger prize purses etc. What are your thoughts on the current state of the women’s game?

BOTH: It’s exciting to see women’s golf getting the recognition it deserves and the incredible growth in female participation that’s happening around the world. We were both lucky enough to work at a new Ladies European Tour event last year and to see the amount of talent on the course was so inspiring. This upward momentum women’s golf is on needs to keep growing as this will continue to inspire the next generation of female golfers to join the game.

WWG: Flicking through your Instagram you both seem to be very interested in the fashion side of the game, wearing premium brands such as J.Linderberg.

How much do you enjoy that side of the game in the sense of wearing the latest trends out on the course?

JADE: Fashion is definitely a big part of our game, we love to feel and look good when we play, even when our scorecard says otherwise! When we first started lessons, we really struggled to find female golf clothes that appealed to us. Through social media we have discovered so many cool and youthful golf brands that like to break away from the traditional norms of golf fashion.

EMMA: We’ve always been interested in style in our day to day lives, so naturally this filtered through to our golf attire. Like our swings, our golf style has really evolved since we started playing. We’ve been able to try a lot of different brands and have

a new love for styles that are functional as well as fashionable – e.g. J.Linderberg bucket hats have tee holders and their skirts and dresses always have discreet pockets, perfect for extra balls and tees.

WWG: How often do you get down to the course a week?

JADE: We try to get down to the Montgomerie driving range and par 3 a few times a week. We aren’t members of any clubs, however with our lessons at the Montgomerie Academy we get daily access to the range and par 3. One of my favourite courses in the UAE is JA The Resort, as I love the laid back feel of the club.

EMMA: We also like to take advantage of the free range access for ladies days at The Els Club. You can find us at Arabian Ranches for a social round and at the Creek when we’re feeling nostalgic!

WWG: Who is your favourite golfer and why?

JADE: Nelly Korda. She has talent, style and a real winner’s attitude.

Her swing is just impeccable and something I try and fail to emulate!

EMMA: I’ve always been aware of Michelle Wie because we have the exact same birthday!

She’s been a huge presence in women’s golf for so long, staying classy and cool throughout all the ups and downs of her career. ■

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Last time you lost a ball?

J: Last round E: In someone’s garden at Arabian Ranches Most cherished item in the bag?

J: Pitching Wedge E: Taylor Made Sim2 Max Driver Miss a putt or miss a fairway?

J: Miss a fairway J: Miss a putt Last film you watched at home?

J: Hustle E: Call Me by Your Name What one word best describes you?

J: Creative E: Competitive

J O N

R A H M

EUROPEAN TALISMAN

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he next Ryder Cup might be over a year away, but you can almost guarantee that Jon Rahm will be on the European team hoping to reclaim the trophy at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club after their devastating recordbreaking loss at the last edition of the biennial showpiece.

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The European team defied the odds to win at Le Golf National in 2018

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he Spaniard always seemed the perfect fit for golf’s greatest contest when he first burst onto the scene in 2016, earning his PGA Tour playing privileges for the following season despite being a non-member.

His fiery personality and eagerness to triumph – two standout traits of Ryder Cup greats – was clear to see even in the early days, so it came as no surprise to see the Arizona State alumni rack up five worldwide victories before automatically qualifying for Thomas Bjorn’s side at the 2018 Ryder Cup. Big things were expected but the first two matches didn’t go to plan as he narrowly lost both of his fourballs matches with Justin Rose and Ian Poulter respectively. Up next? A Sunday singles showdown with Tiger Woods – a man he hadn’t pleasure of playing with just yet.

“It took an incredible amount of mental work to get ready for it,” said Rahm, the month after his showdown with the 16-time Major champion. “My swing, my body was feeling good. But I knew my mind was the one that had to be ready. It was a long process. When I got on that tee I had been getting ready for, y’know, more than 12 hours.”

With 15 holes played, Rahm found himself two up, before he faltered for the first time all day with a short miss at 16 to halve the hole and let Woods

“My swing, my body was feeling good.

But I knew my mind was the one that had to be ready. It was a long process. When I got on that tee I had been getting ready for, y’know, more than 12 hours.” back in - something Rahm was wary of given the big cat’s reputation.

“I played the first 16, 17 holes without looking at him,” he said. “I realised that if I don’t look at him, if I pretend I’m playing alone, it’s just me, then it would be easier to deal with.”

Would that miss on 16 prove costly?

Most definitely not. A brilliant second shot on 17 gave the Spaniard a putt for the win and he duly delivered to secure his first ever Ryder Cup point against arguably the greatest player to ever play the game.

“People don’t realize how big a moment

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it was for me,” he said. “It was the first time I’d ever played with him. And right before I hit that putt someone yelled, ‘Do it for Seve!’ in Spanish. So, I was like, ‘whoa.’ As if that putt wasn’t important enough?

“It wasn’t until I made that putt that the emotion of winning because I was containing myself all day long trying to keep it under control,” Rahm said. In the midst of his embrace with Hayes he noticed Woods, who was approaching for a congratulatory handshake.

“He was coming towards me with a smile still. I mean, I started crying. I got emotional, tears started coming out of my eyes.”

Leading the way Fast forward three years, then World No.1 Rahm qualified for the European team for a second successive time after producing arguably the best golf of any European during the qualifying period, which included winning a maiden Major Championship at the U.S. Open.

Rahm, who had topped both points lists on the way to qualification, arrived at Whistling Straits with the European team as the overwhelming underdogs, up against an American team that featured eight players in the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking. By the end of the week, that advantage of worldleading players in the American ranks showed as they emphatically romped

JON RAHM to a ten-point triumph - the largest win in the modern era of the Ryder Cup. Europe only managed a measly nine points that week –Rahm won over a third of those, playing all five matches and teaming up with compatriot Sergio Garcia for three victories in the fourballs and foursomes.

While it certainly wasn’t the result Rahm wanted, it did give him a bit more of a favour of what to expect from next year’s Captain, Henrik Stenson, who was a late call up to Padraig Harrington’s backroom team after missing out on a Captain’s Pick.

“He’s been a player and Vice Captain the last Ryder Cups I’ve been a part of, and he’s done a great job both as a player and Vice Captain,” said Rahm.

“He actually walked with me and Sergio and with me and Tyrrell pretty much every match we played, he was with us. He’s somebody that can give you, with his dry humour, just the moment, the little laugh you may need to keep it going; at the same time being really intense about what we are doing.

“I remember when me and Sergio lost 1, 2 and 3 to Brooks and Berger, I don’t exactly remember what he said, but he was making some jokes and me and Sergio laughed and that was kind of the beginning of the comeback.

“I expect a good captaincy from him.

He’s someone who takes things very seriously, he’s focused about it and I expect it to be a really wonderful experience.”

Jon Rahm secured a point against Tiger Woods on his Ryder Cup debut

Rahm is also a fan of Stenson’s first Vice Captain pick – 2018 winning Captain Bjorn.

“It was my first experience so I didn’t know what to expect, but asking other players, they said he’s one of the best captains they have had,” said Rahm.

“He’s been a player and Vice Captain the last Ryder Cups I’ve been a part of, and he’s done a great job both as a player and Vice Captain.”

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“I wouldn’t know what to tell you, it was my first time, so a lot of it was trying to, you know, keep my excitement within me and try to not be, obviously, energetic when we are playing out on the golf course and out of myself, right. I spent a lot more time thinking of what I had to do especially when I found out Saturday afternoon I was playing Tiger, I don’t think I remember talking to anybody after that.

“So, based on what I saw, he did a wonderful job. One of the best things is that Connor Moore’s impersonation press conference that he did for the team. We are all expecting a very motivational video, and here comes five minutes of pure jokes to kind of bring the intensity down and relax all of us a little bit, right. I think that was a genius move on his part.

“Now there’s a lot of things that a captain does for two years before we get to that week that are important and I think he did a lot of right choices that week, the whole two years to get the team as prepared as possible. With Thomas being a vice captain, Henrik is going to do a great job.”

Europe will face another uphill battle when they head to the Eternal City in September next year, but with vast knowledge of Captain Stenson and his two Vice Captains in the form of Bjorn and Edoarado Molinari, anything is possible.

Chuck in the recent resurgence of European stars, including Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, coupled with the rise of the next generation of stars like the Hojgaard twins, and you have yourself a team that is bursting with talent. And then there’s Rahm, a colossus of the game that will surely be a talisman for the European team for many years to come. They might be the underdogs once again, but don’t right the Europeans off just yet.■

GROW

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GROWING THE GAME

WING

The game SUNDAY, 12 JUNE WILL GO DOWN AS ONE OF THE MOST HISTORIC DAY’S IN GOLF HISTORY AFTER LINN GRANT BECAME THE FIRST FEMALE WINNER OF A DP WORLD TOUR EVENT WITH AN EMPHATIC VICTORY AT THE VOLVO CAR SCANDINAVIAN MIXED.

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Kipp Popert has won two of the G4D Tour events this season

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hen the co-sanctioned tournament was first announced in 2019 it championed the DP World Tour’s commitment for inclusivity in golf – this was a world first, groundbreaking tournament which pitted the DP World Tour members and leading players on the Ladies European Tour against each other, competing in the same groups for one trophy and one prize-fund.

Jonathan Caldwell walked away with the trophy in the inaugural event, dashing the hopes of a fairytale win for one the LET members, but Caldwell had his own special story having lost his playing privileges in 2009 before turning to the Challenge Tour and EuroPro Tour, while working in a local golf shop until he made it back to the DP World Tour through Qualifying School in 2019, a decade after losing his card.

The tournament returned last month for the second year running and with a prizefund of US$2million – double that of the previous year. Once again people held high hopes for the women to make history… and boy, did a certain Linn Grant deliver.

The sweet-swinging 22-year-old turned a two-stroke 54-hole lead into a runaway nine-stroke victory with a stunning closing 64 that belied the pressure of being stalked by a famous compatriot with Major credentials.

In the end, Henrik Stenson, co-host with Annika Sörenstam, played little more than a bit-part on the final day at

Halmstad Golf Club. A 70 saw the 2016 Open Champion finish joint runner-up with Marc Warren after the Scot waltzed up the final leaderboard with a 65.

But this was Grant’s historic moment, a €319,716 payday further sweetening her warp-speed rise to stardom after the Swede turned professional in August last year.

With her boyfriend, Pontus, on her bag, it was a third title in just Grant’s sixth start on the LET and her second in successive events. There have also been a pair of victories on the Sunshine Ladies Tour and a maiden pro breakthrough on the second-tier LET Access.

She’s recorded eight successive rounds in the 60s in winning the past two LET events and was impressively the only player to go bogey-free during the final 36 holes in Tylösand.

“I hope this victory is big,” said Grant after adding her historic home victory to LET wins at the Joburg Ladies Open and Mithra Belgian Ladies Open.

“I hope it brings women more forward and it gets people’s eyes on us a little bit more. It is always nice to say that you beat the guys for a week. To be able to speak Swedish and hear everyone out there cheering for you, it was amazing.”

Asked if she was doubly determined to beat the men from the DP World Tour, Grant didn’t leave any doubt.

“For sure – the most important thing,” she said.

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Former One Direction singer Niall Horan will play in the Pro-Am in Northern Ireland

“It’s a nice feeling. All week I just felt like it’s the girls against the guys and whoever picks up that trophy represents the field.”

“I just hope that people recognise women’s golf, more sponsors go to the LET and hopefully this pumps up the women’s game a little bit more.”

It was an exciting time to be part of the game – history was being made in front of our very eyes and it built on the DP World’s title partnership promise to help enhance the ‘continued collaboration with the women’s game’.

Continued collaboration That continued collaboration will once again be on show to the watching world when the ISPS HANDA World Invitational brings together some of the best players in the men’s and women’s game with two tournaments - a DP World Tour event and a co-sanctioned LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour event -

GROWING THE GAME played concurrently over two courses in Northern Ireland from August 11-14.

Unlike the Scandinavian Mixed, the women and men will not play together but they will both be playing for the same prize money - US$1.5million – when the event returns to Country Antrim. Held for the first time last year as a DP World Tour event, having been elevated from Challenge Tour status, the tri-sanction agreement heralded an exciting new chapter for the tournament, which was the first of its kind in the northern hemisphere.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to County Antrim later this year,” said Niall Horan, owner of Modest! Golf Management, who will play in the ProAm. “It’s no secret that I love golf and all of us at Modest! are proud to have the opportunity to work with the DP World Tour, the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour along with title sponsor ISPS HANDA once again for this event.

“It was great fun last year and it was great to see men and women playing on the golf course at the same time and for equal prize money.”

The tournament will also welcome home Irish superstar Leona Maguire, who will play in front of her home fans for the first time since making history as the first ever Irish winner on the LPGA Tour. The 27-year-old became the first Irish player to win on the LPGA Tour earlier this year, claiming a three-stroke victory over Lexi Thompson at the LPGA Drive On Championship and sparking celebrations across the island of Ireland.

Maguire, who also put in a starring performance in Europe’s Solheim Cup victory last year where she won 4.5 points from a possible five, is sure to receive a rapturous welcome when she returns to Galgorm and Massereene from August 11-14.

“I’m really excited to return to the ISPS HANDA World Invitational,” said Maguire.

“I was disappointed I couldn’t make it last

Leona Maguire will return home for the first time since becoming the first Irishwoman to win on the LPGA Tour

year, but I watched it on TV and it looked like a fantastic week, and I heard great things from the players who were there.

“It’s been an incredible six months for me and I’ve received so much support from home since winning on the LPGA Tour, so to go back and play in front of the Irish fans for the first time at Galgorm and Massereene is going to be incredible. I can’t wait.”

As well as hosting the stars of the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour, the tournament will also welcome the incredible athletes of G4D (Golf for the Disabled) Tour, which brings together the world’s best golfers with disabilities.

The Golf for Disabled initiative was first launched at the 2019 Betfred British Masters at Hillside Golf Club with the European Tour group and EDGA commiting to holding events on the same golf course during the weeks of DP World Tour events for leading golfers from the gross World Ranking for golfers with a disability (WR4GD).

Prior to this year, seven events had already been held, with players from 15 countries on five continents competing, before the DP World

Tour launched the newly named G4D Tour in February this year.

The new look G4D Tour, which has already visited the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett, Porsche European Open and Horizon Irish Open this year, provides a transformational package of financial, commercial and media support for the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) with seven events across the season.

The financial support package, through the European Tour group’s Golf for Good initiative, has also EDGA move from a volunteer led organisation to a semiprofessional one. The enhanced support is part of the pledge to drive positive community impact made by the European Tour group and DP World last November at the launch of the newly named Tour.

The G4D @ ISPS HANDA World Invitational will once again showcase the incredible capabilities of these athletes with stars such as last year’s champion Brendan Lawlor and Kipp Popert, who won the first events this season, competing as they bid to secure their sport in G4D Dubai Finale. That will be held ahead of the final Rolex Series event of 2022, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, where the qualifiers from the previous six events will battle it out at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 14-15.

THIS IS HOW YOU GROW THE GAME A lot has been said over the last few months of golfers playing in a new league to apparently ‘grow the game’, but no one grows it as much as the DP World Tour.

Where else in the world do women and men compete for one trophy and one prize fund? Where can disabled golfers play in a tournament that has the same course set up as a Rolex Series event just days before DP World Tour Rankings champion, Collin Morikawa, wins one of the most lucrative tournaments in golf?

They don’t get everything right, the Golf Sixes wasn’t the greatest while the Shot Clock Masters didn’t have the desired impact. But they’re constantly looking at fun and innovative ideas to attract a new audience to golf.

That’s how you grow the game.

Brendan Lawlor leads the way in the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability

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Women’s golf on the right track

A

lot of exciting things are happening this month in the world of golf, but the standout highlight in June was Linn Grant’s extraordinary win in Sweden. Linn made history as she became the first female winner on the DP World Tour!

The Swedish golfer enjoyed a superb ninestroke victory at the Scandinavian Mixed event, leaving former Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson trailing in her wake and posting an astonishing final round of eight-under par to seal the deal at Halmstad Golf Club, not only securing a piece of history but a sweet €320,000 cheque as well. Grant, who only turned professional last summer, hopes her win will help the world recognise women’s golf more.

With three Ladies European Tour titles already to her name, she is a huge inspiration and role-model for women’s golf worldwide.

“Grant’s win shows the quality of the women’s game” - Anneka Sörenstam. What is remarkable about this win is that Linn Grant beat a mixed field including 78 men. The only difference was the men played a slightly longer course enabling similar club selection

for par 3s and approach shots to greens.

Plenty of people out there say women can’t compete with the men, but this is simply not true, so it was nice to see Grant silence the doubters with the victory.

It was a busy month in the women’s game with two Major Championships – the U.S. Women’s Open and the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Minjee Lee was the runaway winner in the former at Pine Needles Country Club, North Carolina. It was the Australian’s second Major title and the highest pay-out in women’s golf history of $1.8M. Next up was the Women’s PGA Championship, which announced just days before the event that the prize fund would be doubled from the previous edition. Korean professional In-Gee Chun secured the victory at Congressional Country Club near Washington DC and earned the $1.35M winner’s prize in the process after a final day tussle with Lexi Thompson. In-Gee led the field by five shots after a course record 64 in the first round, ten better than Lexi. By the time the final round started, In-Gee’s lead was down to three shots and in a tense final day

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with both players succumbing to the pressure at different times In-Gee came out on top.

In-Gee was a worthy winner but this was another Major Lexi let slip, again an example of the way golf plays with your mind when the chips are down! Between Linn Grant’s win and the noticeably increased prize purses, women’s golf in June showed it is most definitely on the right track.

I’m off back home to Ireland for the summer where I’ll be playing on some of the great links courses that Ireland has to offer while also taking in some professional golf at the JP McManus Pro-Am, being played at the Adare Manor Golf Club, host to the 2027 Ryder Cup. This is an extraordinary event, with Tiger Woods playing as well as ten of the top 11 players in the world and countless celebrities.

Irish hero Leona Maguire will also be teeing it up against the big boys in front of more than 30,000 people. Outside of the Majors and The Players Championship this is the best field in the world in 2022!

Jenny, Founder of Chicks with Sticks

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TOUR PROS

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rom my experience, I see poor-pre shot routines from all levels of golfers, consisting of not aligning the body and clubface correctly, which could lead to wayward shots. Having strike-specific practice swings can lead us to feeling anxious about the shot we are faced with, leading us to poorly struck shots. Also I see routines that vary, from golfers having different amount of swings or some cases none at all. Developing a routine that you can repeat every time will make you feel positive about the shot and, in turn, will provide better results.

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BY

MATTHEW HODGKISS

PGA PROFESSIONAL, THE TRACK MEYDAN mh_golfcoaching_

INSTRUCTION STARTING POINT Start in a position 5-10ft directly behind the ball and target. Whether your shot shape is a draw or a fade, we want to visualise the shape and how we see the ball finishing on the target.

LOSE THE PRACTICE SWING AT THE SIDE OF THE BALL! Once shot shape is selected we will then proceed onto practice swings from the same position behind the ball. Our swings do not want to be strike specific, this could be a practice swing which we are consciously swinging above the ground, a swing feeling that you could be working on with your coach or swings in how you want to move the club around your body to achieve the desired shape for the shot. Whatever you decide, be consistent in how many swings this is – whether it is one or two. Find what works best for you, it’s important we stick to doing the same thing every time as this will help us on the golf course, especially if we are feeling under pressure.

The most common thing I see is practice swings at the side of the ball. Firstly, we shouldn’t need to do this as we would have done thousands of swings on the driving range and have the muscle memory developed over this time. Furthermore, they are different as we are swinging fresh air, there is no ball in the way and no result outcome from this so we tend to move the golf club easier/freer. How many times have you done a practice swing at the side of the ball and the first swing is a poor one? We then proceed to have three or four more swings to try and correct it, this is what leads us to feeling tense and anxious about the shot which most times leads to more poor shots than good ones.

LINING CLUBFACE AND BODY At this stage we would have developed some positive feelings from our practice swings and we are ready to line the shot up to our intended target from the same position behind the ball if we lift the club in the air. Tilt the club in a way where the ball is covered by the top of the grip and the top of the shaft is aligned with our target, this forms a straight line between the ball and the target. From here slowly lower the club down to a point two or three feet in front of the ball, this could be anything that catches

your eye from an old divot, leaf or blade of grass, this forms an intermediate point between the ball and the target. Lining the clubface to a point that is two or three feet away is much easier than something that is 100 yards plus away. Once selected we then walk into the shot focusing on this point so we don’t lose it. Address the clubface to the ball, lining the clubface to our intermediate point. Then align our body parallel to this.

Finally, we want to look along that line a couple times, clubface pointed towards

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target before proceeding to hit the shot.

I would suggest watching some of the best players in the world and what they do in there pre-shot routines. They will all have slightly different routines but will all be doing these things above, just in different ways over every single shot. Find out what you like and then practice this on the range. If you can develop a routine that is consistent and apply the above, you will be stepping into your shots with more confidence and hitting better golf shots.

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MASTER WEIGHT TRANSFER G

etting the correct weight transfer in golf is crucial to your game. It might sound simple, but it can be hard to master – that’s why I’m here to help.

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BY

DIVAN EHMKE

PGA PROFESSIONAL, MY GOLF DUBAI.

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INSTRUCTION

10 50

50

Before you even move towards your ball, I want you to think about preloading – just like you would when throwing a ball or hitting a punching bag. Now you’ve got that in your mind, I’m going to demonstrate a great drill for this motion where we use a club and hold it against the shoulders and turn the end of the club towards the ball.

You want to feel your weight 60/40 favouring your back foot

60

40

when rotating through your backswing, but keep your head in the same position as at address.

When you start your downswing, ensure you push off your back foot while rotating through the ball. This will prevent you from getting stuck behind the ball while also increasing your rotation.

Finally, ensure you complete your swing with a full extension and a nice high finish.

Book a lesson at My Golf Dubai, the UAE’s first luxury indoor golf and entertainment lounge, and we will assist with your every golfing need!

Visit mygolfdubai.com, call +971 43863535 or email: info@mygolfdubai.com

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90

WRONG

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SWING EASY for all your golfing needs

P

ro Sports International has continued its recent renovations of Pro Shops across the UAE with The Els Club in Sports City the latest to undergo an impressive transformation, following on from the upgrade of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club Pro Shop and the opening of Golf Superstore in Mall of the Emirates earlier this year.

As well as the Swing Easy hardware store on the driving range, which opened in 2020, the club also offer a state-of-the-art Pro Shop, which stocks a number of the hottest products on the markets, including including the Titleist Vokey Design SM9 Wedges and PING G425 driver as well as an extensive range of premium and fashionable apparel from brands such as Ralph Lauren, Footjoy, Peter Millar and KJUS. The recent renovations have made the store accessible while freeing

up additional space for plenty more products for us weekend warriors across the UAE. The store also offers a best-in-class custom fitting service, which uses the latest technology, including TrackMan 4 and the brand’s fitting equipment that they’re provided with.

“We’ve got a great store down here at The Els Club and we’re really pleased with the recent renovations,” said Alex Mickleburgh - Retail Manager & Custom Fit Specialist.

“We’re really looking forward to welcoming down our regular customers and getting their thoughts on the upgraded store as well as customers who may have never visited us before.

We cater for every type of golfer, from professionals to those who have just started their journey in the game – no matter what your needs, the team and I have it covered.”

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GEAR

ALEX’S BEST BUYS DRIVER

Callaway Rouge ST

The latest Rogue ST Drivers represent a breakthrough in driver performance.

Callaway’s industry-leading innovations, including Tungsten Speed Cartridge, Jailbreak Speed Frame, and an A.I. designed Flash Face are engineered for maximum speed with exceptional levels of forgiveness.

HYBRIDS

PING G425 In the G425 hybrids, two shared PING innovations known as Facewrap and Spinsistency combine to deliver more distance and spin predictability for carrying trouble and hitting greens. A tungsten sole weight increases the MOI in the stainlesssteel heads for added forgiveness.

IRONS

WEDGES

PUTTER

Titleist T300 Vokey SM9

PING PLD

With 40% more tungsten and advanced Max Impact Technology, T300 irons can improve your launch, distance and shot making while providing maximum forgiveness. All in a premium chrome head with the size and shape to give you the confidence to play your best golf.

SM9’s new grooves are cut to the edge to maximize spin. Each Vokey wedge is 100% inspected for utmost quality and performance, and a localized heat treatment is applied to the impact area to double the durability of the groove.

These designs represent a combination of standard-setting favorites like the Anser and newer, tour-inspired models like the DS72, the choice of multiple-time winner Viktor Hovland. A premium level of precision and detail, each precisely milled and carefully crafted from forged 303 stainless steel.

To book a custom-fitting with Alex or to learn more about the products on offer at the Els Club please swingeasy_dxb email alex@prosports.ae or send him a message on Instagram

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RACE TO MALAYSIA

RACE TO MALAYSIA TURNS UP THE HEAT

L

ast month, over 170 golfers from Emirates Golf Club, The Els Club and Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club braved the scorching summer sun in a bid to qualify for the Grand Final of the Emirates NBD Race To Malaysia powered by Thriwe.

After a terrific day out on course at all three events, the 15 winners earning their spot in the Grand Final at Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al Khaimah on October 1 were David Waite, Wes Burke, Shehu Ahmadu, Ajay Shah and Fatima Ahmadu from Emirates Golf Club.

Namir Al Naimi, Conor Freeman, Mujahid Siddiqi, Humayun Kaleem and Asif Khan from Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club. Ted Speller, Ian Overton, Jared Haddon, JC Hut and Angela Kadyan from the Els Club.

These 15 players will now compete for the chance of a lifetime, with the prestigious amateur series offering the five winners of the Grand Final the opportunity to represent

the country in the World Final from November 12-19 in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, competing against 46 other countries over six rounds on Malaysia’s finest courses.

Globally over 50,000 golfers will attempt to join the five UAE qualifiers as 50 countries compete to be crowned 2022 World Golfers Champions.

Dhruv Verma, Founder and CEO of Thriwe, said: “We are delighted with the excitement that has built across the amateur golfing scene of the UAE about the Emirates NBD Race to Malaysia – we cannot be happier about being associated with such an event that brings an amazing opportunity to amateur golfers of all levels to compete on behalf of the UAE in such a globally prestigious event over 6 days in Malaysia.

Thanks to Emirates NBD and the other sponsors for supporting Thriwe in this and thanks to S2B for outstanding execution of

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the events in partnership with the amazing golf courses and operations teams across the UAE.” Russell Yeomans, Founder of S2B, added: “Thanks to our great sponsors, word has travelled around the amateur golfing circuit of the opportunity to represent the UAE in Malaysia in November - a stunning six-day golfing experience of a lifetime. By the time the National Final is played on Saturday October 1st at Al Hamra Golf Club, over 1000 golfers in the UAE will have tried to qualify more impressively, 50,000 golfers globally will be challenging to be one of the 250 golfers in Malaysia. So, thanks again for Emirates NBD and the other sponsors for bringing this globally recognised event to the UAE.” The series now takes a break from the intense heat and resumes at Al Zorah Golf Club for the final qualifier before the Grand Final in Ras AL Khaimah.

ARABIAN GOLF EMIRATES GOLF CLUB

GOLF EVENTS MANAGEMENT

Clark and Smith secure US Open Championship victory

Tikku tops Medalford

George Clarke and Lyndon Smith dovetailed superbly to take home the Emirates US Open Championship after seven net birdies and two net eagles led to the duo banking 46 points. Two points behind the pair were Anders Kron and Russell Yeomans with 44 points (BB6), the duo had a magnificent run throughout the middle of their front nine where they made back-to-back net eagles but they fell just short of top spot.

Rounding up the top three was the pair of Tauseef Khan and Shiba Wahid with 44 points.

Vishal Tikku beat off the competition to seal top spot in the latest Dubai Golf monthly Medalford on the Faldo course with an impressive net 68, which included two net eagles on the back nine. Losing out narrowly on a better back nine was Balvinder Sindhu who managed an impressive streak on the front nine with four net birdies.

In Division A, Russell Yeomans came out on top with a net 68 after a very consistent round, turning with a gross 37 and returning home with a gross 36. Suresh Shewakramani was victorious in Division Cwith a net 73 while James Yeomans’ gross 74 was the best of the day in the Gross Division. As well as the medal competition, players were also entered into a Stableford competition with David Phillips winning with a score of 38 points.

Shana’ah defends his title

SHARJAH GOLF & SHOOTING CLUB

Super Stewart on fine form Mel Stewart guided his way round the course in four under par, with five net birdies and net eagle, to bank a total of 40 Stableford points and walk away with some fantastic prizes at the Orient Travel – Czech Tourism Monthly Medal.

The unlucky runner up on a countback was Peter Gannon who would have surely been victorious on any other day had it not been for Stewart’s fine display.

Mousa Shana’ah battled the extreme conditions to successfully defend his title at the JA Amateur Golf Championship and in the process bank some vital World Amateur Golf Ranking points. The Jordanian youngster shot 69, 70 and 76 over the three rounds to take top spot by Jay Chinchankar in second and Syed Rayan Ahmed in third.

JUMEIRAH GOLF ESTATES

Foxcroft and McMahon beat the heat

Chitti and Khan - perfect pair Rajesh Chitti and Aadil Khan got their hands on the latest BMW Pairs Open Social trophy after shooting a highly impressive score of 64 despite the extreme conditions of the July heat. Other winners on the day were Vice Captain Ravi AE and Amiya Ranjan who had a great front nine score of thirty-one, unfortunately for them they could not keep this form up for the back nine.

Back nine winners were Scratch League player Ramli Sulaiman and David Murphy who posted an excellent score of thirty-two on their back nine.

Despite the rising temperatures, 80 golfers arrived at the Fire course to go head-to-head the Jumeirah Pairs but there could only be one winning pair and that came in the form of Drew Foxcroft and Paul McMahon, who posted an excellent score of net 63. The pair played remarkably well managing to card 8 birdies and 1 eagle in their round. Narrowly losing out to a card playoff were Jack Wanliss and Gary Williams, who sunk five net birdies in a row from hole 14 to 18.

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I N

T H E

B A G

W I T H

JENNY HENNESSY Favourite club in the bag and why?

My Driver. I love teeing it high and letting it fly!

Favourite player and why?

Rory McIlroy. Rory is exciting to watch, on his day he makes the game look so easy but you always worry there’s an ‘own goal’ around the corner.

Fantasy fourball?

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Annika Sörenstam.

Best Course in the UAE? Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club,

What’s in the bag?

Course you’d love to play but haven’t?

Pebble Beach.

Favourite par 3 hole in the UAE

Driver: Titleist 917 Woods: Titleist 917 3 Wood & 19° Hybrid Irons: Titleist T300

The 11th hole at The Els Club, Dubai.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7

Item you never leave behind on your travels? (doesn’t have to be golf related)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider

My pink golf travel bag!

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PACKAGE VALUE

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