Worldwide Golf Magazine June 2014 issue by Worldwide Golf

M I D D L E E A S T â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S N U M B E R O N E G O L F M A G A Z I N E . E S T. 1 9 9 9

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Official Offi ficia c Media cial M ia Partner to Med Me o the the European ean an Tou Tourr in the Middle East To

JUNE 2014, ISSU ISSUE UE U E 160 0

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The 9-time Major Champion and 9-time Senior Major Champion p who has witnessed and been a part of some of the and most historic a golfing memorable go on occasions reflects refl today the game toda

INTRODUCTION Worldwide Golf Executive Editor Since 1999

Player Gary

Rory will beat Phil to the Grand Slam aving watched Rory McIlroy’s amazing victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth over the weekend I’ve got to say that I believe it’s going to be a two-horse race between Rory and Phil Mickelson as to who is the next player to achieve the Grand Slam. If I had to choose I’d go for Rory. The young Irishman has got the most beautiful swing in golf – it’s perfect. I’ve admired Rory’s outstanding swing since I first saw him play and I honestly believe he’s got all the talent he needs to become the best in the world. When he turns it on nobody can catch him. It will be interesting to see how he and Phil fare at the US Open at Pinehurst Resort, North Carolina, this month. The fairways there on the Pinehurst No.2 course are as wide as a football pitch so that should help Phil’s big-hitting, but sometimes wayward, driving. Rory’s driving suits any course when he’s in the mood and, as he demonstrated at Wentworth, he’s got the putting stroke to finish the job. When we were watching the tournament on television on Saturday as Thomas Bjorn roared into a five-stroke lead to take into Sunday, I said I still thought that Rory could win it. But to come from seven shots behind on the final day and win is something really special. I felt awful for Thomas. To shoot a first round 62 and a third round 67 and then go into a six-shot lead on Sunday only to see it slip away and finish in a share of third place with Luke Donald, two shots off the winner, is heartbreaking. Thomas still leads The Race to Dubai ahead of Rory, Jamie Donaldson and Louis Oosthuizen, all four of whom have earned more than a million euros already this season. Rory’s victory took his career prize money earnings past the 18 million euros mark. Not a bad achievement

2 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

for a 25 year old. Wentworth has always been a home from home for me and it was wonderful to see such huge crowds enjoying the golf – and the sunshine. The BMW PGA Championship has certainly earned its position as the flagship

event for The European Tour. Oddly enough it was Rory’s first win on The European Tour in England, his first on European soil and his first European Tour victory since the 2012 DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.Q

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DONALD TRUMP IS ONE OF THE MOST CHARISMATIC ENTREPRENEURS OF OUR TIME. LAST MONTH HE FLEW INTO DUBAI TO PROMOTE THE TRUMP INTERNATIONAL GOLF CLUB AT AKOYA BY DAMAC AND MENTIONED THE RYDER CUP. NOW ALL THE GOLF WORLD IS TALKING ABOUT IT. HERE HE TALKS TO WSP PUBLISHER MIKE GALLEMORE...

ALL it the Trump Factor, the Trump Affect, call it what you like but whatever words you choose to describe one of the most charismatic entrepreneurs of our time, he’s got it. When he talks, people listen. Some hang on his every word. Yet behind all the hype, ballyhoo and razzamatazz his personality is such that you are compelled to sit up and take notice. Donald Trump has made a career out of positive thinking and turning bold visions into reality, so when he says Dubai, and the Trump International Golf Club, have a great chance of hosting the Ryder Cup, you have to think he just might have the ‘kahunas’ to make it happen. Maybe his enthusiasm sometimes overtakes the reality. He believes in his own dreams and his belief often makes those dreams come true. He’s the eternal optimist with a singleminded conviction to deliver the goods. His track record proves his point. As a showman he has few peers. We live in a world of talentless, would-be celebrities, who seldom contribute anything anywhere. Donald Trump has that rare gift to hold an audience in the palm of his hand and charm them into believing in his conviction that his dreams will come true. He’s the real deal. He does his homework. He has the innate ability to know when it’s the right time to strike. He very nearly made an impact on Dubai six or seven years ago. But like many business leaders, he saw the signs of a recession

looming and drew his horns in. He had the experience and savvy to foresee that this wasn’t just something that would hit the USA, he was aware that the economic tsunami would submerge the entire world, some countries more than others. He also knew that when the time was right he would come back to Dubai. He believed in the entrepreneurial success, vision and spirit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and was primed and ready, waiting in the wings to make his move when the opportunity arrived. In DAMAC Properties Trump appears to have found the perfect partner with the 42 million square foot AKOYA by DAMAC development already earning high praise around the globe – it was recently named ‘Best Golf Development in the World’ at the International Property Awards. When the larger-than-life American arrived in Dubai with daughter Ivanka last month and declared that, with the help of DAMAC and the world’s most sought-after course designer, Gil Hanse, he would deliver the Middle East’s most outstanding golf course, it was lofty claim, even by Trump’s standards, given the wealth of world-class championship tracks already in the region. But if anyone can back up such a claim it’s Donald Trump. He may be a man who divides opinion, but whether you believe in him or not, Donald Trump will be good for Dubai and Dubai will be good for Donald Trump. And as far as The Ryder Cup is concerned….watch this space.

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 29

Donald Trump

The US business tycoon lands in Dubai to check on his latest development the Trump International Golf Club.

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REGULARS 14 The Starter

34 George Coetzee

The latest South African to win on The European Tour talks about his breakthrough at the Joburg Open, life on Tour and a lifelong affection for Liverpool FC.

68 European Challenge Tour Grand Final 2014 James Shippey, General Manager at Al Badia Golf Club, talks about the second edition of the Challenge Tour’s Grand Final and how the Club plans to build on the success of last year’s event.

70 National Bank of Oman Golf Classic 'XGPV %QQTFKPCVQT &CXKF 9JKVG VCNMU CDQWV JKU IQNƒPI background and the challenge of organising Oman’s flagship professional golf tournament.

72 Azerbaijan the Land of Fire

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News on a bit of this, a bit of that, and a bit of the other!

18 Tour News Review of recent European Tour and US PGA Tour events.

39 Worldwide Golf Columnists Howell, Norman and Player shoot the breeze.

48 Wayne’s World Wayne Johnson talks to Finland’s Mikko Ilonen about how the European Tour Performance Institute has helped his game.

75 Arabian Golf Recent reports of events around the region’s golf clubs.

STYLE 96 Steve Thompson

INSTRUCTION 54 How to hit Tour Standard Bunker Shots By Mathew Parker, Senior Teaching Professional, PGA, European Tour Performance Institute at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

56 Preparation is key

By Jonathan Craddock, PGA Professional, Emirates Golf Club.

England’s most-capped hooker talks about how he’s adapted to life after rugby and how he’s feeling at home on the greens in Dubai.

98 Driving Range An in depth look at the McLaren MP4-12C and the Volvo XC60.

102 Tee Times A watch is more than just a timepiece, it’s a statement.

104 The Look

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The Ryder Cup Trophy was last in Dubai during the Rolex press conference at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November last year, held by George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour and Paul McGinley, the 2014 Ryder Cup Captain.

Ryder Cup Dubai 2022? A FTER last month’s US Masters tournament golf looked like it was going stale. The big names were not firing, the global TV figures were down on previous years and the game was starting to be dominated by unknown players. But things can change in the blink of an eye! Martin Kaymer wins the Players Championship, Rory McIlroy announces the wedding is oﬀ and goes on to win the BMW PGA Championship and Donald Trump drops a Ryder Cup bombshell during his press trip in Dubai. We’ve also had the battle for World No.1 between Stenson and Scott. Pete Cowen only said to me recently that he doesn’t understand why Tour players try to change their swing. Instead they should understand what they’ve got and build on it. Kaymer cemented this statement with his win at Sawgrass. After spending two years tumbling down the World Ranking by

trying to build a swing that could hit a draw – he decided to go back to his old swing and hit a reliable fade. You know, the one he won the 2010 PGA Championship with! Then we move on to the Rory saga. The rumour at the start of the year was that he wasn’t going to take part in any of the Final Series events on The European Tour due to his wedding. His focus appeared to be gearing up for the big occasion and he was missing that vital spark. His entry to play Wentworth was a shock to some, as he’s never got on with the West Course in the past but the real shocker was it was off between him and Caroline Wozniacki. The announcement came just one week after the wedding invites had gone out! Who knows what really went on. I’m sure we’ll find out in time, but bearing in mind the huge change in events off-course for Rory and his mixed form on-course you’d

understand if he just went through the gears to elude the media spotlight. But in front of record crowds at Wentworth and millions of TV viewers he replied by shooting a final round 66 to lift the Tour’s flagship event and record his first victory on European soil. Yep, he’s never won in Europe before. Let’s hope we get to see him win some more Majors this year and he takes a different attitude regarding his stance on the Final Series. Rory isn’t the only big name to get the golfing rumours flying. Donald Trump, in true style, arrived in Dubai for a press conference and site inspection at The Trump International Golf Club at Akoya by DAMAC in Dubai. He’s a larger than life character, full of enthusiasm and, having recently bought Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, he’s a man with a golfing masterplan. We all thought that he would use the media spotlight in Dubai not only to talk about his new

ISSUE No. 160, JUNE, 2014 Published by: Worldwide Sporting Publications Ltd +44 1663 719926

Editor-in-Chief: Mike Gallemore Executive Editor: Gary Player Editor: Alex Gallemore Publisher: Mike Gallemore

Editors: Todd Staszko, James Reeves, Tabitha Florence

Published in Dubai by: Prograﬁx, PO Box 24677, Dubai, UAE (Tel) +9714 340 3785

General Manager Dubai: Richard Bevan rick@wspglobal.com

Editorial Panel: Gary Player, Mike Gallemore, Alex Gallemore, Richard Bevan, Todd Staszko

10 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

Design Manager: Sarah B. Mahmood

Head of Sales: Chris Haill chris@wspdubai.com Editorial Executive: Greg Smyth greg@wspdubai.com Printed by: Raidy, Dubai

course in the Emirate but about his vision and he delivered in the manner in which only Donald Trump could. Get set for Dubai to make a bid for the Ryder Cup. Yes, bang out of the blue he wants to start talks about bringing the historic event to Dubai. Wouldn’t 2022 be a perfect ﬁt, just after the conclusion of the DubaiExpo in 2020. For it to become a reality, Dubai would have to submit a proposal along with other nations bidding for the event. After the likelihood of a wet and windy Ryder Cup in Scotland, Dubai’s attraction will look even sunnier. Fingers crossed it can come true as Dubai has already shown the golﬁng world it can deliver.

Alex Gallemore Editor June 2009 SSN 1- 46805671 Approval UAE National Media Council: Ref.816 30/5/2007 Trade Licence No. 1/104375/15280

Average Qualified Circulation 14,700

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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:FLIJ< Pinehurst's No.2 steps back in time

s we highlighted in last month’s issue of WWG, this month’s US Open on Pinehurst’s No.2 course will showcase how the game used to be played in the United States – how master course craftsman Donald Ross first wanted it played. The famed designer completed the course in 1907 and didn’t stop tinkering with it in a quest for perfection until his death in 1948. In the past few decades the lush, succulent green landscapes of Augusta National have set the aesthetic benchmark for inland golf courses of America, and Pinehurst followed suit when it hosted the US Open in 1999 and 2005. Today, the course is playing as originally envisioned by Ross, stripped of its luxurious surroundings, with the fairways meandering through the thick pine, lined by sandy ‘waste areas’, fallen pine needles and gorse and all sorts of nasty, prickly bushes sprouting from the unkempt surface. In February 2010, the design firm of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw began to restore the natural and strategic characteristics that were the essence of Ross’s original design. The project included the removal of about 35 acres of turf and the reintroduction of hardpan, natural bunker edges and native wire grasses. USGA Director Mike Davis said the course is going to “give the best players in the world some shots that they simply haven’t had to make in past US opens.” However, Davis said that while the US Open has recently, almost traditionally, been the toughest test of the year, the USGA are in no position to replicate previous tournaments because the rough simply isn’t there. Wayward drives that would settle down in 7/8” rough might now land in those wiregrass run-off areas. With that in mind the US Open title could hinge on luck – the golfing gods will certainly be smiling on those who find a nice lie every time they miss a fairway. Better still, it puts more importance on the players making sure they stay on the short stuff.

14 | WorldwideGolf - April 2014

JK8IK<I US Open – Who's hot... and who's not:

Adam Scott The New World No.1 knocked oﬀ his early season rust with a win in Texas – in the run-in to the year's busy period.

Jordan Spieth The hottest youngster in the game came close at The Masters and The Players – can he become a 'closer'?

Phil Mickelson Phil can't buy a putt at the minute. Runnerup at Pinehurst to Payne Stewart in '99, he needs the US Open for the Slam.

Henrik Stenson Still suﬀering from a mild 2013 hangover. Pinehurst could be just the perfect setting for a gritty victory.

Graeme McDowell One of the best grinders in the game. GMac loves the challenge of the US Open and will relish Pinehurt's tough conditions.

Rory McIlroy His Wentworth win should release him from the shackles but he'll be tested to the limit as he looks for a third Major and a second US Open.

STACY LEWIS IS REDHOT THERE can be no arguments – Stacy Lewis has been ast one of the hottest players on the planet in the last GA 12 months. Lewis closed out the North Texas LPGA end Shootout in her home state last month to bookend ast a spellbinding year. In 22 events dating back to last wis June’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Lewis pen has won twice (including the Women’s British Open d had at St Andrews), posted six runner-up finishes and 19 top-eight finishes in total. Lewis is only denied d the top spot in the World Ranking by Inbee Park, who ho won three of the five Majors last year.

TRUMP SHOOTING HIGH THE PGA of America has ﬁnally given Donald Trump what he wants – A Major Championship at one of his courses. Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey will host the 2022 US PGA Championship, ﬁve years after it hosts the US Women’s Open and the Senior PGA Championship. However, Trump might not have to wait that long as Turnberry – the resort on the Ayrshire coast which he bought for an estimated £35m earlier this year – is due to host The Open again before 2020. He's also been shooting g high g at his Trump p International course in Dubai with talk of the Ryder Cup.

Anthony Kim... remember him? SIX years ago a fresh-faced 23-year-old, dipped head to toe in the latest Nike clobber which was held together by a flashy belt buckle, burst into the limelight with a breakthrough victory in one of the deepest fields on the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow. A couple of months later he won the AT&T National at Congressional and then at the Ryder Cup at Valhalla he romped home in the opening singles match against Sergio Garcia as Azinger’s Americans put Faldo’s flops to the sword.

COLIN Montgomerie is no er to longer the best player never have won a Major after he shot a ﬁnal round 65 to win the US Senior PGA Championship by four strokes. king Monty was at his ball-striking best as he kept ahead of a surging Tom Watson, who also carded a closing 65 at Harbor bor Shores in Michigan. "I've had a couple of failures ures here in America and close calls, especially in Majors, and it'ss nt as great to ﬁnally win an event prestigious as the Senior PGA GA Championship.

REIGNING US Amateur Champion Matthew Fitzpatrick will turn professional after this month’s US Open. The 19-year-old, who won the Silver Medal as the leading amateur at last year’s Open Championship at Muirﬁeld, will tee it up for the ﬁrst time as a professional at the Irish Open and from there he hopes to play using sponsors' invites for the rest of the European Tour season.

LUCY LI TO PLAY IN US WOMEN’S OPEN AGED 11 Today, Anthony Kim doesn’t T ev even play golf recreationally an and hasn’t teed it up on the US PGA Tour since the 2012 Q Quail Hollow Championship, w where he withdrew after one ro round. He announced he was su suﬀering from tendinitis in his ar arm and took time oﬀ. Then he tore his Achilles in the gym ab about six weeks later. Nobody ha has seen him since. Kim’s agent, Clarke Jones, re recently said he was ‘hopeful’ th that Kim would be back pl playing in 2014 but admitted it was just a guess. “He’s a m marvellous talent, but it has be been a long time, there’s no de denying that,” he said. But w when asked if Kim was playing an any golf at all at the moment Jo Jones simply said ‘no’.

MONTY SEALS MAIDEN MAJOR TITLE LE

FITZPATRICK TO TURN PRO

THIS year’s US Women’s Open will see its youngest ever competitor as 11 year old Lucy Li shot rounds oﬀ 74 and 68 to win a sectional qualifying event in California by seven strokes. The previous youngest at a US Open was American compatriot Lexi Thompson who was 12 years, four months and 18 days old when she teed it up at the 2007 event.

RUNNING THE RULE By Stuart McMurdo, Golf Operations Manager, Jebel Ali Golf Resort Simple error costly for Ian Poulter During the second round of the Volvo China Open Ian Poulter was moving nicely into contention before a momentary loss of concentration cost him a 2-shot penalty following an errant tee shot. When he found his ball on the par 5 12th in the undergrowth he declared it unplayable and decided to drop within two club lengths of where it lay. This meant his ball came to rest on a cart path, allowing him free relief, but this is where Ian went astray. Having dropped within two clubs for the penalty drop for the unplayable lie he then

16 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

automatically dropped again within two club lengths of the nearest point of relief. However, the Rules only allow you to drop within one club length of the nearest point of relief. This meant Ian was further away from the place he should have been and played from the ‘wrong place’. Having not corrected his indiscretion at the time his score on the hole was changed from a bogey 6 to a triple bogey 8. I think Ian would agree that all the players and caddies need refreshing on the Rules from time to time, as it can be very costly.

JK8IK<I The Players' stats special

Miller says Island Hole is ‘too easy’ TWO-time Major winner and television commentator and pundit, Johnny Miller, has come out and said that the infamous 17th hole at The Players Championship is ‘too easy’ for the pros, adding that he would lengthen the hole on certain days if there was no wind forecast. “I would like to see the guys at least hit an 8-iron, maybe even a 7-iron,” he said. “I just think it would make it a more exciting hole than throwing up a 9-iron or a wedge up there.”

KAYMER JOINS ELITE BUNCH Martin Kaymer joined Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott as winners of a Major, a WGC title and The Players.

Let's have a look at the stats to see if Miller has a point…

2014 17th hole stats: Rd1 – 12 balls in the water. Ave. score 3.021 Rd2 – 12 balls in the water. Ave. score 3.063 Rd3 – 1 ball in the water (Angel Cabrera, sorry Angel!). Ave. score 2.854 Rd4 – 3 balls in the water. Ave score 2.915 <PM PWTM I^MZÁML W^MZ XIZ NWZ \PM NQZ[\ \_W LIa[ J]\ I KWUJQVI\QWV WN pin position and length saw the hole ease up on the weekend and only 4 XTIaMZ[ NZWU \PM ZML]KML NQMTL NW]VL \PM LZQVS IN\MZ \PM K]\

Splashes at 17

KING OF SPEED

Gary Woodland clocked the biggest clubhead speed during The Players – a whopping 123.70mph

Obviously, the 17th has the potential to not only wreck a round but also wreck the chances of landing one of the biggest prizes in golf. Here's a rundown of how many wet balls the 17th has gobbled up since 2003. Year 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003

Total Splashes 28 44 39 40 29 32 64 93 57 68 30 29

Weekend wetness 4 20 10 14 14 10 26 22 21 53 11 13

LONG JAMIE SILVER Welshman Jamie Donaldson is enjoying himself on the US PGA Tour this year. The 38-yearold smashed the longest drive of the tournament – 348 yards down the imposing 18th fairway. WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 17

Course of two halves Rory McIlroy ripped apart the back nine at Wentworth, playing them in 14-under for the week which turned out to be his winning total. He was steady on the opening nine but had to recover from making the turn in 38 (+3) on day two.

McILROY BOUNCES BACK FROM LOVE SPLIT AT WENTWORTH

ORY McIlroy ended a tough week on a high by winning The European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, moving to second in The Race to Dubai and therefore qualifying for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, in the process. McIlroy’s last European Tour win was in 2012 at the DP World Tour Championship when he won both the tournament and The Race to Dubai. His last international

18 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

tournament win was in December 2013, at the Emirates Australian Open. The week began with the news that the Northern Irishman had called off his wedding to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki and the two-time Major champion had admitted that playing at Wentworth would be “very difficult”. But he put his troubles behind him with a spectacular display, closing with a swashbuckling 66, coming home in just 32 blows on the back nine, for a 14-underpar winning total of 274, one stroke clear of Ireland’s Shane Lowry. “I feel relieved,” said McIlroy. “It’s been 18 months since I won on The European Tour and to win the Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth – I couldn’t ask for any more. “I knew coming in here that I was playing well. I struggled a little on Friday but played great over the weekend and in the final round I was helped by a couple of mistakes from the guys in front of me. My caddie J.P. set me a target of 15-under – I didn’t quite get there but luckily 14-under was good enough. “The support I got all week was

BMW PGA Championship

incredible and it really helped me, so it was great to be able to get the win in front of such good fans.” The DP World Tour Championship, taking place at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from 20-23 November will feature the top 60 players in The Race to Dubai and, historically, a prize-money total of €500,000 has been enough to book a spot in The European Tour’s grand final. McIlroy’s Wentworth winner’s cheque of €791,660 takes his season’s earnings to €1,295,825 and moves him into second place in The Race to Dubai, guaranteeing his place in the DP World Tour Championship field. Shane Lowry, who started the week 165th in The Race to Dubai after a difficult

Eagle-eyed

McIlroy made light work of the par-5 12th on the West Course with an eagle in rounds 1 and 2 and easy birdTiur sitatur, simincte lacessin eos adi ies during both rounds over quae quam. Simus id moluptatur? To the weekend. optatib usantor eptatem aut. He also found the par-5 4th to his liking with birdies throughout the week and then an eagle on Sunday.

Shane Lowry celebrates his mammoth birdie putt that sealed second place.

start to the season, turned in an excellent display, firing a blistering opening round of 8-under 64 and signing off the final round with a long, snaking putt for a birdie at the last and a closing 68 to secure the runner-up spot. Lowry’s second-place prize money of €527,770 sees him surge up The Race to Dubai into 15th place on €560,749 ensuring that he’ll also be teeing it up at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November. “I’ve had so many bad days this year, I’ve been struggling such a lot, that I just said to myself, ‘just go out there and enjoy it and see what happens’” said Lowry. “With the putt on the last I was just trying to two-putt it as I knew I couldn’t win the tournament at that point. It was a great way to finish and get second place on my own. I’m really looking forward to the next few events now.” Race to Dubai leader and former Dubai resident Thomas Björn, who has already booked his place in the DP World Tour Championship field, looked to be in firm control of the tournament. The Dane set a new course record with a 62 in the opening round and went on a breath-taking run of birdies down the home stretch in the third round for a back nine of 30 to sign for a 67 and take a fivestroke lead into the final round. But the wheels came off in spectacular fashion on the final day as Björn struggled to a 3-over 75, which saw him drop into a share of third place with England’s Luke Donald on 12-under-par 276. Donald’s third-place prize money of €297,350 takes his season’s total to €472,727 and puts him within touching distance of a place in the season-ending showcase in Dubai. Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and England’s Simon Dyson shared fifth place on 9-under-par 279. Q Thomas Björn has a tough final round.

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 19

Standings One week after moving to World No.1 without hitting a golf ball, Adam Scott lived up to the billing with a superb victory at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Scott downed fellow Major Champion Jason Dufner on the third hole of sudden-death to win his 11th PGA Tour event and complete the ‘Texas Slam’ of winning all four Tour events in the Lone Star State. "It was a challenge,” said Scott of Colonial’s treelined course. “It tested my patience a little bit and demanded a lot out of my game. I came into the week trying to ﬁnd my rhythm on the golf course and it tested my game for where it needs to be.”

Scott increased his lead on the World Ranking ahead of new No.2 Henrik Stenson who replaced Tiger Woods while Rory McIlroy’s win at Wentworth saw him move up from 10th to sixth place. Meanwhile McIlroy’s win moved him up to second place on The Race to Dubai while second placed Irishman Shane Lowry was the big mover after Wentworth as he jolted up from 165th to 15th. Other big movers came from the Open de Espana a week earlier where joint runner-up Thomas Pieters shot up to 63rd from 134th and Richard Green moved from 150th to 71st.

2014 RYDER CUP RANKINGS Qualification for The 2014 European Ryder Cup Team will be selected employing the following criteria:

Qualiﬁcation Criteria for The 2014 European Ryder Cup Team The players in Bold currently occupy the nine automatic qualifying places (after the BMW PGA Championship): EUROPEAN POINTS LIST

(a) The leading four Members on The Ryder Cup European Points List (1) on Sunday August 31st 2014. In the event of a tie between Members (i.e. a number of Members having accumulated an equal number of points), placings will be decided by the Member with the higher ranking on the 2014 Race to Dubai on Sunday 31st August 2014.

WORLD POINTS LIST

1 Victor DUBUISSON

2297434.81

1 Henrik STENSON

295.30

2 Jamie DONALDSON

2204898.77

2 Rory McIlroy

242.19

3 Thomas BJÖRN

2200031.94

3 Sergio Garcia

235.86

4 Henrik STENSON

1912467.23

4 Thomas BJÖRN

176.88

5 Ian POULTER

1817816.47

5 Luke Donald

155.28

6 Rory McIlroy

1712191.24

6 Victor Dubuisson

150.56

7 Joost LUITEN

1450345.80

7 Jamie Donaldson

145.63

8 Miguel A. Jimenez

1449628.33

8 Justin Rose

145.43

9 Gonzalo F-Castano

1261024.46

9 Martin Kaymer

140.77

10 Sergio Garcia

1195816.34

10 Ian Poulter

132.71

(b) The leading five Members, not otherwise qualified under paragraph (a) above, on The Ryder Cup World Points List (2) on Sunday 31st August 2014. In the event of a tie between Members (i.e. a number of Members having accumulated an equal number of points), placings will be decided by the Member with the higher ranking on the Official World Golf Ranking as published on Monday August 25th 2014. (c) The Captain, Paul McGinley, will choose (at his own discretion) the remaining three Members following the conclusion of the Race to Dubai Tournament scheduled to conclude on August 31st 2014. (1) The Ryder Cup European Points List will comprise points (1 point = 1 Euro) earned by a Member from all Race to Dubai Tournaments in which he participates between August 26th 2013 and August 31st 2014. (Money earned by a Member from the 2013 Race to Dubai Bonus Pool or Race to Dubai bonus points earned during the 2013 Final series do not count towards this points list). (2) The Ryder Cup World Points List will comprise Official World Golf Ranking Points won by a Member1 from each tournament in which he participates between August 26th 2013 and August 24th 2014, and thereafte only from the Race to Dubai Tournament scheduled to conclude on August 31st 2014. Official World Golf Ranking Points are allocated to all officially sanctioned tournaments (on any Federated Tour) by the Official World Golf Ranking and are allocated according to the Event Rating of the tournament.

EUROPEAN TOUR RACE TO DUBAI RANKING  AS AT MAY 26, 2014 Pos. Player

Nat.

Eve. €

Pablo LARRAZÁBAL

ESP

547,375

Darren FICHARDT

RSA

360,661

Thomas BJÖRN

DEN

1,470,194

Alexander LEVY

FRA

528,370

Dawie VAN DER WALT RSA

349,434

Rory McILROY

NIR

1,295,825

Thomas AIKEN

RSA

513,309

Romain WATTEL

FRA

342,684

Jamie DONALDSON

WAL

1,233,996

Tommy FLEETWOOD ENG

498,600

Graeme McDOWELL

NIR

322,262

Louis OOSTHUIZEN

RSA

1,034,766

Richard STERNE

RSA

476,384

Michael HOEY

NIR

307,798

Miguel A. JIMÉNEZ

ESP

956,312

Ernie ELS

RSA

473,935

Emiliano GRILLO

ARG

306,350

Sergio GARCIA

ESP

931,935

Francesco MOLINARI ITA

469,235

Brendon DE JONGE

ZIM

288,160

Victor DUBUISSON

FRA

875,353

Thongchai JAIDEE

THA

458,634

Hennie OTTO

RSA

286,996

Stephen GALLACHER SCO

838,993

Luke DONALD

ENG

442,802

Matteo MANASSERO

ITA

277,155

Jonas BLIXT

SWE

773,831

Mikko ILONEN

FIN

432,577

Ian POULTER

ENG

276,164

Henrik STENSON

SWE

710,129

Alejandro CAÑIZARES ESP

418,728

Alvaro QUIROS

ESP

273,249

Charl SCHWARTZEL

RSA

701,428

Justin ROSE

ENG

410,562

Martin KAYMER

GER

272,313

Lee WESTWOOD

ENG

667,832

Simon DYSON

ENG

406,744

Bernd WIESBERGER

AUT

266,702

Joost LUITEN

NED

640,195

Andy SULLIVAN

ENG

405,254

Gonzalo F.CASTAÑO

ESP

260,979

George COETZEE

RSA

602,001

Ross FISHER

ENG

396,132

Chris WOOD

ENG

259,103

Shane LOWRY

IRL

560,749

Rafa CABRERA-BELLO ESP

377,997

Felipe AGUILAR

CHI

252,798

Branden GRACE

RSA

547,445

Morten Ørum MADSEN

DEN 15373,968

Seve BENSON

ENG

243,889

20 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

TOUR NEWS Date: Apr 24 - 27 Event: Zurich Classic of New Orleans Venue: TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana Winner’s Cheque: $1,224,000

Date: Apr 24 - 27 Event: Volvo China Open Venue: Genzon Golf Club, Shenzhen, China Winner’s Cheque: €389,151

NO STOPPING NOH IN THE DEEP SOUTH

LEVY IN CRUISE CONTROL IN CHINA

While many of his competitors were getting blown off course in the gusty conditions, Seung-Yul Noh calmly plotted his way to his first US PGA Tour title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The 22-year-old from South Korea carded a 1-under-par final round to win by two shots from Andrew Svoboda on 19-underpar while Keegan Bradley, who began the day in the final pair, two shots behind Noh, fell away with a 75.

ALEXANDER Levy eased to his ﬁrst title on The European Tour with a cool fourstroke win over England’s Tommy Fleetwood at the Volvo China Open. A stunning second round 62 broke the course record and put him in control and a third round 70 saw him take a three-shot lead into the ﬁnal day. He posted three birdies to enhance his grip but a double bogey on the 15th threatened to derail his procession. But he rallied and picked himself up to birdie hole 17 and 18 to seal the win in style.

A e n]jq `Yhhq Yf\ n]jq ]p[al]\& HdYqaf_ gf L`] =mjgh]Yf Lgmj _Yn] e] Y dgl g^ ]ph]ja]f[] hdYqaf_ af `a_` oaf\k Yf\ A e n]jq `Yhhq lg `Yn] fgo ogf eq Újkl lald] gf l`] MK H?9 Lgmj& Pos. Name 1 T2 T2

Seung-Yul Noh Andrew Svoboda Robert Streb

Country KOR USE USA

-19 -17 -17

A bmkl hdYq]\ eq _gd^ Yf\ ^g[mkk]\ gf l`] lYj_]l& A kYo Lgeeq eY\] Y Zaj\a] gf l`] )/l` Zml A dac] l`] hj]kkmj]& A hdYq]\ o]dd lg\Yq Yf\ A e `Yhhq lg oaf&

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

Pos. Name

65 68 65 71 64 68 70 69 67 66 68 70

269 271 271

1 2 3

Date: May 1 - 4 Event: Wells Fargo Championship Venue: Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina Winner’s Cheque: $1,224,000

Alexander Levy Tommy Fleetwood Alvaro Quiros

Country Fra ENG SPA

-19 -15 -13

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

68 62 70 69 70 68 67 68 67 68 68 72

269 273 275

Date: May 1 - 4 Event: The Championship at Laguna National Venue: Laguna National Golf Club, Tampines, Singapore Winner’s Cheque: €180,531

HOLMES COMPLETES HIS COMEBACK J.B. Holmes secured his ﬁrst win since coming back from a series of surgeries – including two on his brain in 2011 – with a one-stroke victory over a charging Jim Furyk at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. Holmes, who last won in 2008, started the day with a one-stroke lead and increased it to three with a few holes to play. He needed the cushion and sealed the win with a two-putt bogey from around 50-feet on the ﬁnal green.

Al k fa[] lg _]l af l`] oaff]j k [aj[d] Y_Yaf& Eq _Ye] ak af Y _gg\ khgl$ Yf\ A ogjc]\ j]Yddq `Yj\ gf al gf l`] g^^%k]Ykgf dYkl q]Yj l`] o`gd] q]Yj oYk eq g^^% k]Ykgf$ A _m]kk %% Zml al k fa[] lg `Yn] l`Yl `Yj\ ogjc hYq g^^& Pos. Name 1 2 3

J.B. Holmes Jim Furyk Martin Flores

Country USA USA USA

22 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

-14 -13 -12

AGUILAR WINS WITH STUNNING FINISH Felipe Aguilar lit up the back nine and ﬁnished with a closing 10-under-par 62 to win The Championship at Laguna National by one stroke from America’s David Lipsky and Denmark’s Anders Hansen. The Chilean came home in 28 blows including a birdie on the diﬃcult par-3 17th and then holed his approach to the short 18th to set the clubhouse target at 22-under.

=a_`l mf\]j gf l`] ZY[c faf] lg oaf ak hj]llq kljgf_$ ]kh][aYddq eYcaf_ l`] dYkl gf] gf )0 Z]af_ Z]lo]]f [dmZk& L`ak ak kge]l`af_ n]jq$ n]jq kh][aYd&

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

Pos. Name

70 67 66 71 72 69 69 65 67 68 69 72

274 275 276

1 T2 T2

Felipe Aguilar David Lipsky Anders Hansen

Country CHI USA DEN

-22 -21 -21

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

65 67 72 62 64 68 70 65 67 66 67 67

266 267 267

Date: May 8 - 11 Event: Madeira Islands Open – Portugal - BPI Venue: Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra, Madeira, Portugal Winner’s Cheque: €75,000

Date: May 8 -11 Event: The Players Championship Venue: TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Winner’s Cheque: : $1,800,000

BROOKS SEALS BITTERSWEET FIRST WIN

KAYMER CLINGS ON TO WIN THE PLAYERS

Daniel Brooks clinched his maiden European Tour title at the Madeira Islands Open after beating Scott Henry in a play-off but the tournament was marred by a sense of sadness after the death of caddie Iain McGregor. The tournament had to be cut to 36 holes after persistent fog over the first two days and when McGregor, who was caddying for Alastair Forsyth, collapsed on the ninth hole of the final day, play was indefinitely suspended. However, Forsyth felt that McGregor would have wanted play to be completed so play was resumed.

Martin Kaymer displayed nerves of steel after he let slip a healthy lead but then hung on to win The Players Championship for his ﬁrst win since 2011 by one stroke from Jim Furyk. The German pulled four shots clear through 11 but stumbled upon resumption of play after a 90 minute rain delay. Furyk birdied the 16th to close the gap to three and when Kaymer made a double bogey on 15 the lead was just one with the American safely in the clubhouse. Kaymer then got a bad bounce on the 17th and needed to drain a raking 28-footer to save par. He rolled it in and made par on 18 to seal the win.

A e gn]j l`] eggf lg `Yn] ogf gf L`] =mjgh]Yf Lgmj$ Zml al k fgl fa[] lg \g al af l`]k] [aj[meklYf[]k&

L`] Z]da]^ ak YdoYqk l`]j]& A cf]o l`Yl A [gmd\ oaf Y _gd^ lgmjfYe]fl Y_Yaf&

Pos. Name 1 2 T3

Daniel Brooks Scott Henry Fabrizio Zanotti

Country Eng Sco Par

-9 -9 -6

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

Pos. Name

68 67 67 68 70 68 -

135 135 138

1 2 3

Date: May 15 - 18 Event: HP Byron Nelson Championship Venue: TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, Texas Winner’s Cheque: $1,242,000

FLAIR THE KEY TO TODD’S BREAKTHROUGH

A cfgo A `Yn] Y hj]llq kgda\ k`gjl _Ye]$ Zml lg\Yq al oYk kh][aYd& Al oYk Y kh][aYd \Yq Ydd jgmf\& 1 2 T3

Brendon Todd Mike Weir Charles Howell III

Country USA CAN USA

-14 -12 -10

Country GER USA Spa

-13 -12 -11

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

63 69 72 71 70 68 72 66 67 71 69 70

275 276 277

Date: May 15 -18 Event: Open de Espana Venue: PGA Catalunya Resort, Girona, Spain Winner’s Cheque: €250,000

Brendon Todd holed a bunker shot and saved par after playing a shot left-handed with the back of his 4-iron on his way to capturing his maiden US PGA Tour title at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Todd began the day in a share of the lead with Louis Oosthuizen, but the former Open Champion faded quickly and Todd stepped in with a 4-under 66 to take the title by two from Mike Weir.

Pos. Name

Martin Kaymer Jim Furyk Sergio Garcia

JIMÉNEZ WINS AGAIN AT 50 MIGUEL Angel Jiménez wrapped up his second title of the season at the Open de España to extend his record as the oldest winner on The European Tour. The Spaniard, who was playing in his 27th Open de España, won a three-man play-oﬀ with Richard Green and Thomas Pieters with a par on the ﬁrst extra hole.

L`]j] k fg ogj\k lg \]k[jaZ] o`Yl al e]Yfk lg e]$ qgm f]]\ lg Z] aflg eq kcaf Zml A e fgl _gaf_ lg d]l qgm

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

Pos. Name

68 64 68 66 68 66 67 67 68 66 69 67

266 268 270

1 T2 T2

Miguel A. Jiménez Richard Green Thomas Pieters

Country ESP AUS BEL

-4 -4 -4

R1 R2 R3 R4

Total

69 73 69 73 74 69 69 72 69 69 71 75

284 284 284

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 23

SUMMER GOLF MEMBERSHIP AT

The Address

MONTGOMERIE DUBAI

Let

us welcome you to one of Dubai’s most celebrated golf havens. Take advantage of exclusive summer rates on membership and enroll today for exceptional beneﬁts which include: Access to the Championship Golf Course inclusive of cart fees Full Access to the Practice Facilities and Academy Par 3 Course Full Access to the swimming pool and gymnasium 20% discount at all restaurants and lounges Single – AED 4950 Family – AED 7450

T: +971 4 363 1260 F: +971 4 360 8981 E: MONTGOMERIE@THEADDRESS.COM WWW.THEADDRESS.COM

The lady in charge of the Marshals at the DP World Tour Championship might not live in the UAE any more, but her passion for the job gets stronger and stronger as the tournament goes from strength to strength. JENNI HOSKINS gives us the lowdown on what it’s like to organise the vast number of volunteers who officiate at the climax of The Race to Dubai.

“I LOVE my role as Chief Marshal at the DP World Tour Championship. I have a great, loyal and committed team behind me who support me from beginning to end and I try hard to ensure that they get maximum satisfaction out of their contribution to the success of the tournament. “Seeing all the volunteers buzzing with excitement at the very end of the week gives me the biggest thrill of all – it's an amazing feeling to hear them chatter, taking away such happy memories having given so much of themselves to a highly successful event in a sport they feel passionate about. “At the moment, I am keeping an eye on The Race to Dubai to keep in touch with who is playing well and is likely to be part of the 60 who will be entertaining us with their skills this year - and then wondering and speculating who is going to be holding the trophies on the ﬁnal day. “I have been living back in England for almost six years now but my husband is working in Abu Dhabi so my return is two-fold – but is ﬁtted around the DP World Tour Championship! "I love being back in England so much. I do like the cooler weather and I adore

snow but the extremely wet winter we had did not suit me at all, so after Christmas I was back in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for The European Tour’s Desert Swing and some much appreciated warmth. “Each year, the DP World Tour Championship brings a diﬀerent excitement and last year was wonderful as Henrik Stenson ﬁnished in such superb style – a climax that will be remembered for many years to come. Henrik was a true gentleman when he joined us for the traditional Champion photo. His warmth towards the volunteers was a delight for me and I know they felt his appreciation for them, too. “The talk among our volunteers during the tournament is very infectious. They feel appreciated and the word spreads between those who return every year to those new ones who want to come and be part of the action. This is why the event gets better and better each year. “I am about to begin the process of getting back in touch with all the volunteers I know and who are returning this year and I hope to hear from new volunteers who will bring just as much energy and enthusiasm – if you’re interested please get in touch!”

If you want to play a part at one of the world’s biggest golfing occasions, at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, from November 20-23, contact Jenni by email at: jengolfdxb@hotmail.com

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 25

WATCH THE DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP IN STYLE WITH EARLY BIRD HOSPITALITY DISCOUNT

HEY say the early bird catches the worm and it’s certainly true where prospective visitors to the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, are concerned. The European Tour’s season-ending showcase will see some of the best players in the world contesting one of the most prestigious titles in golf at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 November and at the end of the week, the tournament will crown both the DP World Tour Championship and The Race to Dubai champions. As golfing spectacles go, it doesn’t get much better, but for those who are quick enough off the mark, it just might. The tournament organisers are currently offering a 10% early bird discount on hospitality tickets for the luxurious Championship Chalet. The chalet offers the best view on the golf course to watch Henrik Stenson defend his titlse as DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai Champion against the top 60 players on The European Tour, with a spacious shaded terrace overlooking the 18th hole of the magnificent Earth course where the greatest moments of drama will unfold. Guests will enjoy premium food and beverages throughout the day and they can utilise the ‘Grab & Go’ option if they prefer not to miss any of the action. There is VIP parking, internet access, complimentary Official Tournament Programmes and daily drawsheets and a host of other benefits. “The Championship Chalet is the perfect venue to entertain clients or simply enjoy an unforgettable day out at one of the finest sporting events in the UAE,” said Nick Tarratt, Director of the European Tour Dubai Office. “Tickets sell out every year so book now to avoid disappointment.” FREE TICKETS FOR ALL…JUST REGISTER ONLINE! Online ticket registration for the 2014 tournament is now open. Visit www.dpwtc.com to secure your season pass for the week’s action. What’s more, those who pre-register will be entered into a free prize draw with VIP hospitality tickets up for grabs!

26 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

The Championship Chalet Package includes: • Access to the Championship Chalet and course. • Premium food and beverage service throughout the day, including breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. • Contemporary climate-controlled chalet. • Spacious terrace overlooking the course. • Grab & Go option to take refreshments onto the course. • Live coverage from around the course on high deﬁnition TV. • Ofﬁcial Tournament Programme and Daily Drawsheet. • Internet access and Newspapers. • Dedicated hostesses and guest management team. • VIP car parking. The Championship Chalet is open from 09:00 to 18:00. Bar is open from 12:00 to 18:00 (Standard house beverages)

Discounted early bird hospitality tickets are available now. For tickets and information call Julie Letherby on +971 (0) 567 359 852 or hospitality@dpwtc.com www.DPWTC.com

28 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

DONALD TRUMP <<

TOP TRUMP DONALD TRUMP IS ONE OF THE MOST CHARISMATIC ENTREPRENEURS OF OUR TIME. LAST MONTH HE FLEW INTO DUBAI TO PROMOTE THE TRUMP INTERNATIONAL GOLF CLUB AT AKOYA BY DAMAC AND MENTIONED THE RYDER CUP. NOW ALL THE GOLF WORLD IS TALKING ABOUT IT. HERE HE TALKS TO WSP PUBLISHER MIKE GALLEMORE...

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 29

2022 RYDER CUP? WWG: DO YOU HAVE YOUR SIGHTS SET ON A PARTICULAR TOURNAMENT? DONALD TRUMP: SANDY JONES (Chief Executive of the British PGA) HAS A LOT TO SAY ABOUT WHERE THE RYDER CUP IS HELD AND I ACTUALLY JUST SAID ‘WE HAVE TO CALL SANDY BECAUSE THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE VENUE FOR THE EUROPEAN TOUR TO BRING THE RYDER CUP’. I’M NOT SAYING WE’RE GOING TO GET THE RYDER CUP BUT I THINK WE WOULD HAVE A GREAT CHANCE. SANDY RESPECTS ME AND I RESPECT SANDY AND WE LIKE EACH OTHER. I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD CHANCE TO GET THE RYDER CUP COMING HERE AND CERTAINLY THE COURSE IS DESIGNED FOR THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF GOLF. IT’S AS GOOD AS IT GETS IN TERMS OF SHOT-MAKING AND SHOT VALUE IN PARTICULAR AND I THINK WE’LL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF GETTING THE RYDER CUP. BECAUSE THEY WILL BE BRINGING IT TO THIS REGION AT SOME POINT, IN MY OPINION, IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE, AND WE WILL HAVE THE BEST COURSE BY FAR. SO I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD CHANCE.

Pictures: Helen Shippey, Sherif Karas.

30 | WorldwideGolf -June 2014

DONALD TRUMP <<

TOP: Niall McLoughlin, Senior Vice President, DAMAC, introduces Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Hussain Sajwani, to the assembled media. RIGHT: Donald Trump nails a long drive off the 11th tee during the Press Conference at Akoya by DAMAC. WWG: How did the business relationship between you and DAMAC Properties come about? DONALD TRUMP: Through reputation we knew each other. DAMAC wanted to do something and they knew I wanted to do something here so we somehow just got together. We determined that although you can just do an average course – and it’s much less expensive – we wanted this to be a world-class venue and course – and that’s what we did. I can tell you that Hussain Sajwani, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DAMAC, moved buildings because when Gil Hanse got involved we had a large area laid out but Gil liked certain areas. In fact, on the 18th hole, he said, ‘could you move the buildings back a couple of hundred yards’ – and they did! It showed that the priority is building a great course – it would have been tougher otherwise. I have tremendous respect for DAMAC and, hopefully, they have great respect for us and when we formed this partnership it just worked out to everybody’s benefit. Hopefully, the biggest beneficiary will be Dubai - I think they’re going to be very proud of the end product. Our Trump International Golf Course at Akoya by DAMAC is very, very special. We’ve done many special projects around the world. In Dubai we’re setting a standard in the Middle East that’s never been set before and that’s going to be very exciting.

“HUSSAIN SAJWANI, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DAMAC SAID TO ME ‘DONALD, I WOULD LIKE TO GET THE GREATEST GOLF ARCHITECT IN THE WORLD, WE’RE GOING TO BUILD A COURSE THAT’S NOT GOING TO BE JUST THE BEST IN THIS AREA, DUBAI AND THE MIDDLE EAST, WE WANT ONE OF THE GREAT COURSES OF THE WORLD." – DONALD TRUMP WWG: You already own highly esteemed, established courses such as Doonbeg in Ireland and now Turnberry in Scotland as well as your courses in America – is this a different challenge, creating something from scratch that can match those courses? DONALD TRUMP: A recent statement was made by one of the great photographers of golf. He said that I have the greatest collection of golf courses ever assembled by one person. That's a great compliment. We’ve got Turnberry, which is an Open Championship venue and we just got the PGA Championship at Bedminster in New York, which is the youngest course ever to get a Major – and we’ll have the US Women’s Open at the same venue. We’ll also have the Senior PGA Championship at our course in Washington. I have great courses. I don’t want courses that aren’t great. If they can’t be the best I’m not interested. I think this course will ﬁt that mould so it’s sort of interesting. I just left Turnberry, which is very old and has tremendous history having hosted many great championships. I was very lucky to get it and this development in Dubai is very new but I think at the end it’s going to be equally great. We’ll make sure it is.

Donald Trump pictured with Hussain Sajwani, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DAMAC, on the 11th tee at the Trump International Course at Akoya by DAMAC.

WWG: What came first your love of the game or the business of golf? DONALD TRUMP: I love building beautiful things and I’ve built some of the great buildings of the world; New York has many of them. The architectural critic on the New York Times, Herbert Muschamp, always used to treat me so well and give me such great reviews. I was always very conscious of architecture. I love playing golf, I enjoy golf. I’ve been a good golfer over the years and I’ve won a lot of club championships. I love the beauty of golf, I don’t think in terms of the business of it. I do the best job with it and the ﬁnances and the money comes but I don’t really do it for that. There’s a beauty to building these great golf courses. There’s a great beauty. I don’t think of the numbers. I build the best and then the numbers work out great. Golf is not my main business by any means, it’s just a relatively small part of my overall business, but I really enjoy it. I think, more than anything else, I love the beauty of golf, there’s something very beautiful about it. WWG: What is it about Dubai that made you want to build a course here?

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 31

DONALD TRUMP <<

ABOVE: Ivanka Tump, Hussain Sajwani, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DAMAC, and Donald Trump look over the model masterplan of the Trump International Golf Club complex. BELOW: Mike Gallemore, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Worldwide Sporting Publications/Worldwide Golf, talks exclusively to Donald Trump about golf, Dubai and the Trump international GC.

DONALD TRUMP: The people at DAMAC are great people, just amazing people. It’s a vibrant group headed up by Hussain. You only need to look at his numbers. He's just done such a great job and it started oﬀ with very little. They’re amazing people at DAMAC. It’s just a very vibrant company and that would be the word, vibrant – the people and the area. Dubai is big and it’s bold and it’s moving forward. The emirate is doing well and I think it’s going to continue to do well for an awfully long time. This project is going to be a tremendous success and I think Dubai has a tremendous future, a really tremendous future.

WWG: You were going to begin a project in Dubai a few years ago before the global recession hit. What is it about the economy this time around that makes you think there wont be another dip?

DONALD TRUMP: : It’s a lot diﬀerent today than it was when the recession hit and the world went bad. It wasn’t Dubai that went bad – it was the entire world, whether it was New York or Los Angeles or any place you can name. The world crashed. We were going to do something in Dubai that would have been very good but we were fortunate because we didn’t start it. Therefore nobody got hurt. Other people started building and they did get hurt. We had the sense not to start and that was a very good thing for everybody involved. We would have done a nice project with nice people but we never got it started because of the fact that world had crashed and Dubai had a much diﬀerent persona at the time. I always wanted to come back and I think it’s a great tribute to Dubai that we’re here. We just never forgot Dubai. It was just always some place that we wanted to be and now we’re here in a very big way.

I’D LIKE TO CONGRATULATE YOU, BECAUSE I’VE READ YOUR WORLDWIDE GOLF MAGAZINE MANY TIMES AND IT’S TERRIFIC, IT’S REALLY GOOD QUALITY. THERE’S SO LITTLE QUALITY AROUND AND YOU DO QUALITY LIKE I DO QUALITY WE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. SO I WANT TO CONGRATULATE YOU AND THANK YOU.

WWG: What do you predict for the real estate sector in Dubai? DONALD TRUMP: Real estate in Dubai is going one way – and that's up. The current prices are much lower than the numbers from years ago prior to the crash. These numbers have a long way to go before they catch the numbers from many years ago. Now they have tremendous controls, tremendous checks and balances. I think Dubai has actually become very conservative from a ﬁnancial standpoint and I think there’s a tremendous upside to buying in Dubai. I would not have said that years ago.

WWG: What effect do you think your project in Dubai can have on tourism in the region? DONALD TRUMP: In Scotland I built a course in Aberdeen and because of what I did, there are people coming from all over the world. It’s been adjudged as one of the greatest golf courses ever made. It was done by a fabulous architect, highly recommended by the Royal & Ancient, and we have the largest dunes in the world. The bottom line is it was very tough getting it approved but we got it approved, we got it built, and it’s doing record business. It’s packed from morning till night and what happens is the overﬂow of that business is going to the hotels, it’s going to the other courses. They had an article on it last week in Scotland's main paper calling it the ‘Trump Factor.’ That's because of the tremendous success of the course, other places are up 5060% and they’ve never seen anything like it. You’re going to have the same thing here, you’re going to have a huge ‘Trump Factor’ here in Dubai. It’s going to have a tremendously positive eﬀect.

WorldwideGolf -June 2014 | 33

34 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

GEORGE COETZEE <<

COETZEE LOVING DESERT LIFE WITH A MAIDEN EUROPEAN TOUR WIN FINALLY UNDER HIS BELT, DUBAI-BASED GEORGE COETZEE SPOKE EXCLUSIVELY TO WORLDWIDE GOLF ABOUT WHAT’S CHANGED IN HIS GAME, WHY HE LIKES PLAYING GOLF IN THE MIDDLE EAST, LIFE IN DUBAI AND FOLLOWING LIVERPOOL FC

WO years ago GAC, a Dubai based logistics company, signed up George Coetzee as their brand ambassador, a partnership that he says is ﬂourishing and helped him become the latest South African winner on The European Tour, at this year’s Joburg Open. “It’s turning out to be more of a family thing than a corporate deal,” he says. “The added bonus is that they sponsor Crystal Palace and I like my football. I follow Liverpool and I got a chance to watch them at Palace recently but sadly we drew 3-3 which ended our chances of winning the title.” But how did the 27-year-old come to support Liverpool having grown up in Pretoria? “I remember growing up watching a game of football with my sister and she asked me which team I thought would win – and I said it would be the team in red,” recalls Coetzee. “I didn’t know it at the time, but the team was Liverpool. I remember watching one player with a plaster across his nose and I didn’t really know what that was all about. A few years later I realised that the player was Robbie Fowler. Liverpool gradually became my team. “In 2005 I was competing at Royal Birkdale in the British Amateur and it just so happened that Liverpool were playing Milan in the Champions League Final in Istanbul. Birkdale is in Southport but only about 20 miles north of Liverpool. I was surrounded by Liverpool fans and so I ordered a beer – even though I knew I shouldn’t because it was during

tournament week. We were 3-0 down at half time and so I put my beer down and said, ‘I’ll never drink again if we win, just please let us win’. We ended up sneaking the most amazing win that anyone can remember. It was a great night, one I’ll never forget.“ Success for Liverpool in 2005 didn’t come easily and it certainly wasn’t easy for Coetzee as he made his initial steps on The European Tour in 2010. He earned his European Tour card after going through Qualifying School in 2009 but a disappointing first season, which included just two top-10 finishes, forced him to return to Q-School to get his card back. “I had more of a John Daly approach in my first couple of years on Tour,” Coetzee says. “I realised I wasn’t going to keep my card and knew I had to change somehow and keep my belief up.” He returned to the Tour in 2011 and began climbing up the leaderboard at events, losing in a play-off to finish second at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and recording three third-place finishes, along with eight top-10 finishes overall. He ended the season ranked 26th in The Race to Dubai. The next year he reached the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career and also finished 21st in The Race to Dubai. But despite the steady improvements, things still weren’t feeling quite right for the likeable 27-year-old. “At the end of last year I realised my form was kind of too up and down,” he says. “I never felt like I was in total

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 35

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control of my game. Even when I was playing well I didn’t feel like I could perform under pressure because the errors in my swing were still causing me to lose tournaments.” Coetzee went on to change his coach, a move he says helped him get the mental side of his game on track. “I joined a new coach who’s very technical but I enjoy the technical side of the game a little more,” he says. “I feel more comfortable with my game and I’ve got back some of the self-belief I had the year before and a bit more of that conﬁdence.”

'I feel very much at home' Having been knocking on the door several times over the last few years, Coetzee finally made the breakthrough his talent deserved winning his maiden European Tour title at the Joburg Open in February when he came from behind at to card a final-round 66 for a three-stroke victory. He’s right on track to join the best players on The European Tour in the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November for the fourth consecutive season, currently sitting comfortably in 14th place on The Race to Dubai. Coetzee says that having grown up in a hot and humid city like Pretoria, playing golf in the Middle East reminds him of home with the similar weather conditions. “The weather back home is almost like the Middle East summers and the golf courses are set-up the same way as the courses in South Africa,” he says. “So I feel very much at home when I play in the Middle East. The people are very generous and kind. It’s just got a nice vibe to it when I play there.” Leading up to his first European Tour

win in Johannesburg, Coetzee had a rich run of form in the Middle East, finishing in the top five in Abu Dhabi and Qatar. “The putting is the thing that makes me perform pretty well when it comes to Middle East events,” he said. “Putting has always been a strength for me. I feel like I can read the greens pretty well and if I can keep the ball in play I believe I’ve always got a chance.” Also regarded as one of the bigger hitters on Tour, Coetzee feels that the length of the courses in the Middle East suit his style of play. After a string of good finishes in the region, he believes that a win in the desert isn’t too far off. “All of these courses play into the hands of the long-hitters and if you look at the winners over the last couple of years in the Middle East, they’re all long hitters and they’re all pretty good putters,” Coetzee says.

'I can definitely win it' Like most of the players on The European Tour, making it to the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates is one of the main goals on Coetzee’s agenda. The Earth course is also one of his favourites layouts on Tour, and one that he thinks he has the measure of. “One of these years on that damn golf course, I’m going to do very well, if not win the tournament there,” he says with a laugh. “I feel that the Earth course suits my irons very well – I can fly most of the bunkers, I can go for the green in two on the par fives and I feel like I can read those greens pretty well. I think if everything comes together that week in the next couple of years I can definitely win it.” As he becomes a more settled member

TOP: George Coetzee and Gary Player walk together during a practice round prior to the start of the 2013 Masters Tournament at Augusta .

Above: Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau, Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, presents George Coetzee with the trophy after winning the Joburg Open in February this year for his maiden title on The European Tour.

on Tour, Coetzee says he can now aﬀord the luxury of picking and choosing which events he wants to play and which ones he doesn’t, allowing him to avoid burning out. “I always try to look at the bigger picture," he says. "I try to work out my schedule so I don’t fall into the trap of playing just because it’s a good opportunity to win. “I like to play a lot and then rest a lot. I don’t like playing every two weeks the whole season. I like to take a good break every now and then because I can feel myself burning out sometimes.”

'I really enjoy Dubai' Since his recent move to Dubai Coetzee says he feels “very comfortable”. During the oﬀ-season he brings his family to Dubai to enjoy the emirate and, when the Rugby Sevens is in town, to support the Springboks. “I really enjoy Dubai,” he says. “There are a lot of nice bars and places to go to have a good party.” With less than six months to go until The European Tour rolls into Dubai again for the grand ﬁnale at Jumeirah Golf Estates George Coetzee is already be licking his lips at the prospect of having another go at conquering the Earth course. Q

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 37

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<< WORLDWIDE GOLF COLUMNIST

Gary

Player MONTY FINALLY BAGS A MAJOR

olin Montgomerie never managed to fulfil his ambition of winning a Major championship in his long and illustrious career on The European Tour but he finally achieved the Major he so richly deserved last month with victory in the Senior PGA Championship on the Champions Tour. Monty won a record eight Orders of Merit on The European Tour, seven of them in consecutive years between 1993 and 1999 and the eighth in 2005. He’s also won a record 31 titles on The European Tour. Monty won his first tournament as an over-50 on the European Senior Tour at the Travis Perkins Masters at Woburn Golf Club last August and his victory at Harbor Shores, Michigan, was his first title on the US Champions Tour. It was also his first win in an official event in the United States. I’ve said many times in this column that the gap between the players on the regular Tours and the Senior Tours is almost non-existent. It proved my point when Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Spanish Open on The European Tour last month and both he and Bernhard Langer finished in the top 10 in the Masters in April.

Put yourself in a bubble Monty made an interesting quote after winning the US Senior PGA Championship, that he had “learned today to concentrate on me, and possibly I haven’t in the past.” You’ve got to put yourself in a bubble and shut out everything else going on around you if you want to win the game’s biggest tournaments. Monty, aged 51, shot a ﬁnal round 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over 64-year-old Tom Watson. Tom also closed with a 65. Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer tied for third at 7 under. Haas had a 67, and Langer shot 70. Monty acknowledged that he’d had a few close calls in Major championships over the years and said, “it’s great to ﬁnally win, never mind a Champions Tour event but a Senior PGA Championship event.” Monty also made his name as a Ryder Cup player and victorious Captain at Celtic Manor in 2010 and Watson will captain the US Ryder Cup Team at Gleneagles in September, and it was a two-horse race between the two down the home stretch until Tom missed a four-foot birdie putt at the short par-5 15th hole which ended his challenge.

I HAD the pleasure of returning to Saadiyat Beach Golf Club last month. I always love going back to Saadiyat Beach. I regard it as one of the best designs I have done anywhere in the world. The course is in excellent condition and I’d love to see it host the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority have done a wonderful job in promoting and publicising the emirate as a top-class golﬁng destination and I think that Saadiyat Beach has got that WOW factor that would appeal to international golfers. Golf at Saadiyat Beach, along with Yas Links, Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, are at near capacity in terms of annual rounds and this is just further evidence that their golf tourism and growth of the game initiatives are working. The opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is now in sight and the museum will be an extremely exciting

addition to the region. Gary Player Design also attended the HSBC Golf Business Forum at Abu Dhabi which was once again an outstanding event, discussing the future of golf. Congratulations to IMG/HSBC and Troon for hosting such a successful conference. Golf has got a wonderful future in the UAE in particular and in the Middle East in general. There are some fantastic courses, including Saadiyat Beach, and having heard the exciting news of the Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, project among a number of new golf developments in the area, it shows that golf is very much on the move again in the region. Donald Trump is a great promoter of golf around the world and I’m sure the Trump International will be a welcome addition to the golf scene in the UAE. Q

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 39

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WORLDWIDE GOLF COLUMNIST <<

Greg

NORMAN

PROUD OF SCOTTY BECOMING NO.1

HAT a great way to stamp your first week as World No.1, with a win. Well done to my mate Adam Scott who collected his 11th PGA Tour victory by winning the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on the PGA Tour. I had heard earlier in the week that Adam added this event to his schedule as he wanted to experience playing while ranked No. 1 in the world and enjoy it for at least a week. Thanks to his sevenfoot birdie putt on the third play-off hole, he will get to experience playing as the world’s top ranked golfer for more than just a week. I know that Adam has worked very hard to get to this position and, in a lot of ways, this victory really validates his position atop the Official World Golf Ranking. Adam is only the second Australian to become No.1 in the world and it’s great to see an Aussie back on top for the first time since I last held the ranking in 1998.

Fun to watch

“

Part of the glory is for Greg because he’s given me so much inspiration and belief. He has devoted so much time to myself and other young Australian players who came after him. I feel I can follow in Greg’s footsteps as far as his achievements. I feel that’s kind of a goal of mine. Greg has a charisma about him and an aura that he carries and I don’t know if that comes with success or if you’ve just got it. My goal is to achieve Greg’s feats so I’m on my way. I’m going to take some confidence for being World No.1. Happiness and confidence is based on our results and how we’re playing – and I know I’m playing well.

Adam Scott pays tribute to Greg Norman after capturing the Masters at Augusta last year and again on becoming World No.1:

the revisions, I have heard that there will be no rough whatsoever. This is the ﬁrst time that I can remember a US Open with no rough and it may open the door for some of the longer hitters, like Adam and Rory, or a Phil Mickelson who has had several close calls at the event. Speaking of golf course design, I recently opened my newest design in Vietnam, The Bluﬀs at Ho

“

Rory McIlroy has been close all year long, posting a top-10 finish nearly every time he plays, and he was finally able to make it over the hump and into the winners’ circle at The European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, where he fired a 32 on the back nine on Sunday. McIlroy came from seven shots back to win his sixth European Tour Event. It was his first win of 2014. His last win happened to be at the Australian Open over Adam Scott in December of 2013. Now these two players are peaking just in time for the year’s second Major at the US Open at Pinehurst. It should be fun to watch. Speaking of the US Open, I will be heading to Pinehurst to begin working with my new partner FOX. The network won the broadcast rights to the US Open in the United States and I will be working alongside Joe Buck to anchor their coverage of the tournament starting in 2015. I will be meeting with FOX and the USGA in preparation for our coverage of next year’s Open at Chambers Bay. I’m excited about this new partnership with FOX and looking forward to next year. It will be interesting to see how the newly redesigned Pinehurst No.2 course holds up to the world’s best golfers this year. The last time the US Open was held at Pinehurst was in 2005 when the rough was up and only nine out of 156 players broke par in the first round. While I have yet to see

Tram Strip. This is undoubtedly one of the two best pieces of property I have ever had the pleasure and opportunity to work on and this course has turned out to be really special. The links-style seaside course meanders through towering natural sand dunes along the South China Sea and will likely be considered as one of the best new courses in the Asia Paciﬁc. Q

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 41

<< WORLDWIDE GOLF COLU COLUMNIST

David

Howell

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE EUROPEAN TOUR

am writing this article, having just missed the cut in the BMW PGA Championship for the third year running, so it is through gritted teeth that I wish to focus on The European Tour’s flagship event this month. Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on the negatives in life, and certainly The European Tour has, at times, come in for some criticism over the last few years. For that reason, it’s all the more important to give credit where credit is due and I have to say that everyone involved with the BMW PGA Championship deserves a huge pat on the back. It’s also easy to bill something as your number one event, but living up to that reputation is another matter entirely. However, as I played in the celebrity Pro- Am at Wentworth earlier in the week, it dawned on me that a truly big sporting event has evolved. I’ve played in tournaments all over the world, but other than at a Major championship, I have yet to see as many as 10,000 people turn out to watch a Pro-Am event anywhere before. In all honesty, I would say the Wednesday crowd at this year’s BMW PGA Championship was bigger than that of all but a handful of Sunday crowds for the rest of the year.

Enjoy the experience For any event to work there always has to be a number of things that come together to make it work. At Wentworth this year we had everything in place: A stellar field, playing at a superb venue and hosted by a forward-thinking title sponsor in BMW, who have backed the event to the hilt. The result was a huge event, to which close to 100,000 people came to watch, even if the changeable weather over the first three days let the Championship down a little. The European Tour themselves stage the event and year on year things just seem to improve, and in close consultation with BMW they host a highclass event indeed. The crowds really do seem to enjoy the experience and they keep coming back to Wentworth in greater and greater numbers to watch the best that The European Tour has to offer. Long may it continue. Strangely, over the last few years many of the star names have struggled around the newly laid-out West Course at Wentworth but this year most of the star performers got themselves nicely in the mix going into the weekend. The great Dane, Thomas Björn, led the field all week after an incredible opening round of 62 but in the end, with a sprint

42 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

finish, it was the golden boy of The European Tour Rory McIlroy who took the glory. What a glorious effort that was in the circumstances. Rory started the week in the papers for all the wrong reasons with his personal life making the headlines on the front pages – and ended the week on the back pages with his professional achievements once again writing the headlines. It will be a while before you see a more popular winner. As for me, things are not going the way I had hoped so far this year, and missing the cut in both of my home events, the Dubai Desert Classic and The BMW PGA is just horrible. However, things can turn around pretty quickly in golf and the run into The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool could well define my season. There is no doubting that the arrival of our twin boys last December has brought a whole new understanding of the term

‘time management’ and that, together with a back that has been feeling every day of its 30 years playing golf, and you may well have a straightforward answer as to what’s been going awry so far this year. On a positive note however, I feel I have, just this week, pinpointed a couple of things that could help me to start shooting the right side of 70 again. If that proves to be the case, it could well be a very enjoyable summer. With some great venues just around the corner, notably the Irish Open back at Fota Island in Cork and the Scottish Open moving to Royal Aberdeen for the ﬁrst time, the run up to The Open at Hoylake is looking pretty spectacular. More good decisions that have been made by The European Tour and its partners and, bit by bit, the Tour is starting to look a whole lot healthier again. Q

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HYDROTURF and Toro, the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading golf course maintenance suppliers, organised a seminar at Jumeirah Golf Estates for all the General Managers and Superintendents from golf courses across the Middle East to showcase some of the new products Toro is releasing this year and to show the golf courses ways of saving water.

1,500,000 gallons of water are used a day on a typical 18 hole grass golf course in the Gulf. So every saving counts.

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SAVING UP TO $500,000 ON WATER WITH THE NEW TORO TECHNOLOGY

Q: What is the relationship between Toro and Hydroturf and what role do both companies play in the golf industry in and around the Middle East? Andreas Feichtinger: Hydroturf is Toro’s exclusive distributor in the Middle East. We have a very strong, long-term relationship be it through supplying irrigation or machinery supply support. Ken Lovelady: Hydroturf have oﬃces throughout the Middle East and we stretch to Egypt through Jordan and right on through to Pakistan, so it’s a comprehensive market we look after. I see Toro and Hydroturf as partners as we work together. We basically look after the golf market. There are more than 50 courses in the Middle East and we’ve been involved in every single one of them, whether it’s through irrigation, machinery, pump stations or electric vehicles, in some form Hydroturf has been involved. Q: Hydroturf and Toro are getting involved in projects further afield, away from the Middle East golfing hub of the UAE – is this a trend for the future? KL: Yes, absolutely. We’ve just delivered a big installation at the Ayla project in Jordan – the ﬁrst golf course in Jordan and designed by Greg Norman. Our goal is to expand in the market within our territory. AF: For us, it makes sense to have one large distributor looking after a good number of countries, rather than many distributors across many countries – it’s easier to maintain our relationship and it’s one of the strengths of our partnership. Q: Maintaining golf courses in the Middle East is expensive because of the amount of water used on a daily basis. What can be done to help golf courses cut back on the costs spent on keeping their grounds well watered and well maintained? KL: The biggest cost, of course, is water. If they can decrease their water requirements

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and not waste it – for example by not spraying bunkers or lakes – then they can cut their budgets, perhaps up to $500,000 per year, depending on how much they currently spend. This is an enormous amount of money. I think some people will be amazed by the new Toro technology that can help courses save water and therefore save money. Marco Cappelli: It goes beyond just water though – electricity and fertilizer costs also add up. It’s not just about saving water. Often if you use less water you can provide a better playing surface. So you can have the best of two worlds – save money and water. Q: Water conservation has been thrust into the limelight ahead of this year’s US Open at Pinehurst where, for the first time in a long time, there will be no maintained rough. By removing roughly 40 acres of grass, Pinehurst cut its water usage on the No. 2 course almost in half. Is this something that golf courses in the Middle East should consider? KL: In the Middle East courses tend to overseed in winter because the grass goes dormant and then they over-irrigate in the summer for it to grow again. But for them to do what they’ve done at Pinehurst is not applicable to the courses over here. They don’t have those problems with extreme weather conditions at Pinehurst. So in short the answer is, no. MC: It’s up to the golf course as to which areas they wish to irrigate. At the same time we think you can water the same areas without compromising the quality. It depends on the golf course – every one is diﬀerent. Q: Tower Links Golf Club was built in 2003 with a special type of grass that survives the use of water with a high salt content – meaning the need for expensive clean water is reduced. Is this something that new projects in the Middle East should think about at the development stage?

Above Colin Baxter, Above: Baxter Managing Director, Director Hydroturf, Hydroturf speaks to the assembled Superintendants and Golf Club Managers at the 2014 Hydroturf Seminar.

CB: When Tower Links was built it was the ﬁrst course of its kind over here and there were a lot of doubters, yet here we are 11 years later and it is still ﬂourishing with 20,000 ppm in the summer. It’s something that should be considered around the region with regard to sustainability. AF: It should be noted that we are working on adapting our sprinklers for salty water, so we

Attendees of the Hydroturf Seminar get ready to tackle kle the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. es.

Q: How fast does technology involving water efficiency and desalinization move? Are there things Toro and Hydroturf can offer golf courses in the region now, that you couldn’t 4 or 5 years ago? Andreas Feichtinger: It moves very quickly and it has accelerated a lot in the last 4 to 5 years. For example, we can offer new sensors to measure humidity, temperature and salinity of soil. New software allows us to analyze irrigation matters deeper than we’ve ever been able to before. This is important to get the water exactly where you want it, when you want it and not waste any. The simplicity in the new technology is the key. If it’s not simple to use then the greenkeepers won’t use it and that’s one of our strengths – our technology is simple and very easy to understand.

have ones that will not corrode during use. Q: Other sports played on grass have started utilizing artificial turf – Wembley Stadium’s pitch uses a hybrid of real grass and synthetic grass. Could completely artificial surfaces be implemented at golf courses, such as the tee-boxes or cart paths, to cut down on the cost of watering and maintenance?

KL: Deﬁnitely. In Egypt we’ve been involved in a 9-hole project that utilizes astroturf. At the moment the technology isn’t completely there to make it practical to build a golf course out of astroturf, but there are companies trying to develop it to be spongy enough or to ‘give’ enough for the clubhead on impact and decrease the shock in your wrists. The thing with astroturf is that it still

needs watering to get rid of dust etc, but on the ﬂipside it doesn’t need mowing. MC: You always risk looking like a fool when you try to predict technology! Everything adapts and changes and moves forward but it’s too soon to say if artiﬁcial grass will ever replace real grass when it comes to golf courses. Still, this is a fascinating industry to be involved it.

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WAYNE'S WORLD MIKKO ILONEN

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WAYNE'S WORLD

Wayne Johnson, Director of Instruction at the European Tour Performance Institute, Jumeirah Golf Estates, talks to Finland’s most successful golfer, Mikko Ilonen. The Scandinavian became the first player from Finland to win a European Tour title when he claimed the Indonesia Open in 2007 and he made it a year to remember when he added the Scandinavian Masters later that season. He had to wait six years for his next win but it came at the same tournament when he beat Jonas Blixt by three shots in Sweden last year. The cool Finn started this season in fine form as he came agonisingly close to claiming the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters before being edged out by Sergio Garcia at the third hole of a play-off at Doha Golf Club. After finishing tied 38th in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth he is currently 26th in The Race to Dubai with €432,577 in prize money.

FINN-TASTIC MIKKO ILONEN Born: December 18, 1979 Height: 187 cm Weight: 83 kg Residence: Lahti, Finland Coach: Timo Rauhala Physical trainer: Pierre Johansson Hobbies: Billiards, snowboarding, skiing.

Mikko Ilonen can be described as Mr. Golf in his native country and has been the number one golfer in Finland since 2001, longer than any other European Tour player in their respective countries.

Mikko Ilonen’s career as a professional golfer began in 2001. Before that, in June 2000, he became the ﬁrst Finnish golfer to win the Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, venue of this year's Open Championship.

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WAYNE'S WORLD

MIKKO ILONEN

Mikko Ilonen plays his tee shot at the par 3, seventh hole watched by his playing partner Tiger Woods during the third round of the 2014 Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Wayne Johnson: What made you want to visit the EPTI and Jumeirah Golf Estates? Mikko Ilonen: They have simply great facilities here to work on my game and Dubai is easy to get to and it has a really good climate to practice in. WJ: Which parts of the facility have you used and which are your favourites? MI: I’ve utilised all the areas at the ETPI and practised on both the Fire and Earth courses. The practice range and short game area is my favourite part. WJ: How much help is a facility like this, in a location like Dubai, for international Tour players? MI: It’s crucial, especially for me who does not have facilities like this at home. Plus we have four tournaments in this region which make it a great stopover location to practice with easy air links.

Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland, the husband of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, presents Mikko with the 2013 Nordea Scandinavian Masters trophy at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club.

WJ: You’ve been coming to Dubai for many years – how has the game changed in the region since you first played the Desert Classic in 2001? MI: Obviously it’s grown a lot, more new courses, a lot more players than before and what I like most is meeting more local UAE junior golfers. WJ: You’ve enjoyed some good results on Middle East golf courses – what do you like about the courses here, and how do they suit your game? MI: I like the fact that they are not just target golf-style courses. In calm conditions any course plays easier, but here the wind factor always makes it challenging and it requires good imagination and shot-making to score well.

Ilonen shakes hands with his caddie after losing on the third play-off hole to Sergio Garcia at this year's Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

WJ: You were so close to victory in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters this year – talk about that play-off with Sergio, we thought they were going to have to finish on Monday as there was just nothing to separate you both. MI: I fought hard to make the play-off. I made a silly three-putt on 13 but bounced back with several closing birdies to make the play-off. It was disappointing to lose but looking back to Qatar to have got going so well with my game so early in the season is great. It was also good to make ranking points early on and build towards my target. I was really comfortable playing there! WJ: Last season was a great one for you, with your first win in a few years – how is your game feeling now and what have you been working on? MI: My game feels fine. I don’t see any reason why I can’t do well in the next few events and have a good season. WJ: You played in the DP World Tour Championship for the first time last year – what was that experience like and how important is it for you to try to qualify again this year? MI: It’s the goal for the whole season – the DP World Tour Championship is where you want to end up playing. I would like to make top 20 in The Race to Dubai not just top 60. It would be the perfect way to end the season – playing on a great course with great facilities all round and a great field. This is where you need to be!

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BMW Skills Challenge

The Essex Boys clinch Round 2

AST month saw the second qualifying round of the BMW Skills Challenge hosted by the European Tour Performance Institute at Jumeirah Golf Estates and walking away with the top honours was the Essex Boys team, captained by Eli Mashmoor. Only 13 points separated all the teams that took part on the day and Mashmoor’s team, completed by Matt Blom, Ed Finch and John Cross, scored 127.6 points to carry oﬀ the second qualifying round with a seven point

victory. As a result the foursome win BMW Driving Experiences and advance to the semi-finals which are scheduled for October. “It was great to take part in this event,” smiled Mashmoor after the victory was confirmed. “It was a team effort. Everyone played well and it turned out to be a really fun day – the victory was the icing on the cake.” The event is open to all UAE amateurs and the entry fee is just AED 500 per team of four. The next event takes place on Saturday 6th June.

The Essex Boys: (left to right) Eli Mashmoor, Matt Blom, Ed Finch and John Cross.

O The BMW Skills Challenge is partnered by Jumeirah Golf Estates and AGMC, the oﬃcial BMW Group Importer for Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. O The Challenge is a year-long event with a series of eight qualifying rounds for up to 10 teams of four amateurs leading to the semi-ﬁnal in October 2014. The tests include: Pitching Skills; Bunker Skills; Chipping Skills; Putting Skills; Driving Accuracy and Length Skills. O The Grand Final will be held on the Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates immediately before the DP World Tour Championship on November 20-23. The cost of entry is just AED 500 per team. For further details, contact ETPI on 04 433 7777 or email etpi@jumeirahgolfestates.com

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MATHEW PARKER SENIOR TEACHING PROFESSIONAL PGA EUROPEAN TOUR PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE

TOUR STANDARD BUNKER SHOTS

Todays touring professionals are renowned for their ability to get the ball up and down from seems to be anywhere. Sometimes they almost prefer to be in the sand and just off the green. The key to gaining that all important confidence in the bunker is to be able to get out consistently. To do this you need to be able to control 2 things:

1 Where the club hits the sand.

2 How fast the club is moving.

To control where the club hits the sand, you need to build the following key set up points. The lower body must remain still during a bunker shot, to get the lower body in the right position follow these steps: 1 Set your feet apart so that the middle of your stance is where you want the club to hit the sand. (roughly 3 inches behind the ball)

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2 Turn your front foot about 45 degree toward the target. 3 Push your Knee forward to point over your toes. 4 Dig your feet in.

BY- Bryan Smyth, Golf Professional at Emirates Golf Club

Once you have this in place the key swing thought is to rotate. Working on the idea that the speed at which you turn controls the speed of the club head, try hitting some shots with the same amount of backswing but vary the speed of the turn in the downswing. Practice this set up and swing thought and you should be looking forward to the next time you need to make a sandy par.

One final point to take note of is the line from my chin to my belt buckle.. notice how that is pointing at the middle of my feet. This helps to also control how deep the club goes into the sand.

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INSTRUCTION JONATHAN CRADDOCK PGA PROFESSIONAL EMIRATES GOLF CLUB

PREPARATION IS KEY WITH THE PRE-SHOT THREE-PHASE APPROACH… I often hear stories where players have rushed a shot and said afterwards, “I knew that was going to happen.” Developing a pre-shot routine will give you the opportunity to execute the perfect shot, time after time. The best way to prepare is by using the three-phase approach.

PHASE 1: Pre-shot planning This phase is prior to your actual pre-shot routine. Time here will be spent gathering data for the shot: lie, distance, external influences, wind etc. It is important here to use your time wisely. Some information may be gathered before actually reaching your ball. For example, as you are walking towards a green, the slopes may be easier to spot. PHASE 2: Pre-shot routine A pre-shot routine is a consistent and systematic procedure that is executed prior to hitting a golf shot and is instrumental in the focus and relaxation process. Jim Flick’s book “On Golf” has an excellent description of pre-shot routine and demonstrates that “Every Shot Must Have A Purpose.”

Summer Packages with The Academy at Emirates Golf Club

TIME If you take a look at all top golfers and time their movements, especially Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in their prime the time would be pretty much identical. Annika SĂśrenstam is another great player who had a pre-shot routine that lasted exactly 24 seconds every time.

VISUALISATION It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about just seeing, it is more of a feeling with your eyes. Sam Snead said that he would paint a picture in the sky of the shot he planned to hit. Jack Nicklaus would clearly see the shot shape, trajectory and even how the ball would react when landing before he made his swing. His putting often took a little too much time as he would repeat his practice stroke until he was convinced he would hole it. He was seeing the ball go in the hole but also feeling the movement he would need to replicate to achieve his goal.

I IMAGINE when playing on the course that there is a white line in between myself and the ball. I have placed a white alignment stick on the ground. Standing behind the stick is the time to think about your technique. Once stepping over the white line it is time to simply execute the shot.

TRIGGER is the moment you place yourself in a state of extreme concentration where all thoughts are going into ďŹ rstly creating the imagery, secondly feeling the movements required and thirdly executing the desired shot. Many professionals do this in diďŹ&#x20AC;ering ways. My trigger to start my pre-shot routine is to fasten my glove. If the glove is open, I am open to chatting and taking in the surroundings. Once the glove is fastened thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my cue to grip it and rip it.

SEQUENCING THE ABOVE EVENTS Behind the line we would begin with the trigger, followed by the imagery, seeing and feeling the shot, completed by the execution. I like to think of the preparation coming from an adult mind and the shot coming from a playful child not thinking about the consequences. In a nutshell, you want to be doing as little thinking as possible when it comes time to your swing.

PHASE 3: Post-Shot Routine I can count the number of players who use a post-shot routine on one hand. My post-shot routine is to hold my finish and watch the ball come to rest. Following this I unfasten my glove and continue to take in the surroundings. The last thing on your mind should be the golf shot played or the golf shots to come. Just stay in the present.

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TOUR IRONS

by Craig Vance

Iron Man

TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC Irons O Precision-engineered cavity design for the perfect blend of feel, workability and stability. O Speed Pocket™ in 3-through 7-irons increases ball speed low on the face to deliver more consistent ballspeed and launch conditions across the entire face. O Grooves milled to exact specifications to promote more spin and control from the rough. O Forged short-irons for optimum feel, spin and control where players need it.

RRP: 3,995AED

RRP: 5995AED

RRP: 3495AED

3-PW

4-PW

58 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

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Challenge

CALLAWAY APEX O The 1020 Carbon Steel forging gives Apex Pro the soft, responsive feel that the best players in the world demand.

TITLEIST AP2 O The multi-material forged irons offer distance with trajectory control and forgiveness with workability in a solid feeling

O Tungsten-weighted inserts in the soles of the long irons make these irons incredibly easy to hit, and deliver Tour type launch conditions.

O Advanced CG height progression creates higher launching long irons and flatter launching short irons for more carry distance with outstanding control.

O High performance-wide grooves aim to produce more consistent spin and control out of whatever lie youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing from. You get distance. You get consistency. . .

O Precisely-placed high density tungsten-weighting in the long and mid irons produces higher MOI for consistent distance without sacrificing workability.

RRP: 5600AED

RRP: 5195AED

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WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 59

TOUR IRONS

by Craig Vance

TRADITIONALLY, Tour professionals have always opted for a forged blade with no off-set. Distance was never the main focus back in the days of 6,000 yard championship courses but feel and workability were. Times have changed, and there has been a shift away from the blade culture as the courses continued to grow in length. The professionals now seek more distance and forgiveness from their irons as off-centre strikes still need to go unpunished. There remains a handful of players who opt for a blade but these guys tend to be the elite – Woods, McIlory and Scott are just a few names that come to mind. But these guys don’t really have to worry about distance do they! The main trend now is a blade style with a cavity back that reduces in size from the long to short irons. The result is more distance when you need it plus forgiveness, while still maintaining the ability to shape shots. Ironically, these clubs aren’t just in high demand from the Tour pros but the low to mid handicappers are also getting the benefits. In this test we’ve got the TrackMan out to find out how the numbers from the leading manufacturers stack up.

The Test: All brands submitted a six iron with the corresponding shafts and unchanged lofts. Shaft

Callaway Apex Pro

KBS Tour V

THE Callaway APEX is a great looking Iron with strong features and WOW does it fly off the clubface. The penetrating flight makes playing into a head wind considerably easier and with this being a Callaway slightly off-centre strikes still manage to make the required carry. The crisp strike off the face makes it seem like the ball is sat up on a tee peg every shot and because of this the distance control I have with this club is unbelievable! Each ball lands within 2 to 3 yards of the other. In addition, I found this club made it quite easy to manipulate the ball flight without losing control. Stats average calculated from 5 shots

Club speed: 87.2mph

Ball Speed: 123.9mph Spin Rate: 4,836rpm Height: 88.2Feet Carry: 181.5

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yards

Total: 192.8 yards

DATA TA

Craig Vance Worldwide Golf Equipment Editor

Jason Ashley The Golf House Custom Fit Specialist

Shaft

Titleist AP2

Stats average calculated from 5 shots

Club speed: 88.3mph

XP 95 S300

The Titleist AP2 has the classic look that only Titleist can produce; the clubhead sits perfectly behind the ball and promotes confidence to attack the shot. The distance and carry on the shots seem about average for a six iron, even the odd off-centre strike makes the minimum carry expected. The model I’m trying today has the new Lighter shaft which seems to increase the spin rate on the ball, making it a little harder to control than the previous AP2 I tried a few weeks ago. The strike on this AP2 gives you a phenomenal feeling, the ball seems to glide off the face with ease, making this the ‘bestfeeling’ club I’ve put though its paces for a long time.

Ball Speed: 122.6.8mph Spin Rate: 5,112rpm Height: 85.6Feet Carry: 177.2

yards

Total: 188.1 yards

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TOUR IRONS

by Craig Vance

DATA TA

Shaft

Ping S55

CFS

The Ping S55 is an attractive-looking iron with bold features. The average distance with this model is on a par with my current average 6 iron length but I struggled to keep the distance consistent. The spin rate oﬀ the face seemed to be a little higher than other models trialed today, which has given the ball a towering ﬂight that I was struggling to control. However, with this higher spin rate I was able to manipulate the Draw/Fade shots a lot easier. Stats average calculated from 5 shots

Club speed: 89.1mph

Ball Speed: 122.4mph Spin Rate: 5,596rpm Height: 91.2Feet Carry: 174.7 yards Total: 183.9yards

Shaft

Mizuno MP-54

Dynamic Gold S300

Mizuno MP-54s are possibly the best looking clubs on the market! Having said that, everything about the performance of the club was average, the ball ﬂight was average, distance was average, dispersion was average, even the strike was average. That said, the weight of the club was much heavier, making it extremely easy to maintain the clubhead speed while making a controlled swing. Stats average calculated from 5 shots

Club speed: 88.4mph

Ball Speed: 121.4mph Spin Rate: 5,590rpm Height: 90.3Feet Carry: 173.2yards Total: 182.5 yards Shaft

TaylorMade TP MC

KBS Tour Stiff

The TaylorMade TP MC irons are comparable to the Ping S55 irons. Although they turned out to be the most consistent out of the bunch, with extremely tight grouping, they also proved to be the shortest with the highest spin rate. The ball had a towering flight with plenty of spin that would make the carries to tight pins a little less daunting. However, playing into a strong wind would be difficult to control. These irons definitely have the softest feel out of the bunch which makes the three-quarter shots feel like they would stop on a sixpence. Stats average calculated from 5 shots

Club speed: 90.6mph

Ball Speed: 122.0mph Spin Rate: 5,867rpm Height: 91.9Feet Carry: 172.8yards Total: 181.3 yards

CONCLUSION All of the clubs are geared for the better golfer but I just can’t get away from the distance gained and penetrating ball flight of the Callaway Apex Pro. After the TaylorMade it produced the tightest grouping which was a surprise, considering it was the longest, as you normally get more of a dispersion with a hot-faced club. The Titleist AP2 gave the best feel off the face but the Apex Pro was the clear winner in this test . TEST WINNER: CALLAWAY APEX PRO

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ADVANCED PERFORMANCE FOR YOUR GAME.

INTRODUCING NEW AP1 AND AP2 IRONS. ®

LONGER FLIGHT. INCREASED FORGIVENESS. SOLID FEEL. New Titleist AP irons are precision engineered to make long irons easier to hit high and short irons easier to ﬂight low, while delivering more distance and shot-stopping control throughout the set. Both models feature increased forgiveness from high density tungsten weighting and a progressive design that aligns the CG closer to where you hit the ball for solid feel. To experience the new AP irons for yourself, contact your local golf shop.

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SCOTTYCAMERON

Ever wondered why there are so many different styles?

STUART TAYLOR PGA PROFESSIONAL PROSPORTS INTERNATIONAL

There are only a few names in the golf manufacturing business that carry more weight than Scotty Cameron. So, when he announced the launch of two new ranges of putters, the golf industry took note. At the 2014 PGA Show, Cameron unveiled his latest Scotty Cameron editions, the Select and GoLo models. His ”Select” range began in 2008 and has been upgraded each season since then and for 2014 he has upgraded the looks and colour of the Select putters, and added a couple of new models. Scotty Cameron: “My team and I are focused on one simple goal, designing and producing the ﬁnest putters in the world. The new Select and GoLo families, in addition to our high-MOI Futura X models, take us to the next level of performance and pure putting conﬁdence. “Every day, we strive to learn more about how the ball, the putter and the golfer work together,

WIN

A CUSTOM FIT SCOTTY CAMERON PUTTER

To enter go to: http: //www.wwgolf.net 64 | WorldwideGolf - June 2014

and how we can improve that connection. We’re continually experimenting with new designs, new materials and technologies. “After using one of our putters, golfers sometimes tell me, ‘I don’t know why I like it, I just like it.’ That’s where the attention to detail comes in, making sure there is complete harmony between how it looks, how it sounds and how it feels.”

WORDS: ALEX GALLEMORE

PERFECT FIT

“I have always been a fan of Scotty Cameron putters as the feel is second to none. Aesthetically, the new Scottys look great and the new bolder inserts really help with my alignment. The ﬁtting helped me start the putts more in line with the target and also improve my strike – therefore I felt I could control the pace better.” – Rashid Hamood

Rashid Hamood Handicap: 1 Club: Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club

LENGTH

MAX TOE HANG

ARC

Getting the correct length of putter is pivotal in creating the correct posture to make a good, repetitive stroke. The length of the putter will dictate the eye line at address. The ideal eye line is over the neck of the putter. If the putter is too long the eye line will generally be inside the line of the putter, therefore the putter gets taken away too far inside on the way back. If the putter is too short the eye line will fall too far over the putter head line and vice versa, the putter head will start too far out side. Ideally, the eye line should be over the neck of the putter at address to create the correct stroke and arc.

LESS TOE HANG

FACE BALANCED

The arc type can be diﬀerent for every player. Therefore, it’s important to get a putter that suits your arc. The Scotty Cameron range has diﬀerent styles created to match the player’s arc of the stroke. The stronger the arc of stroke the more ‘toe hang’ is needed in the putter to help square the face at impact. So if you have a stroke with less arc you need a putter with less ‘toe hang.’ It becomes very important to match the putter style to the stroke-type to help each player become more consistent in returning the blade to square at impact.

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FTER learning his craft on the European Challenge Tour in 2006, last month Martin Kaymer joined the esteemed company of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott as winners of a Major, a WGC event and The Players championship thanks to his victory at TPC Sawgrass. Rewind the clock to 2006 and the German won twice in eight events on the Challenge Tour to finish fourth on the ranking and earn his European Tour card. From there his CV has grown impressively and includes the 2010 US PGA Championship, the 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions, two Ryder Cup appearances, The 2010 Race to Dubai and three Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship titles. “Everything happened so quickly for me,” recalls Kaymer. “My plan was to play on the satellite EDP Tour in Germany for one or two years and then the Challenge Tour for two or three years because I didn’t really know how everything works on Tour, and then make my way on to The European Tour – but I did it all in one year.

“To win the first Challenge Tour event I played in was huge. From there I gained status and won again in France and finished in the top four, four more times. That gave me the feeling of confidence that I knew I could win tournaments, and that definitely helped me when I made the step up to The European Tour.”

CHALLENGE TOUR RANKING AS AT 20TH MAY, 2014

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Follow That! James Shippey (right), Manager of Al Badia Golf Club, talks to Worldwide Golf about the second edition of the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final from Wednesday, November 5 to Saturday, November 8 and says that the success of last year’s tournament will be a hard act to follow. all very passionate people, who all want to WWG: With Al Badia hosting the Challenge Tour deliver the best results for our owners, provide Grand Final and Jumeirah Golf Estates staging The a great member experience for our members, European Tour’s season-ending climax, November is giving visitors a great day’s golf and provide an exciting month for Dubai and for The Tour. some of the region’s finest food and beverage. James Shippey: When we first started our All in all, we strive to exceed all expectations in discussions with the European Challenge Tour everything we do. we were looking at exploring different options We didn’t have long to prepare for the 2013 and finding out what was available tournamenttournament and it showed what we could wise and most met with our key objectives. deliver in such a short space of time. Obviously, We wanted a high stature event but at a for the 2014 staging, we’ve had -12months to level that was a little bit more true to the real prepare and we’ll definitely deliver something life golfer in Dubai, who could relate to golf that will impress a lot of people. professionals beginning their careers. It was a big step for us as WWG: Do you think the fact that a club to dip our toe in the water you have a facility that very few to see how we liked hosting a other clubs in Dubai have got, gives tournament without committing Al Badia an advantage? to a fully-fledged European Tour JS: Dubai Festival City is a great event. The Challenge Tour Grand location. We have three amazing Final had a high enough stature hotels – the InterContinental that brought a high amount of Hotel and the Crowne Plaza and media value and it was just a InterContinental Residence Suites, great fit for us. which are serviced apartments We have an excellent managed by the InterContinental. reputation for being a great It’s a fantastic destination. We facility but there are other clubs have some beautiful real estate in Dubai that have a higher around the property and it really profile because they’ve staged a is the finished article. We have main Tour event. We wanted to beautiful landscaping which gives position Al Badia Golf Club in the 2013 winner, India’s Shiv Kapur. you a great visual experience marketplace of being a great golf when you’re arriving at the golf club. Yes, you’re in club capable of holding a world-class event. Dubai, yet you’re in the middle of the desert. We’ve obviously gained a lot of media It’s a very tranquil place, out of the hustle and recognition since we held the tournament. The bustle of Dubai city, in a quiet, peaceful, relaxing feedback from the players was amazing. environment. Water plays an important part with We’ve made some slight modifications to the water features coming into play on 12 holes. We’re golf course for the second staging this year, well established now and the wildlife we have on namely new tees on holes 11 and 17, but it was the golf course is amazing – a wide array of birds good to hear from the players that we already and all the waterways have nice aquatic life in have a world-class product that the players them as well. It’s an oasis in the middle of the city. appreciate and enjoy competing over. WWG: When The European Tour is considering venues for other events, because of what you did last year, Al Badia should automatically be in the frame. JS: Our team at Al Badia is high quality. They’re

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WWG: It’s good that a lot of the players who played here last year have gone on to make a name for themselves on The European Tour and it’s good to follow their progress.

JS: It’s good to see them playing well on The European Tour. Among the players who qualified here at Al Badia last year, the Challenge Tour Grand Final winner, Shiv Kapur, is performing well and Marco Crespi has already won an event on The Tour. As a club it’s gratifying to see people who have graduated through the Challenge Tour playing well. When you look at the stars on the world scene now, the likes of Kaymer, Poulter and Rose just to name a few – they’ve all earned their place through the Challenge Tour and that will continue. It’s a great breeding ground for future players on the world stage. WWG: Having done such a good job last year creating such an outstanding event, how do you improve on that this year and the following year? JS: From the golf course side we’ve made a couple of alterations just to make it a little bit more of a challenge for the players. We’re aiming to raise the profile to make the event more of a family affair. We’ve been coming up with some nice initiatives to bring the golfers down to watch the golf but also the families as well. Maybe the golf isn’t their primary reason for coming to Al Badia but just to enjoy a nice day out with the family. One of the things we’ve managed to arrange is that this year’s event will finish on a Saturday. With Friday and Saturday as the tournament’s final two days, which is our weekend in Dubai, it will give families the opportunity to spend the weekend here and see the tournament finish on a weekend rather than on a workday. WWG: The impressive thing about last year’s event was that everything you did was top quality. It was a fitting Grand Final for the Challenge Tour. JS: That comes down to the team we have here – dedicated professionals who strive to achieve excellence in everything they do. Having world famous players here at Al Badia was an inspiration to see how far we could push as a team to excel and even Shiv Kapur in his speech mentioned how great the food was.

R&A LEVEL TWO RULES SCHOOL COMES TO THE UAE

We’re certainly much more than just a golf club – we’re a great food and beverage destination with a team that can deliver some great products. It was a fairly simple thing for us to manage because everybody knew what they were doing, and they just did it with a lot of passion and with a smile on their face. We have a very friendly team here and it shows. WWG: One thing that struck me was that Al Badia is a sponsor’s paradise. You’ve got all the amenities in place, the quality of the location itself, the staﬀ, the food – everything. JS: With having such high quality facilities at the club, sponsors know that they’re guaranteed an experience that is totally unique. One of our key beneﬁts at Al Badia is our corporate hospitality area, which, during the tournament is outside on the lawn overlooking the golf course. We’re blessed with great weather in November so it’s an

ideal location to sit back, relax and watch the golf. Certainly for some of our sponsors, such as the Al Futtaim Automotive Group, it’s a great opportunity for them to become involved and have one-to-one interaction with the future stars of the game. It’s all about building relationships in the early stages that could ﬂourish for 10-15 years, creating long-term brand ambassadors. We always wanted to become involved in tournament golf and we’re really fortunate to get such a high-proﬁle event. We’re fully committed to delivering on our three year agreement. Whether we continue to host the European Challenge Tour or perhaps move to a European Tour event remains to be seen. But the opportunity is there and the appetite is there to be involved with the big events. The feedback we got from the Tour, the players, and the general public, was music to our ears. Q

ALL the Golf Federations and Associations in the region, plus golf professionals, club ofﬁcials and individuals are invited to join the R&A’s Level Two Rules School when it comes to Al Badia Golf Club later this year. In what will be a signiﬁcant event for golf in the region, the two-and-a-half-day school, run by the R&A, will be attended by Christopher Hilton, Chairman of the R&A Rules of Golf Committee, Shona McRae, R&A Assistant Director – Rules, and Kevin Barker, R&A Assistant Director – Rules. This Level Two school is more than the Level One Introduction Rules School and is potentially followed by Level Three – the Tournament Administrators and Referees School, which is a three-day school which includes sessions on course set-up, pace of play, suspension of play and Temporary Immovable Obstructions (TIOs). This Level Three School is held annually at St Andrews in Scotland and is by invitation only.

Date: Monday 3rd – Wednesday 5th November, 2014. Venue: Al Badia Golf Club by InterContinental, Dubai.

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 6Ö

WHITE ON CUE DAVID WHITE has taken up the position of Event Coordinator for the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic that takes place at Almouj Golf The Wave Muscat, on Thursday, October 30-Sunday, November 2. After three and a half years at Muscat Hills Golf Club he is making the move into tournament organising. The likeable 29-year-old talks to Worldwide Golf about his background and the challenge of organising the Sultanate’s flagship professional golf tournament.

WWG: What are your earliest memories of golf? David White: Playing on the sand course at Dubai Country Club and taking my ﬁrst golf lessons there. Although I was born in England my family moved to the Middle East due to my father’s work commitments when I was only a year old and I grew up as an expat. I moved away from the region to attend university and to do my PGA training. I returned to the Middle East in 2011 and joined Muscat Hills Golf Club, originally as the Operations Manager, moving into a Sales & Marketing role two years later. WWG: How did you get into golf? DW: I ﬁrst started playing golf and learning the game with my parents. I began to get serious about the game when I was around 14 years of age. Back then I had a dream of making it as a Tour player. I turned professional when I

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started my PGA training. I played the majority of my amateur golf in Dubai as a junior golfer and got down to a 1-handicapper. WWG: What are your greatest memories of golf either playing or watching? DW: Muscat Hills were fortunate enough to have Colin Montgomerie play there a few years ago in the HSBC Golf Day. Colin sat down having lunch with us talking about his Ryder Cups and golf in general and it was a surreal experience to be sat next to one of the game’s greats! WWG: What would be your perfect fourball? DW: My dream fourball would be Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke – I really admire their charisma on the golf course and their golf swings. All of them are diﬀerent

personalities with extremely functional and repeatable swings. WWG: Do you have any other hobbies or pasttimes? DW: I have started to get into Kick Boxing, primarily to keep ﬁt and I also like snowboarding. Every time I visit Dubai I always try and get some lessons at Ski Dubai in the hope of getting better! WWG: What do you think of the quality of the Challenge Tour players? DW: The Challenge Tour players are fantastic golfers and many of them have already played on The European Tour. Last year’s National Bank of Oman Golf Classic winner (Roope Kakko) shot an impressive 14 under par around Almouj Golf Course which is

2014 NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN GOLF CLASSIC

What are your goals and targets for the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic?

My primary goal is to encourage the community in Muscat to attend the event, especially children and families, to help develop the game in Oman, along with creating a strong brand awareness for National Bank of Oman locally and internationally.

WWG: What did you think of last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Bank of Oman Golf Classic? DW: I thought it was a great tournament and a great opportunity to get up close to the Challenge Tour players. The hospitality tent was probably one of the best I have seen in terms of the sea front location overlooking the 18th Green of Almouj Golf Club.

exceptional low scoring on such a challenging links course, so the standard is extremely high. WWG: What is the funniest thing you have seen on a golf course? DW: I was playing with the pros in a match play competition at Muscat Hills against some members of Muscat Hills with our Head professional. On the 12th Hole we all got to talking about how people crash golf carts and why we all thought it was a hard thing to do. On the very next hole our playing partner drove too close to the greenside bunker and the golf cart toppled into the trap with the member still sat in the cart! Fortunately, to our surprise he ended up landing on his feet in the middle of the cart between the roof and the seats. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion and fortunately no one got hurt.

WWG: What are you most looking forward to in being Coordinator for the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic? DW: I am looking forward to seeing who will win the event as the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic is the last event before the Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final so there will be lots to play for and the standard of golf will be as high as ever. WWG: Do you think Oman is getting close to becoming a genuine golf destination? DW: There has been a lot of growth in the game of golf over the past three years that I have witnessed here in Oman. There is no doubt

that Oman is becoming a tourist destination for golf. However, there needs to be more hotels built, along with a tourist infrastructure to assist the game in Oman. WWG: Do you believe golf is growing among the younger generation? DW: There is certainly much more interest in golf than when I ďŹ rst arrived in Oman and there is always an abundance of enquiries. Converting the younger generation to play is the hardest challenge, primarily due to time commitments and cost. The National Bank of Oman Golf Classic will certainly continue to create more interest from the younger generation. WWG: What do you think can be done to help grow an interest in golf among Omanis? DW: I believe you need to take golf out of the clubs and into the Omani Schools, and promote it in the shopping centres and places of interest. People in general need to have things brought to them and by taking the game to the population is a good way to grow the game.

WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 71

Leading the way for the

Land of

Fire FOR a country’s ﬁrst and only golf course to step onto golf’s world stage to host a professional golf event is a courageous move, particularly considering that few people know where that country actually is. Yet The National Azerbaijan Golf Club in Quba, situated by the Caspian Sea, South of Russia, bravely aims to put the nation ﬁrmly on the world golf map in hosting the €300,000 Azerbaijan Open Challenge.

ON July 31-August 3 the tournament will showcase ‘the Land of Fire’ on the 2014 European Challenge Tour Schedule to the world and entice international golf tourists to sample an outstanding golf course and the many attractions the region has to oﬀer.

About the club IT MAY be the country’s ﬁrst golf course, but The National Azerbaijan Golf Club has been created to the most exacting standards and represents an audacious and ambitious foray into the sport for an emerging golﬁng nation. Positioned within 75 hectares of idyllic Azerbaijani topography, the undulating fairways of this par 72 golf course, stretching over 7,000 yards, creates a lasting impression on the eye. Imaginatively, and despite its championship credentials, landing zones, approaches

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and greens remain accessible, leading to a ‘look hard, play easy’ feel which maximizes enjoyment amongst all players. The Presidential opening last September was a ground-breaking achievement for this proud nation, which demonstrated their desire to create a golﬁng destination for international visitors. The National Azerbaijan Golf Club is a semiprivate facility with an element of daily fee play, allowing players of all levels the opportunity to learn and play the game. The combination of the pristine golf course conditioning, personalised service levels, amenities and attention to detail has made this facility one which Azerbaijan can be very proud of. Jon Hunt and the International Design Group, were the architectural experts behind the project from golf course and landscape design, to creating a clubhouse which is

boutique in style, yet accommodating to every player’s needs and wants. The warmth and hospitality of the region lies at the heart of this Scandinavian Arctic-style clubhouse, and with a terrace overlooking the 18th hole it gives a tranquil and beautiful setting for memorable dining as well as an unforgettable Shisha experience. The resort boasts a luxury 5-star hotel, managed by world-renowned hotelier Rixos, featuring 200 bedrooms, luxury villas, an amusement park, spa centre, and its notable restaurants, the Challette Steakhouse with its mountain views and Le Coquet restaurant beside the lake. The facility is managed by Troon Golf, the leader in upscale golf course management, development and marketing, who strengthened its international portfolio in 2012 by adding The National Azerbaijan Golf Club

to its extensive worldwide list of managed properties. The National Azerbaijan Golf Club will lead the way in harnessing golf’s spirit of tradition and innovation in delivering world-class coaching. The Academy by Troon Golf will be utilising cutting-edge technology and techniques, delivered by expert PGA-qualiﬁed instructors to develop players of all levels. The Academy boasts an immaculate practice facility that is second to none. The comprehensive facility has been created to allow for the practice of all areas of the long game, via the driving range, while the extensive short game area, will allow golfers to develop their skills in golf’s other areas. In conjunction with the Azerbaijan Golf Federation the golf club’s major incentive is to develop junior golf both locally and nationally throughout Azerbaijan. Q

The facility is located in Quba, which lies between the coast of the Caspian Sea and the majestic Caucasus Mountains, a 90 minute drive from the capital city Baku, gives lovers of the game an accessible option to a world-class golf resort. Quba, famous for its beautifully crafted handmade carpets, apple orchards and local cuisine, combined with an International Ski Resort only a short journey through the beautiful mountains, make this a must visit for any tourist.

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Al Mazrui wins THE NATIONALS

Al Badia pro Graduates 3rd

Tufail is Yas Links Club Champion

FUTURE STARS UNEARTHED

Faris Al Mazrui clinches the Dubai Duty Free UAE Nationals Cup at Emirates Golf Club.

Al Badia pro Kelly Hanwell graduates in third place at the UK PGA annual graduation ceremony.

Junior Member Sana Tufail wins Ladies Club Championship with a two-round gross 146.

The opening round of the Troon Golf Inter-Club Junior Series successfully teed off at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Pg 76

Pg 78

Pg 87

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Arabian ENTRIES OPEN FOR DUBAI GOLF SUMMER SERIES

EGISTRATION is now open for the four tournaments across the two courses at Emirates Golf Club and the Dubai Creek course which make up the Dubai Golf Summer Series, sponsored by GolfLan. Open to all golfers with a valid handicap, the competition is an individual Stableford with full course handicap allowance. Participants are able to enter just one event or all four. However to compete for the overall prize, a minimum of three scores must be recorded while individual prizes supplied by Ping, Greg Norman, FootJoy and Titleist will also be awarded at each event. The player with the highest points tally over their best three rounds wins the series.

Fixture Location Date Time one

Emirates Golf Club – Faldo Saturday 28th June 5.00pm

Two

Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club Saturday 26th July

1.30pm

Three

Emirates Golf Club - Majlis Saturday 30th August

1.30pm

Four

Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club Saturday 13th September

1.30pm

To register for the 2014 Dubai Golf Summer Series please contact golfoffice@dubaigolf.com or call +971 4 380 1752.

ArabianGolf - June 2014 | 75

EMIRATES GOLF CLUB www.dubaigolf.com

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FARIS AL MAZRUI TRIUMPHS IN DDF UAE NATIONALS CUP FARIS Al Mazrui clinched the 20th edition of the Dubai Duty Free UAE Nationals Cup which was played over the Faldo Course with a haul of 34 stableford points. Forty competitors took to the course to compete for the prestigious trophy and it was Al Mazrui who came out on top by just one-point from Ahmed Skaik. Al Mazrui, a six handicapper, produced 16 points on the front nine, including six straight pars from the opening hole, but the key to his victory was a fabulous gross birdie on the 429-yard closing hole which gave him four points. Although Skaik was denied the main prize he did take home the junior trophy while Khalid Yousuf shot a gross 77 to collect the overall gross prize.

Dubai Duty Free officials headed by Executive Vice Chairman, Colm McLoughlin; Vice President for Corporate Communications, Salah Tahlak and Sinead El Sibai, Vice President for Marketing, along with Emirates Golf Federation Board member, Rashid Al Jarwan pictured presenting the trophy to Faris Al Mazrui.

Commenting on the UAE Nationals Cup, Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President - Corporate Communications of Dubai Duty Free said: “This year marks the 20th edition of the Dubai Duty Free UAE Nationals Cup and the tournament has grown

more and more popular among UAE National golfers since its launch in 1995. Our thanks to all our participants and to my team at Dubai Duty Free and to the Emirates Golf Club for their eﬀorts in ensuring a great day was had by all.”

SHEWAKRAMANI AND SINDHU CLINCH THE HANKOOK GREENSOMES Margaret Breen collects the prize from Lady Captain Barbara Head.

DYBALL AND BREEN WIN THE LADIES NATIONS CUP THE Celtic team of Christine Dyball and Margaret Breen scored a stunning betterball tally of 50 Stableford points to take home the Ladies Nations Cup last month. A total of 24 teams representing countries from all over the world set out in a quest for glory and the winners’ scorecard consisted of four net eagles and seven net birdies as they beat the German team of Sabine Choudry and Sabine Kielmann while third place went to the Japan team of Lady Vice Captain Mitsuko Emmerson and her playing partner Yasuyuki Fujitani after they lost out to Germany on a countback.

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SURESH Shewakramani and Ashok Sindhu triumphed in the Hankook Greensomes Championship recently with a winning tally of 12-under par over 36 holes. The duo found themselves in the last group for the ﬁnal round on the Majlis course following an opening 64 (8-under par) over the Faldo course and they were joined by Yvette and Neil Heywood who were two strokes back. With three holes to go at least four teams had the chance to win but it was Shewakramani and Sindhu

who ﬁnished strongly with a gross birdie for a net eagle on the par four 17th followed by a net birdie on the ﬁnal hole. They combined superbly in the Greensomes format to post rounds of 64 and 68 for a 132. Emirates GC members Karam Sehmi and Ninu Smith represented their home club admirably with rounds of 67 and 67 for a 134 total for second place while Gaurav Verma and Shreyans Khemka shot up the leaderboard into third place thanks to a superb second round 63.

CHRIS DYBALL TRIUMPHS IN LADY CAPTAINS DAY BARBARA Head started her Lady Captain’s Day with the opening tee shot and great fun was had by all across the modiﬁed Majlis course. Various alternative versions of the holes were put together, including a Nearest the Pin with a throw on hole 7 and ‘green keepers revenge’ with tractors in the middle of the fairway on hole 10. Taking the top honours in the popular event was Chris Dyball as she put together a superb tally of 42 points, one clear of Veronica Elias and Janet Curtis who needed a countback to separate them. Second place was eventually handed to Curtis due to her performance on the closing nine holes.

CONTACT: Tel : +9714 380 2222 E-mail: info@dubaigolf.com

BARBARA HEAD LEADS HER TEAM TO VICTORY OVER MITSUKO’S IN THE BATTLE OF THE CAPTAINS LADY Captain Barbara Head led her side to a 5 ½ - 3 ½ victory over the team led by Lady Vice Captain Mitsuko Emmerson on the Majlis Course in the recent Battle of the Captains. Most matches went all the way down to the ﬁnal few holes and could have gone either way but Barbara’s team held their nerve to clinch the win.

There were four Nearest the Pin prizes on oﬀer and walking away with the prizes were Janine Dols, Ingrid Sjodoﬀ, Fiona Berry and Carolyn Thompson while the two Longest Drive prizes were won by Elaine Belcher and Viv Caley. Lady Vice Captain Mitsuko Emmerson is puctured left presenting Lady Captain Barbara Head with the Battle of the Captains trophy.

THE ADDRESS MONTGOMERIE DUBAI www.themontgomerie.com

CONTACT: Tel : +971 4 390 5600

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ALDERMAN CROWNED NEW CLUB CHAMPION CHRIS Alderman held his nerve to win the Club Championship recently after defeating defending champion Charlie Simpson in a play-off. The pair both finished with a two-round tally of gross 156 but it was Alderman who prevailed on the second extra hole odf a play-off to take the title. Barbara McBean won the Ladies Championship for the third time in her career with an emphatic 14-stroke win while the Net Division ‘A’ winner was Gina Guillamon with a 151 tally while Juangok Youn sealed Division ‘B’ on 134. The men’s Division ‘A’ went to Malcolm Gray with a 143 while Myoung Kyu Shin took the spoils in Division ‘B’ with a 132.

CAPTAIN’S TROPHY WELCOMES IN NEW REIGN A TOTAL of 82 members took to the course to play in the Captains Trophy last month which saw Kevin Thorley hand over the reigns to Alex Andarakis and Fiona Linn to Frances Westwood. The format for the tournament was a Blind four-person team event, with two of the team members being split up from their other two team members and then combining both team

scores to determine the winners of the day. Winning the event with a score of 118 points were Alex Kuk, Valerie Zabrodin, John Brash and Stephen Steyn, two points clear of secondplaced Baljit Kaur, Satnam Kaur, Liam Burns and Carol Burns. A special mention goes to Chris Ridley for hitting a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth.

SOBATI AND EUN WIN RIVOLI AND GUESTS MASOUD Sobati and Joon Eun combined superbly to win the recent Rivoli Citizens and Guests tournament with a score of 79 points – six clear of Muzaﬀer Hamid and Sajjid Hamid. In Division ‘B’ Jong Hun Mun and Gi Chun Kang scored 64 points to take the title by ﬁve points from John and Debbie Murray.

Arabian Golf - June 2014 | 77

AL BADIA GOLF CLUB www.albadiagolfclub.ae

AlBadiaGolfClub

AL BADIA’S KELLY HANWELL FINISHES IN TOP THREE AT UK PGA GRADUATION IT was an historic day at the University of Birmingham recently as Al Badia Golf Club’s pro Kelly Hanwell was amongst the top three golfers at the UK PGA’s annual graduation ceremony. The PGA training programme, which was founded more than 50 years ago, concentrates on all aspects of golf, including business, equipment technology and repairs, rules and tournament organisation, sports science, sports psychology and competing in tournaments. Hanwell, from Northampton, England, has a real passion for the game, which is evident from her career work history. Prior to turning professional in 2010 she was also a Regional Development Officer for the English Golf Union and the English Women’s Golf Association, which saw her increasing participation and raising awareness of the game of golf. Kelly turned professional in 2010 and has been a member of Al Badia Golf Club’s Academy since the summer of 2013. “It was a great honour to collect my diploma from Beverley Lewis, who was the first female captain of the PGA and to be a part of a little piece of history,” she smiled after finishing third behind Alex Mollin and Emma

Leading Ladies: Kelly Hanwell (centre) is pictured with winner Alex Mollin (left) and Emma Fairnie (right).

Fairnie. “I’ve worked hard over the past three years to complete my qualification and I am so pleased to have finished where I did.”

LEO KAWAKAMI CLINCHES THE AL FUTTAIM HONDA SERIES QUALIFIER

FORSTER WINS RIVOLI MAY MEDAL DAVID Forster was in exceptional form in winning last month’s Rivoli Medal while Steve Kelshaw won the Gross prize on the day with a 74. David Moore topped the pile in Division ‘A’ with a 68 while a net 69 was good enough for Noel Connolly to take the Division ‘B’. The Ladies Division was won by Jacqueline O’Connor who shot a net 71. There was only one ‘two’ recorded on the day as Paul Batson rolled in his birdie putt on the 15th. Winner David Forster is pictured, centre, with Al Badia Captain Richard Kim and Vice Captain Colin Cordery.

Leo Kawakami is pictured with Club Captain Richard Kim and Vice Captain Colin Cordery.

CLOSE CALL IN END OF SEASON OPEN THE scores were tight in the End of Season Ladies Open last month but taking the spoils with an excellent score of 60.1 was the team of S.L. Rim, Yeon Ja Lee, Ji Won Bae and J. Kir. In second

78 | Arabian Golf - June 2014

LEO Kawakami took the spoils in the recent Al Futtaim Honda Series Qualiﬁer with a superb haul of 40 Stableford points. The youngster won by two from George Fitchet while Liz Batson took third place on 36 points Kawakami also clinched the Nearest the Pin prize that was on oﬀer on hole 11 while the Longest Drive went to Yulia Savina on the 4th.

place with a score of 60.5 was the team of Helen Shippey, Teres Salum and Kristina Degenaist, while the Nearest the Pin prize went to S.L. Rim and the Longest Drive went to Michell Hilbert.

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PROS TOO GOOD AGAIN FOR AMS IN DUBAI GOLF TROPHY THE leading 16 EGF Amateurs teed off against 16 leading UAE-based PGA Professionals in the 15th annual staging of the Dubai Golf Trophy and coming out on top after two days of superb play were the professionals by a margin of 19.5 to 12.5 The professionals have now won the last six editions and were rarely threatened over the weekend in the Ryder Cup-style format. After the opening mornings’ play the scores were level at 4 – 4 but in the afternoon the pros pulled ahead and led by 11 – 5 ahead of the final day singles. With a six point deficit the amateurs had it all to do and they gave it their all under the captaincy of John Fellingham but came away empty handed once again. Max Burrow produced a fine performance and got the first point on the board for the amateurs with a 5&3 victory over Luke Plumb and Rayhan Thomas followed suit with birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 to beat Alistair Brown 1-up. Paul King also managed to earn a point with a 2&1 victory over Al Ain’s Professional Fraser McLaughlin and there were also wins for Miki Mirza, Bilal Belaid and Eoin Cunniffe. However, the professionals proved again to be too strong a match and it was Anthony Buchanan who sank his par putt on the 15th to seal a 4&3 victory over Hassan Yazdi and get that all important 16th point on the board for the professionals which ensured their victory. After the end of play, PGA Professional Team Captain, Steven Munro commented; “I’d like to thank the Professional team for doing such a fantastic job today and to Dubai Golf for hosting a superb event once again this year.” Amateur Team Captain Fellingham said: “I am so proud of my team. They supported each other and gave it their all as well as playing the game in its intended spirit. As captain I couldn’t have asked for any more and I look forward to the Dubai Golf Trophy going on for many years to come.” After the prizegiving, Dubai Golf CEO, Chris May, commented: “Firstly, I would

Chris May, CEO, Dubai Golf, presents the Dubai Golf Trophy to Steven Munro, the Professionals team Captain, while the victoriousPGA Professional team celebrate their sixth win in a row in the tournament.

like to say thank you everyone who qualiﬁed and participated this year. It was, as always, another great event with some fantastic golf being played. This is a very special and unique event to this part of the world and Dubai Golf is very proud to be part of it. We look forward to its continued success.”

JOSHUA HILL WINS SEVENTH EVENT OF PAR-3 YOUNG Joshua Hill lit up the par-3 course as he went round in 23 blows to win the seventh event of the Dubai Golf Par-3 Series recently. Joshua was 4-under-par for the day and won by four strokes from Fardeen Meeran while in the Purple sivision Hoshi Yadav prevailed on a countback ahead of Dilan White with both players locked on 30. Aarnav Nath secured the honours in the Blue section with a score of 33, one clear of David Polo while Sadie Brannock shot a 40 to win the Yellow section by two from Rishi Lolla. Mirwais Arghanidawal shot a 59 to win the White section. “It was an excellent day and we are privileged to have some of the finest talent in the UAE,” said Organising Golf Professional Kenny Monaghan. “The score today from Joshua was first class. I wouldn’t have fancied taking him on myself! Congratulations to all the players. Some of the youngsters were playing on the course for the first time. This is valuable experience and, hopefully, great fun for everyone.” Samuel D’Souza is pictured with Stephen Hubner, Lady Captain Paula Savage and Jasmin Valencia, Assistant Sales and Marketing Manager, Dubai Duty Free.

SAMUEL D’SOUZA OUTLASTS THE PACK THE fourth event in the 2014 Dubai Duty Free Junior Medal Championship took place recently and taking the spoils on the day was Samuel D’Souza with a superb tally of 29.5 while Katherina Nielsen won the girls prize with a score of 37.5. Taking the Gross honours was Dhruv Nair while the two Nearest the Pin prizes went to Markus Nielsen and Jennifer Vincent on holes 5 and 8 respectively.

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CONTACT: Tel : +971 4 295 6000 E-mail: dcgyc@dubaigolf.com

KHODJASTEH CLINCHES THE MASHREQ MEDAL SHAHRIAH Khodjasteh clinched the top prize in last month’s Mashreq Medal Championship with a superb round of 67. “It feels so good to ﬁnally to win one of these events after many, many years of trying,” he said after receiving his prize. “I would like to say a huge thank you to the sponsors of the event and to everyone involved for putting on such great events for us all, month after month.” The Men’s Division ‘A’ title went to Dhruv Chopra with a solid net 2-under-69, two clear of Mark McCarthy. A fantastic net 68 saw George Chidiac clinch the title in Division ‘B’ by one stroke from Christophe Blanc while the overall Gross winner on the day was Bayhaan Lakdawala with a conﬁdent 1-over 73. The Ladies Division went to Naema Maya with a net 71 while the same score helped Barry Henderson to victory in the Senior Division.

THOMAS HOLDS ON TO HIS JUNIOR OPEN TITLE DUBAI Creek Golf & Yacht club recently hosted the annual Junior Open – the final event of the EGF Order-of-Merit Championship – and coming out on top was defending champion Rayhaan Thomas, carding a superb 10-under-par 70. “I’m really pleased to make a successful defence of my title against such a strong field,” smiled Thomas. “As always I would like to thank my playing partners for such an enjoyable game today and, of course, everybody involved with the organisation of the event for putting on such a great tournament again this year.”

Thomas was in the first group and set the bar for the rest of the field at 1-under par and although fellow Dubai Creek junior Mikhail Pinto put in an excellent round to challenge Thomas’s lead it fell just short. Pinto’s score of 1-over 72 saw him take the Boy’s Gross title while Arabian Ranches junior Kim Chiang took the Girl’s category with a 77. The Boy’s Net title went to Kabir Nanda with a 65, two clear of Dhruv Nair, while Aashka Desai shot a 67 to win the Girls Net title by eight from Anastacia Bakal.

Arabian Golf - June 2014 | 81

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SARKAR JUST HOLDS ON TO SECURE THE ORDER OF MERIT THE season-long Tourism Authority of Thailand Order of Merit came to an exciting climax on May 9th at the Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club. With eight Orient Travel Medals up for grabs and an all-inclusive golfing trip to Thailand on offer for the top three finishers, courtesy of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the stakes were high heading into the final round. In the end it was Jaydeep Sarkar who carded a final round score of net 86 to hold on by 1.5 points and claim his first ever Order of Merit title and a trip to Thailand. Mukti Rai, who sat in fifth place prior to the final round, fired a solid

net 74 to jump up three places on the standings and finish in the runnersup spot. Claiming the last ticket to Thailand was Mel Stewart who retuned a net score of 79 in the final round to do just enough to hold onto third spot by just three points from Indian golfer A.E Ravi. Ravi ended with a disappointing final round of net 83, pushing him from second place to fourth place. In the Gross Order of Merit it was George Liu who ran away with victory by a resounding 33 points over golfer Ramli Sulaiman while Ricky Dominguez finished in third place.

KIM TAKES MIDWEEK CENTRO ROTANA MEDAL A two-under net score of 34 was good enough for Korean golfer Golden Kim to return to the top of the Centro Sharjah Rotana Midweek nine-hole Medal. He carded four back-to-back gross pars to open his round and ended up finishing one shot ahead of the pack. Sultan Al Ali took second place with a one-under net score of 35 which was also good enough to win him the Division 1 prize. Hyuck Tony Bang took the runners-up spot in Division 1, recovering from a poor start to finish on an even-par 36. In Division 2 it was last month’s Centro Rotana champion Abdul Latif who finished on top after recording a two-over score of 38. Ruhil Baraiga recovered from a poor start to finish in second spot with a four-over score of 40. He won via a countback after his father, Larry, and Westley Burke, recorded identical scores at the end of their nine holes.

FISHER & YAZDI TAKE BMW SOCIAL The scratch team duo of Nathan Fisher and Hassan Yazdi joined forces to produce two superb rounds for a combined score of 63.9 to win the BMW Members & Guests Social event. On the back of Yazdi’s impressive eagle on the par ﬁve fourth, the duo played in the morning shotgun, leaving it to the afternoon golfers to try to surpass their total. The pairing of Abdul Moiz Khan and Imran Akhtar ﬁnished a close second as they combined for a total score of 64.5. Englishmen John Gould and Ian Plant combined nicely to win the Texas Scramble format in the morning with a score of 33.7, while the Singaporean duo of Ramli Sulaiman and Rizal Ibrahim won the afternoon version with a total of 34. The back nine betterball medal formats went to 2013-14 SGSC Club Captain J.P. Simon and Luca Carstanjen for their six-under score of 30 in the morning, whilst BMW specialists Mike Siddaway and Brian Sheppherd collected the afternoon version with a score of 32.

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ABDUL LATIF WINS CORAL BEACH RESORT BOGEY COMPETITON Abdul Latif of the Emirates Golf Federation took the Coral Beach Resort Midweek Bogey competition with an overall score of three-over par and no losses. SGSC member Kardibaldi also ended on three-over par but lost on the countback after a poor finish on the final hole. However, there was some joy for Kardibaldi as he walked off with the Division 2 title. Englishman Gavin Reed picked up the Division 1 prize after shooting a round of one-over par. Bogey competition is a format that is played hole-by-hole. If a player shoots a birdie or better he wins that hole while a bogey or worse would

result in them losing the hole. A player halves the hole if they shoot par. The holes that the golfer loses are then subtracted from the holes won to come up with a ﬁnal score.

ARABIAN RANCHES www.arabianranchesgolfdubai.com

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ORIM AND WALLACE CONQUER THE COURSE Completing his round five-up on the course, Emmanuel Orim captured the men’s title at the Individual Bogey Tournament finishing two ahead of Matthew Derrick who secured the runners-up spot. In the ladies division it was Pauline Wallace who returned a score of threeup against the course to take the ladies title. She posted a total of seven net birdies on her way to the title, finishing just one ahead of Sheila Alban.

CHARNELET AND McKELVEY CROWNED CLUB CHAMPIONS Matthieu Charnelet was crowned the Men’s Champion in the tenth edition of the Arabian Ranches Club Championship. He played consistent golf over the two-day event to narrowly ﬁnish ahead of second-placed Dougie McLennan. In the women’s tournament it was Adele McKelvey who comprehensively won her seventh title to take the championship by eight shots over runner-up Kim Chiang. Erik Hartzuiker won the junior championship with a gross score of 79 while the junior net title went to Marcello Pereira for his 77.

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FEENIE FIRES A 66 TO WIN THE St GEORGE’S DAY TROPHY MAGS Feenie will soon have to buy a bigger mantelpiece as she collected yet another trophy in the form of the inaugural St George’s Day Trophy recently. Feenie cruised to a four-stroke victory after signing for a 66 in the event, which is the brainchild of Al Hamra members Clive and Evon Rawlings. Feenie was in hot form and recovered from a nine on the second hole to post equal halfs of 33 to win from Peter Mitias with Phil Gardner taking third place after losing to Mitias on a countback. The best gross score on the day went to Brian Stewart after he signed for an 80, two clear of John Wilby while the special events on the day went to Ian Baron, Brian Stewart, Andy Klein and Ash Harris for their Nearest the Pin eﬀorts.

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Another special prize went to Ian Midgley who on the ‘best dressed’ award thanks to his superb Union Jack ‘onesie’.

AL AIN EQUESTRIAN SHOOTING AND GOLF CLUB

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Australia Captain Peter Forrester presents the trophy to New Zealand Captain Susie Norton Westwood.

KIWIS WIN THE ANZACS DAY

LEX CASSIERE EASES TO MAY HILTON HANDICAP WIN

THE annual Anzacs match which pits an Australian team against a team representing New Zealand took place recently and coming out on top were the Kiwis by four shots â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thanks in no small part to Chris Moore who shot a gross 75 for a net 62 to win the individual prize on oďŹ&#x20AC;er. Joe Coppinger was second, thanks to his net 65, while Mihail Bucataru took third place with a 67 from his net 77. In fourth place was Eric Smith who closely followed with a net 68 while Chris Grimshaw and Alison Smith were ďŹ fth and sixth in the individual event respectively as they both scored 71 net to complete the prize winners.

LEX Cassiere made the most of some great conditions for scoring as his excellent gross 71 gave him a net 65 for a one-stroke victory in Division â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hilton Handicap. In second place with a net 66 from a gross 74 was Chris Moore while Mark Krusemark also signed for a 66 but missed out on a countback. The scoring in the top division was superb throughout as Jim Muirhead and Tommy Cotgrave also carded a 66 while there were

67s for Bofdan Schiopu and Stephen Garbutt. Division â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; saw Chris Emmerson blitz the ďŹ eld with a net 65 from his gross 81, ďŹ ve clear of Mark Harrower who posted a net 70 from his gross 87 while third place went to Michael Truelove who lost out to Harrower on a countback. Gerard McGrath returned to form to win Division â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with a 68 while the ever-improving Daniel Whittaker took second place with a 69 and Andrew Muirhead third on 71.

JUMEIRAH GOLF ESTATES www.jumeirahgolfestates.com

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SCORES SOAR IN MAY MEMBER GUEST AS The temperatures soared during last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Member and Guest competition so too did the scores as powerplay pins were in operation on the Fire Course to entice some risk/reward play. Many teams took advantage of the double points awarded to those brave enough to attack these Black ďŹ&#x201A;ag locations and it certainly showed in the Team Powerplay Stableford event. Taking the overall title with a score of 110 points were Graeme Doy, Steve Ramsden, Matthew Wallhead and Paul Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neil. The quartet blitzed the back nine with 59 points and over the course of 18 holes they compiled 24 powerplay points to win by three from Kari Stenman, Aki Kotakorpi, Tomi Karvonen and Kari Nyman. Taking third place with 104 points were JGE members, Bob Symons and John Walsh with guests Mark JolliďŹ&#x20AC;e and John Fish and they were delighted with their podium ďŹ nish. David Haswell won the Nearest the Pin in 2 prize on the ďŹ rst hole and Chris Moore clinched the same award on the 16th.

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SANA TUFAIL AND JAMES COOK CROWNED CLUB CHAMPIONS JUNIOR member Sana Tufail compiled a two-round total of 146 to win the Ladies Club Championship while James Cook posted a 147 to clinch the Men’s title. Grace Groves sealed the Ladies net category with a hugely impressive 147 points, four clear of Ying Hoong Fun. Ryan Hunter, another Junior Member, took second place in the gross category behind Tufail.

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YAZBECK PREVAILS IN MONTHLY MEDAL Maroun Yazbeck took the honours at the Yas Links Members Cadillac Monthly Medal on May 2 as he prevailed in the ‘B’ Category (Handicap 0-12) with a net score of 80. In the ‘A’ Category (Handicap 13-28) it was Art Lehmkuhl who ﬁnished on top after carding an impressive net score of 76. William Royce recorded the day’s overall best gross round as he ﬁnished with a score of 74 while the best ladies net score came from Elizabeth Campbell who shot a 75.

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DRYSDALE SHOOTS A SENSATIONAL 62 EUROPEAN Tour player and frequent guest at Jebel Ali Golf Resort, David Drysdale, took a break from Tour life to hit the Resort Course in a practice session and shot a blistering 10-under-par round of 62. After a slow start to the year due to injury the Scot tuned up his game by playing with regular Resort Course players. The warm-up did him some good as he recently posted a share of eighth place at The Championship at Laguna National thanks to rounds of 68-70-70-65. Pictured left: Roy Donaldson, Carl Wherrett and Golf Team members James Williams and Elliot Rowe watch David Drysdale tee off.

ADRIAN LOW DIGS DEEPS TO WIN THE MOLE PATROL ADRIAN Low collected the individual prize at the Mole Patrol Championship at Jebel Ali Golf Resort last month with a superb haul of 39 points. It

turned out to be a great day for Low as he also won the team prize alongside Karsten Zang and Ian Everingham with a tally of 93 points.

ABU DHABI CITY GOLF CLUB www.adcitygolf.com

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SUPERB SCORES IN FINAL AJYAL GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP PAR-3 ABU Dhabi City Golf Club hosted the grand ﬁnal of the 2013-2014 AJYAL Golf Championship Par-3 League recently and members of the Al Heloo family stole the show. The league is open to all Emirati junior golfers under the patronage of the Shiekh Diab Bin Saif Al Nahyan and taking the top honours in the Boys ‘A’ Division was Obaid Al Heloo with a gross 37, one clear of Mohammed Al Hajeri with Khalid Al Mutawa third on 40. Reema Al Heloo made it a day to remember for her family by dominating the Girls Division with a superb gross score of 32, a full 13 shots clear of Alyazya Al Shehhi. Reema also collected the Nearest the Pin prize on hole 9. Division ‘B’ was played over six holes and Alia Al Emadi took the spoils with a gross 32, four points clear of Khalifa Abdulla with Adlii Dallal third on 37. Rhian Lobo, General Manager of Abu Dhabi City

Golf Club, said: “We were very honoured to be part of such a great event and to accommodate the grand ﬁnal of the 2013-2014 AJYAL Golf Championship Par-3 League.” UAE National Team Coach Jason Froggatt said: “The EGF would like to sincerely thank the children of Sheikh Diab Bin Saif Al Nahyan for sponsoring The Ajyal Golf Championship. This is the second season of their support and again we have seen

between 24 - 30 children participate throughout each event. “This year also saw our U-15 National Team win the Gold medal in the GCC U-15 Golf Championships in Oman. The U-15 team came through our Development Programme and Par-3 League. The EGF is looking forward to their support for next season and to grow the game through the Emiratis’ particpation.”

PROMISING FUTURE FOR BEACH ROTANA JUNIOR LEAGUE PLAYERS

SIEGEL AND O’SULLIVAN CROWNED PEUGEOT CLUB CHAMPIONS TWO days of glorious weather and perfect greens greeted a full ﬁeld of over 100 players in the Peugeot Club Championship and coming out on top were Emily Siegel and Mark O’Sullivan. Siegel retained her Ladies Champion title thanks to her two-day tally of 172 while O’Sullivan clinched the Men’s title with a superb total of 149. In the Net prizes Debbie Gibbs came out on top in the Ladies Division with a 139 total while the Men’s net winner was Billy Gibb with a 137. The overall Division ‘A’ winner was Aaron Schemeck who had two great Rounds of 66 and 71 for a 137 total while in Division ‘B’ Vijay Ganju took the spoils with the same score after consistent rounds of 68 and 69.

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THE Beach Rotana Junior League series came to a climax last month when more than 100 youngsters teed it up to try and get their hands on some silverware. In addition to prizes on the day, the Order of Merit awards were handed out and taking the 3-hole prize was five year old Viraj Bulla with a tally of 113.5 points – a superb achievement as he was competing against some players who were twice his age. The 8-hole Order of Merit prize went to Lara El Chaib as she won the final event to come from second place to leapfrog clear of Charles Imbert with a 122 point tally. The 18-hole Order of Merit winners were Jake Wilshire in the Gross section and Antel El Chaib in the Net. Taking the spoils in the 3-hole tournament in the final event were Seung Woo Wang in the Boys section and Jessica Kelly in the Girls with 14 points each, while the Boys winner in the 8-hole tournament was Mohammed Al Hajeri with 27 points.

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FUTURE STARS UNEARTHED IN TROON GOLF JUNIOR INTER-CLUB SERIES OPENER SEVEN year old Sean Cooper took centre stage at the opening event of the Troon Golf Junior Inter-Club season opener at Abu Dhabi GC as he led his team from The Track Meydan to a nine-point victory. The Track team compiled a tally of 79 points to clinch the win ahead of The Address Montgomerie Dubai with Sean signing for an even-par round to lead the way in the individual section. Taking second place was Jennifer Buchanan from TAMD while home player Amalia Arredondo picked up the Nearest the Pin prize. Danny Jakubowski, Group Director of Instruction at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The feedback from the parents has been overwhelming. They love being able to watch their kids play, and really appreciate the fact that we are providing them with an opportunity to play on Championship

courses and with world class facilities. Most of them plan on following the rest of the events on the series, too.â&#x20AC;?

17 YEAR OLD JUNG BIN KIM WINS THE HSBC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Jung Bin Kim

Paromita Mukherjee

JUNG Bin Kim clinched the HSBC Club Championship ahead of a strong ďŹ eld of 60 players recently after two rounds of 77 from the black tees on the National Course. Kim plotted his way around the course in superb fashion, combatting the strong winds with some exceptionally consistent driving and iron play. Taking second place with a total of 158, four behind Kim, was Sung Jin Hwang with Bilal Belaid ďŹ nishing third with a 159 tally. The Ladies competition was far more one-sided as Paromita Mukherjee posted rounds of 85 and 79 for a mammoth -13stroke win over Lina Tyson. In the Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 14-0 hcp Division Chris Rossmeisl scored a net 150 to deny Tariq-El Chaib by two strokes while in the +15 hcp Division Thomas Dauer was the worthy winner with a 129 total. Cathy Siegel clinched the Ladies Net prize with a 148.

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SKY’S THE LIMIT FOR WALKER LIAM Walker clinched a two-point victory in the recent Weekday Social Stableford after a haul of 21 points saw him pip Ruchi Shukla to the title. Four players scored 17 points and taking third place outright after winning the countback was Yuki Pellerine. The two Nearest the Pin winners were S.P. Hong and Walker while Robbie Cunningham looks like he could do with some golf lessons after taking home the wooden spoon with just 7 points.

HONG AND PARK COME OUT ON TOP THE deadly duo of S.P. Hong and J.I. Park secured victory in the Social Cumulative Stableford competition recently after they won a three-way countback. Four teams signed for a tally of 27 points and it was Hong and Park’s impressive ﬁnish that saw them take the win ahead of

Justin Clarke and Miller Green with Dave Oldfield and George Llewellyn finishing third. Unluckily finishing outside the medal positions were Leo D’Sousa and Jeff Baker while the two Nearest the Pin winners on the day were Mark Reagan and Dave Faulker.

ASHUTOSH AND RUCHI SHUKLA SHINE IN WEEKLY SOCIAL GREENSOME

MARK REAGAN AND GREG MADDOX STAR IN STABLEFORD

ASHUTOSH and Ruchi Shukla played some superb golf to clinch the weekly social greensome competition by three points from Liam Walker and Pat Mottershead with an outstanding score of 24 points. To succeed in this format it requires both players to perform on the night which is something that this dynamic duo did with ease. Finishing third were Joe Wivou and Lanka Uduwatta while George Llewellyn and Gerry Gibson took the two Nearest the Pin prizes.

MARK Regan and Greg Maddox topped the standings in the weekly betterball Stableford recently with an impressive haul of 23 points. Leo D’Sousa and Andy Klein also scored 23 points but lost out on a countback and

TOWER LINKS’ REIGN OVER AL HAMRA CONTINUES TOWER Links continued its dominance of Al Hamra in the annual Interclub Tournament after thrashing them by a whopping 13 points recently. Al Hamra held the lead after day one on their own course by 16.5 – 13.5 but struggled at Tower Links on day two as they failed to adapt to their new surroundings. The home team trounced Al Hamra by ten points on day two to round oﬀ a 36.5 – 23.5 ﬁnal score.

90 | Arabian Golf - June 2014

were left to lament a sub-standard back nine. Joe Wivou and Lanka Udawatta took third place on 22 points while taking home the wooden spoon on the night were Jeﬀ Baker and David Michie who managed to score 13 points.

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ROB AND DEBBIE LANE TAKE MIXED OPEN THE husband and wife pairing of Rob and Debbie Lane posted an impressive two round net score of 140.2 to clinch the title in the prestigious Mixed Open recently. A greensomes score of net 70.6 on the ﬁnal day’s play combined with their opening 69.6 gave them a clear victory ahead of Dong Min Suh and Jung Kyung Yoon while taking third place with a net 144.8 were Phil and Julie Dixon.

Left to right: Phil and Julie Dixon, Mohamed Akeel (from sponsors Coca Cola), Dong Min Suh and Jung Kyung Yoon and Debbie and Rob Lane.

RYAN WOOLEY CROWNED BAHRAIN JUNIOR OPEN CHAMPION SOUTH African Ryan Wooley became Bahrain’s Junior Open Champion after coming out on top in the two-day event, thanks to gross scores of 74 and 75. Wooley’s total of 149 saw him take the title ahead of Sam Hobday by seven strokes while the overall net prize went to Abdulla Al Qutami with a superb score of 142. Nearly ﬁfty youngsters from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, USA and South Africa competed in the prestigious competition which saw some excellent scoring despite the soaring temperatures on the ﬁrst

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day and tough, windy conditions on the second. The tournament, supported by the Bahrain Golf Association, was split into three main categories with under21-s and under16-s competing on the Montgomerie championship course, and the under 12s and beginners playing on the Wee Monty par3- course. The under16- competition was closely contested with Yaseen Le Falher edging out Saud Al Sharif by a single shot while Taimur Malik sealed the under12- category with a two-round total of 56.

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TAYMOUR SCARELLO SEALS ROUND 5 OF THE RACE TO THE MONTY TAYMOUR Scarello won his third of the five events in the Race to The Monty series so far to increase his lead on the points list. Scarello now sits on 467 points after picking up 140 points for the win, and is well clear of Sherif Fahmy who finished second in the event. Fahmy’s haul of 126 for finishing second took his total to 428.75. Soliman El Assar, who previously won two rounds of the series, can still turn things around in the next round as his total gross points of 423 puts him within striking distance in third place. The year long challenge began in January and will see a series of 11 events run untill November. The overall winner in the Gross and Net divisions will receive a three night stay for two at The Address Montgomerie Dubai, both playing three rounds of golf at the accompanying championship course, plus return flights. Also included is access to The European Tour’s season finale – the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

92 | Arabian Golf - June 2014

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KWANG HUNG CHO COLLECTS THE CLUB SHIELD KWANG Hung Cho was in hot form as he produced a net 67 to win the Club Shield on a countback ahead of Benjamin De Poumeyrol. Taking the honours in Division ‘A’ with a 68 was Duk Bae Kim while Jacky Tan and Richard Bolton

took second and third place respectively. After missing out on the overall prize, De Poumeyrol settled for the top spot in Division ‘B’ ahead of Shizuka Ikawa with Ken Hardman taking third place.

SARIOWAN AND KELLY ARE THE PERFECT PAIR

MIR CAPTURES THE MEDAL

SIEGFRIED Sariowan and Paul Kelly won the recent DGC Pairs Challenge with a scintillating low score of net 62, two strokes clear of Ian McInerney and Brian Cullen. The event consisted of two shotgun starts and the weather favoured the morning players as a strong wing blew up at lunchtime. Sariowan and Kelly were grateful for their early tee time as they

came out on top while ﬁnishing third were Paul Virgo and Gerry Price with a 65. The event was also a qualiﬁer for the Men’s Doubles Matchplay with the top 31 teams qualifying for the knockout stages of the event. The Matchplay will be staged over the year and will result in one pair being crowned Doubles Matchplay Champions for 2014.

FAISAL Mir clinched last month’s Guardian Wealth Monthly Medal courtesy of a superb score of gross 70 which gave him a net 67 and a one-stroke win over Mikkel Mathiesen in Division ‘A’. Young Gon Ok took the course apart as he signed for a net 64 from his gross 81 to win Division ‘B’ by four strokes from Lewis Aﬄeck. In Division ‘C’ Jean Dominique Lucas emerged victorious winning on a countback ahead of Keiichi Kadowaki and DeWet Espach after all three had ﬁnished on a 67 while the Ladies Division was wrapped up by Marlene Lebitschnig with a 73.

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HUMPHRIES CLINCHES THE FED UP CUP

MARK CAMPBELL CRUISES TO MAY MEDAL

BRIAN Humphries took home the inaugural Fed Up Cup Order of Merit title recently after three months of consistent play. Humphries has been one of the big improvers at the club since investing in some golf lessons and it certainly paid oﬀ in the form of his victory.

MARK Campbell romped to a ten-stroke victory in last month’s medal after a superb net 65 oﬀ his 10 handicap saw him ﬁnish clear of Paul Rathbone. Thomas Rathbone took third place after he signed for a 77. In Division ‘B’ Osama Al Taher clinched the top spot with a net 70, three strokes clear of David Brudenall with S.R. Shashidhar taking third with a 75.

Arabian Golf - June 2014 | 93

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GOLF STYLE 96 STEVE THOMPSON ENGLAND RUGBY STAR AT HOME ON THE GREENS IN DUBAI

98 DRIVING RANGE

102 104 TEE TIMES

THE LOOK WorldwideGolf - June 2014 | 95

STEVE THOMPSON MBE

GAME OF TWO HALVES

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TEVE THOMPSON MBE was a fearless front row rugby player for England and the British and Irish Lions. A member of England’s all-conquering 2003 World Cup-winning side, he is his national team’s most capped hooker. He’s lived in Dubai for the past three years where he now runs a successful interior design business and being based in the emirate has allowed him to reignite his long-held passion for the game of golf. Steve suffered two serious setbacks with neck injuries during his rugby career, which ended his playing days and greatly hampered his ability to play golf. He’s had to effectively re-learn the game from scratch and helping him do that has been Justin Parsons, Director of Instruction at his home club, The Els Club, where we caught up with Steve.

WWG: You were a hooker on the rugby pitch, are you a hooker on the golf course? Steve Thompson: Hooker, slicer, you name it…whatever can go wrong does go wrong, but I’m trying to put it right! I love my golf and the weather out here in Dubai definitely helps! WWG: When did your interest in golf begin and what do you love about the game? ST: It began 15 years ago, but the demands of playing in the front row meant I needed to stop playing as my body was frequently injured. But now I have stopped playing rugby, I have taken golf up again. WWG: What handicap do you play off? ST: I play off 22 (bandit) but I’m having to teach myself how to play all over again because of my neck injury. WWG: You broke your neck twice playing rugby, how has that affected your golf? ST: It has affected it quite considerably. I’ve had to teach the right side of my body how to play again, and Justin Parsons from the Butch-Harmon School at The Els Club has been given the daunting task of doing. It’s been good as I have just started from the beginning and got the basics right. WWG: What are the strengths of your game? ST: At the moment my main strength is playing with my 8-iron as I can use it out of the sand on the fairway and in the rough! WWG: What about the weaknesses? ST: Playing out of bunkers and my short game genrerally. WWG:How often do you play? ST: ’m trying to play at least once a week but sometimes I can get out three times a week (‘networking’ is best word ever invented).

Steve and Justin on the range at The Els Club.

WWG: Were you able to play much in your rugby days when you were on tour? Did you get to play at some nice places around the world? ST: I tried to play at least once in each country I visited, just to say I had, but because of the scheduling of games and training it was hard to get out on the course. The backs were always on the course when the forwards were training! WWG: Rugby and golf are pretty diﬀerent sports; is golf a popular game among pro rugby players? ST: Actually it’s quite similar – it’s a very mental game where one mistake can cost you dearly so you need to concentrate. I just hope I can learn to hit a ball straighter than I can throw a rugby ball at a line-out! WWG: Which of your former colleagues did you play with? Who were the best/worst? ST: Ben Cohen had to be the worst player – he had no coordination whatsoever. Matt Dawson and Mike Tindal were very good players. Will Greenwood always talked a good game but the biggest bandit would have to be Jason Leonard.

WWG: What about the funniest moment? ST: : I once hit a drive and my driver ended up in the middle of a pond. I had to wade in, in my pants, to get it. WWG: Since you have been in Dubai how have you seen the game develop? ST: I’ve only been in Dubai for three years and already I’ve seen the standard of golf courses getting better and better. When you look back over the years Emirates golf course seemed to be the only course, and now there are plenty of great courses. WWG: How signiﬁcant is the region for golf with events like the DP World Tour Championship and the Desert Classic etc? ST: It’s hugely signiﬁcant There is a massive expat community playing golf here. On top of that, Emiratis are getting into it, which exposes them to the top golf championships, giving them the opportunity to see the great players playing here on the world stage. I’ve been lucky enough to go to both of the Dubai tournaments - you get to see the players close up and I admire the consistency they can all play at. They all make it look so easy!

WorldwideGolf - May 2014 | Öơ

THE DRIVING McLAREN HAVE BEEN NAMING THEIR F1 CARS BY NUMBERS FOR DECADES. SO WHY CHANGE A WINNING FORMULA WHEN BUILDING THEIR PROUCTION CARS?

RANGE WORDS BY RONALD HARVEY

The McLaren MP4-12C was the ﬁrst in a current line of supercars from the Formula One heavyweight that has taken the retail ﬁght to their race rivals, Ferrari. The McLaren MP4-12C sees the British company slipstreaming the Italians on the road – with a view to overtaking with a new range of spectacularly quick and supremely capable supercars. McLaren have been here before, of course. In 1993 the McLaren F1 was unveiled to the

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world with a three-seater cockpit layout that placed the driver in the centre of the car, a chassis made from the lightweight material the company pioneered in motorsport, carbonﬁbre, and a V12 engine from BMW. The McLaren F1 would go on to lay claim the title of the world’s fastest production car for almost a decade, though only 100 were ever built and many of those were for privateer racers. As with the original F1, the MP4 12C plays on McLaren’s grand prix pedigree.

Its shape was honed in the same wind tunnel used to fine-tune the aerodynamics of its F1 cars whose construction centres around a carbonfibre monocoque cell. There’s even technology based on systems banned from Grand Prix racing because it was so effective. You even have to climb over a high and wide sill to enter the MP4-12C, through lifting a scissor door that opens not by a door handle but by running your fingers along the underside of a protruding door edge.

GOLF STYLE McLaren MP4-12C

McLAREN MP4-12C SPECS

ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS ENGINE TYPE: TURBO MPFI ENGINE SIZE: 3.8L CYLINDERS: V8 MAX. TORQUE: 600NM 7000RPM MAX. POWER: 460KW 7500RPM PWR/WGT RATIO: 332.4W/KG BORE & STROKE: 93X69.9MM COMPRESSION RATIO: 8.7 VALVE GEAR: VARIABLE DOUBLE OVERHEAD CAM

DRIVETRAIN SPECIFICATIONS TRANSMISSION7 SP AUTOMATIC DRIVE TYPE REAR WHEEL DRIVE STEERING & SUSPENSION FRONT RIM SIZE8.5X19 REAR RIM SIZE11.0X20 FRONT TYRES 235/35 R19 REAR TYRES 305/30 R20 WHEEL BASE 2670 FRONT TRACK 1656 REAR TRACK 1583 FRONT BRAKES DISC - VENTILATED REAR BRAKES DISC - VENTILATED

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THE VOLVO XC60 Starting range price: AED129,900.

olvo is justifiably proud of its different approach, and the usable, attractive XC60 is strong enough to stand out in a very able compact SUV crowd. For a long time Volvo has been trying extremely hard to evolve from it’s conservative image. It all started in the late 1990s with former Volvo design boss Peter Horbury’s sleek C70 coupé, but the real breakthrough was with the XC60 – the car that the current crop of Volvos owe their DNA to. The striking details and ﬂowing curves have set a new image for the Swedish brand as it’s more of a cross between a coupé, 4x4 and estate. With a new hood and sporty interior the 2014 XC60 model has received more of an urban twist. The new XC60 is available with two engines from the 240 hp petrol turbo T5 to the 304 hp T6. Power is handled via an advanced Geartronic transmission to enhance performance and driving pleasure. Protecting you in a fast-moving world If the car in front stops suddenly and you don’t react, Volvo’s innovative, advanced City Safety system will apply the brakes – at speeds of up to 50km/h. The XC60 also comes with an Active High Beam which means you can keep your mind on the road and see further without dazzling other drivers. XC60 T6 Technical Specs Six-speed Geartronic transmission Acceleration (0-100) Emissions CO2 Fuel Capacity Towing Capacity Total Weight Roof Max Load

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8.1 l/100km 6.9 s 249 g/km 70 l 2000 kg 2440 kg 100 kg

Intuitive and advanced connection With three modes to choose from, you can personalise your Adaptive Digital Display to suit your mood. Choose our voiceactivated Sensus Connected Touch to navigate easily, and enjoy a whole world of internet-based entertainment, plus improved navigation with 3D maps, local search, send-to-car remote destination setting and the optional 3G telematics option (Volvo On Call), offering a WiFi hotspot for Internet connectivity.

DRIVING RANGE VOLVO XC60

Ram a serv dan offe ice c ontr r: Comp li act a nd w mentary arra nty u 60,000K m p to 5 yea s rs.

Contact for more information about the XC60 in the UAE: UAE toll free: 800-8823 Email: volvocars@alfuttaim.ae Website: www.volvocarsuae.com Visit the showrooms Two main showrooms, one located at Dubai Festival City and another in Abu Dhabi.

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TIMES EE

Rolex x Oyster Perpetual Sky Dweller weller A favourite of many pro golfers who travel the world orld on a weekly basis, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller provides the information formation global travellers need to o keep track of time at a glance. Launched hed in 2012, the Sky-Dweller is a striking king timepiece that perfectly blends mechanical sophistication and easee of use. XXX SPMFY DPN

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GOLF STYLE TEE TIMES Audemars Piguet Millenary Minute Repeater with AP Escapement IF you have a spare half a million dollars lying around, you might want to invest in this stunning Millenary Minute Repeater from Audemars Piguet. AP is the brand of choice for many of today’s top golfers, including last month’s Spanish Open winner Miguel Angel Jiménez and it’s easy to see why the stylish fun-loving Spaniard is attracted to these beautiful watches. The Handwound minute repeater watch features a small seconds dial, Audemars Piguet escapement and a double balance-spring. It comes in a lovely rose gold case with a white enamel dial and black roman numerals. www.audemarspiguet.com

Carl F Bucherer– Patravi EvoTec DayDate THE Patravi EvoTec DayDate collection from Carl F. Bucherer provides the perfect blend of style and elegance. This collection is now available in a cushion-shaped case with a new steel bezel and includes a rock-solid DLC coating, making it several times harder than steel. The Patravi EvoTec DayDate is the choice for golfers. www.carl-f-bucherer.com

Union-Glashuette - ‘Noramis’ IF it’s the retro look you’re going for, then Union-Glashuette’s Noramis is the watch you should be wearing. One of the more reasonably priced timepieces around, the stylishly, domed dial, sapphire crystals, and attractive numerals make reading the time on this time machine a timeless experience. www.union-glashutte.com

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TH E

OOK L SINCE the 1980s, La Martina has been an internationally renowned clothing manufacturer famous for their high quality polo equipment and leisure clothing. The Summer collection 2014 features two new capsule collections the ‘Coleccion Privada’ and ‘Royal Box’.

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