By Kent Gray
Bryson DeChambeau has used an awful lot of fancy words to describe his golf game at the 30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic but kept the language plain and simple as he moved to the precipice of a precious international win.

The post “Underperforming” DeChambeau believes he can win in Dubai even without his Sunday best appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Bryson DeChambeau has pole-position, Haotong Li a more than decent shot at defending and Matt Wallace a little piece of desert pedigree to go with the ample self belief he can make it tricky for both frontrunners on Sunday.

The post Easy like Sunday morning as Els eyes fairytale fourth Dubai title appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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By Kent Gray
Terminal velocity we kind of get, but proprioception? Don’t worry, we needed Google to make more sense of Bryson DeChambeau’s second round at the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic as well.

Just know that the world No.5 is exactly where he wants to be at Emirates Golf Club, atop the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard with Lucas Herbert, a 23-year-old Australian who started this European Tour season with a round of 80 but showed it was a mere blip with a sensational nine-under 63 on Friday.

The unlikely duo are tied at -12, a shot clear of 2011 champion Alvaro Quiros and Ernie Els who is concocting a 30^th birthday fairytale as he closes in on 50 by finally rolling in some putts. Talk about rolling back the years. Defending champion Haotong Li looks awfully impressive just two back at the halfway stage, first round leader Matthew Fitzpatrick is within three while 2017 champion Sergio Garcia and Irishman Shane Lowry, last week’s winner in Abu Dhabi, lurk on -8.

But first, to Google. What in the cosmos is proprioception? Ah, the “perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body.” It’s all starting to make sense now. Who are we kidding.

DeChambeau is golf’s most open enigma. After a “scrappy” 66 in Thursday’s opening round, the “Mad Scientist” thankfully paraphrased his matching six under score on Friday – an eagle, seven birdies and three bogeys emanating from the wands within the conical flask that masquerades as his golf bag – as a round where he again didn’t really bring his “A-game”. If the American drawcard can conjure a 66 without his best stuff, imagine what he might do when his Bridgestone ball and Cobra clubfaces achieve perfect cold fusion on the Majlis.

The post DeChambeau doesn’t bring his ‘A game’ and we’re all diving for the dictionary appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Ernie Els turns 50 in October and admits he’s already looking forward to the short-hop from there to 2020 and a crack at his fellow legends on the PGA Champions Tour. It seems the Big Easy isn’t in that much of a rush to cash in on golf’s ultimate retirement plan though.

The colossal South African rolled back the years on Friday, a second round 65 on his beloved Majlis bettering an opening 68 to ease into a share of second place alongside Alviro Quiros at the halfway stage of the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

It’s still far too early to even begin considering the delight of a fourth Dallah trophy and a first win anywhere since he claimed the last of his 28 European Tour wins at the 2013 BMW International Open, even if Els is just a shot shy of overnight leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Lucas Herbert.

But the way he’s negotiated Emirates Golf Club in 11 under already this week, albeit with five bogeys, it’s little wonder all the great memories of his three wins here have come flooding back.

“I like this place, as you know,” said Els who still holds the course record of 61, set in 1994 when he claimed his first European Tour win in Dubai.

“I’ve had some really great times here. I’m swinging well, my body feels well. Just, you know, going on the memory bank, I guess. Playing with Colin [Montgomerie +2] and José [María Olazábal +6 ] was also fun. We’ve done a lot in the game, and we had a good couple of chats, and I found my form. You’ve got to love it.”

The galleries on 18 certainly appreciated Els’ birdie finish on Friday. He left a 35-footer a roll or three short of an eagle that would have seem him draw level with DeChambeau and Herbert on -12 and match the three he scored on the par-5 10^th. But he’d already lit up this milestone Desert Classic with the beaming smile he flashed after flushing an iron to the heart of the final green.

“I think these youngsters, they’re going to keep firing birdies. I think the course might get a little bit tougher because the greens are going to get a little firmer and quicker, but these kids can really play.

“I’m just happy with the first two days. You know, you’ve got to keep going….just keep the foot on the pedal, try and make some birdies. I think 20-under is probably where you need to be or maybe even more. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Els had no idea that he will rack up his 300^th career top-10 if his Majlis magic continues this week, some going when you consider he’s closing in on 800 professional starts in a career spanning more than 30 years. He’s not sure a 58^th worldwide win is possible either but does concede there will be a lot of eyes on him on moving day.

“That’s fine. I’m enjoying it.”

Not half as much as the rest of us.

The post Ernie Els rolls in the putts to roll back the years in Dubai: “You’ve got to love it” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Lucas Herbert started this new wrap-around European Tour season with a round of 80 at the Australian PGA Championship before Christmas, not that he wants reminding. Luckily you’re only as good as your last performance.

The 23-year-old Australian fired a sensational Friday best 63 at Emirates Golf Club to set a -12 clubhouse target that Bryson DeChambeau would eventually match for a share of the halfway lead at the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

The eight over loop at Royal Pines in late November was an anomaly, of course. Herbert promptly retorted with a 69 and while he still comfortably missed the cut on Queensland’s Gold Coast, it reminded everyone of the quality that produced a thoroughly impressive 46^th placing in his rookie Race to Dubai campaign last year.

There was a 69 to open his maiden Desert Classic campaign as well but the real fireworks were reserved for Friday with Herbert, starting on the Majlis’ back nine, book-ending his nine-under effort with an eagle start on 10 and a fortuitous par on the 9^th when he willed in a 40-footer after his approach had ended up wet and resulted in a penalty drop.

There were seven birdies in between as Herbert compiled nines of 32-31 for a total that left him just two shots shy of Ernie Els’ course record, a 12-birdie, 21-putt doozy that has stood since the first of the Big Easy’s record three Dallah trophy triumphs in 1994.

“I kept a bit of an eye on the scores this morning, and even looking at yesterday, everyone is making those numbers around the back nine. You’ve obviously got the three par-5s, and 17 is drivable, so there’s some good birdie opportunities. I knew I just had to take advantage of them straight out of the gate,” said Herbert who added birdies at 11 and 12 to be four under for his first three holes.

“I did that with an eagle-birdie-birdie start, and kind of just kept flowing. I was like 7-under through about 11 holes, and it just felt like I was cruising. I probably left some out there to be honest. Yeah, and then obviously 40-footer on the last there to finish off with a par was pretty nice.”

Herbert racked up five top-5s and seven top-10s in total last season to bank €893,000, a season highlighted by a T-2 finish at the Portugal Masters.  That opening blip on the Gold Coast aside, he’s making a decent fist of living up to this season’s elevated expectations.

“Something like last year would be pretty good. With locking up my card, I can now play the Rolex events, and that’s going to bring a new challenge, playing against harder players for a lot more money. But if we just keep ticking off the right processes and keep improving, I can’t go too far wrong.”

Herbert is clearly enjoying his first visit to Dubai after finishing T-54 in Abu Dhabi last week. He bogeyed his opening hole early on Friday morning but has a clean scorecard since, playing the other 35 holes in -13.

“A lot of left to right holes out there, so that suits me perfectly, just bombing that draw out there. You know, those par-5s are awesome. I think they’re such good holes, and if you get it in play off the tee you can really take advantage of them and get around the green in two.

“I haven’t got enough of a look at the weather forecast to see what it’s going to do over the weekend. I mean, I don’t expect to shoot another two 63s out there. I think today was some of the really good golf that I can play, and it’s going to be hard to replicate that.

“But if I just — so cliché — just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I won’t be doing too much wrong. Keep the bogeys off the card, try and pick off those par-5s to birdie, and I don’t think we’ll be too far away from it Sunday afternoon.”

The post Lucas Herbert goes from eighty to greaty to share the lead at Desert Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
You’re not alone if you’re struggling to comprehend Bryson DeChambeau’s golfing witchcraft at the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic this week. It seems we’re not going to get Alvaro Quiros’ far less scientific secrets either.

The 2011 champion overcame a bogey start to pour in nine birdies in a second round 64 on Friday and roar into contention at the $3.25 million European Tour event at -11, one off Lucas Herbert and Bryson DeChambeau’s halfway lead.

Quiros has enlisted the expertise of José María Olazábal to help him with a putter that finally started to cooperate in Abu Dhabi last week where the big-hitting, 6ft 3in Spaniard claimed a share of 65^th place.

Whatever the two-time Masters champion has found for Quiros is clearly working as the 36-year-old closes in on what would be a seventh European Tour title but his first since the Rocco Forte Open in Sicily back in May 2017.

“I’ve been working a lot with José María, with Ollie, and with my coach, José Rivero. It looks like it’s paying off,” said Quiros who rates Rivero, a former Ryder Cupper and four-time champion on tour, as one of the biggest influences on his career.

“Last week I was putting nicely, too, so it’s probably, even with these grainy greens, it’s key.”

Sounds intriguing. Could you possibly elaborate as we all need help with the flat stick from time-to-time?

“That’s a secret that I’m going to keep for myself, sorry.”

No apology necessary, Alvaro – we probably wouldn’t share the secret sauce with our peers either. Maybe you could give us your theory on why so many great rounds begin with a lousy start?

“You can have some accidents in these bunkers. The sand is very heavy, and I find the bunker from the tee shot. The ball was completely mud, so it was unfortunately an unlucky lie. And from there on, I’ve been playing nicely, holing putts, obviously.

“I’ve also been very lucky during the round with nice lies even when I was missing the fairways. So that’s what you need obviously on this kind of golf course when you shoot nine birdies.”

Quiros is no stranger to going deep into the red at the Desert Classic and often spectacularly so. When he succeeded Miguel Angel Jiménez as champion eight editions ago, Quiros overcame a lead relinquishing triple bogey seven on the 8^th with a “three quarter wedge” acing the 161-yard 11^th hole en-route to a single stroke victory over South Africa’s James Kingston and Dane Anders Hansen.

Quiros thus became just the third player to win a European Tour event and record a hole-in-one in the final round. He’s also one of four players with two Desert Classic aces, joining Jiménez, Argentine José Coceres and Scot Stephen Gallacher in that rarified club after holing out on the 4^th hole in the final round of the 2015 Classic where he finished T-20.

“To be honest, I still remember every single time that I tee off from that tee, “ Quiros said of his 2011 ace on 11 before adding an only half-joking caveat to one of the happiest days of his life.

“But I want to make the hole-in-one from the 7th or 15 because either one wins a prize. The two times that I make a hole-in-one here, no prize, so I’m looking for the first one with a car or a nice watch.”

Swede Kristoffer Broberg already has the Omega timepiece on his wrist after holing a seven iron on the 7^th in Thursday’s opening round. Fortunately the keys to a €140,000 BMW M850i xDrive Coupe are still available for a perfect shot on the 15^th.

There have only been three aces on the last of the Majlis’ four par-3s, the last of them from two-time champion Gallacher in 2012. So how about it, Alvaro, another final round ace, perhaps even on the way to a second Dallah trophy?

“Oh, that would be the top of the cake.”

The post Alvaro on a roll at the Desert Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Matthew Fitzpatrick spent the off-season working with a new fitness coach to help him eek a few precious extra yards out of his driver. He also employed a new but thoroughly broken-in bagman in Billy Foster to help him carry the longer big stick in between shots. Sprinkle in a hearty dollop of disappointment from a 2018 season that would be useful by most other standards, and you apparently have the perfect recipe to lead the 30^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Fitzpatrick emerged atop a clustered Majlis leaderboard on an opening day of the $3.25 million European Tour event which saw 74 of the 132 players roar into red figures. The 24-year-old Englishman signed for a seven under 65 but left it late to burst through the congested pack, birdieing five of his last six holes.

American drawcard Bryson DeChambeau and 2017 champion Sergio Garcia headline a chasing posse of eight players on -6 while Lee Westwood (Foster’s former employer), Ian Poulter and defending champion Haotong Li are handily placed among a group of nine players a shot further back after carding 65s.

But Thursday at Emirates Golf Club ultimately belonged to Fitzpatrick. A chip and tap-in birdie from beyond the green of the Majlis’ par-5 18^th catapulted the five-time European Tour winner into the lead and also produced an explanation that unlocked the details of a thus far fruitful off-season.

“Yeah, it was obviously a great finish to the round. A couple things that sort of I’ve been doing in the off-season sort of looked to have paid off a little bit,” the 2016 Ryder Cupper said.

“I just added a bit of extra length to my driver, so it’s given me a few yards to help get on in two on the last [hole] because I’ve never been able to do that here. And then, yeah, just wedging it a lot better has given me a few more chances coming in.”

Indeed.

The addition of Foster, who was let go by Westwood after helping him ascend to No.1 in the world with 13 wins and eight top-three finishes in the majors during their 10-year partnership, has been a boon for Fitzpatrick too.

“His sense of humour could outweigh the experience, I think,” Fitzpatrick joked when asked if he was enjoying Foster’s wisdom. “But no, he’s brilliant. He’s been through a lot, and having him on the bag, I’m a very lucky man. I know he had quite a few offers. Yeah, it’s nice to have him there alongside me.”

Fitzpatrick has made a fast-start to this wrap-around 2018-19 season after finishing runner-up to compatriot Aaron Rai in the Hong Kong Open – all of a week after the the 2018 season climaxed at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The successful defence of his Omega European Masters title in September helped the Sheffield pro finish 24^th in the Race to Dubai standings but four top-10s and €1.53 million in prizemoney couldn’t camouflage deficiencies in his game.

“I’m not going to lie, I was really disappointed with my season last year, second in Hong Kong kind of saved it a little bit at the end of the year there, but I knew a lot of things needed to change.

“I needed to work on different parts of my game, different shots, and really did feel like I put in a lot of work, to be honest. And so far I’ve played five rounds this year and have played pretty well for all of them. Hopefully it continues. It’s just nice to see it pay off.”

The trick now for Fitzpatrick is to kick on this week at a venue where he’s finished fifth (2017) but also missed as many cuts as he’s made in his four previous appearances.

“This golf course has been strange to me. I think this is my fifth time. I’ve had one decent finish, a couple missed cuts. But I do like the golf course. You know, it’s tough. You’ve got to hit fairways, you’ve got to hit greens, and I think it does suit my game if I’m playing well. So I think it’s nice to be able to get off to a good start, and hopefully three more rounds like that would be nice.”

The post Matthew Fitzpatrick birdies five of last six holes to set the pace at ODDC with opening day 65 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Bryson DeChambeau spent the evening after his impressive opening to the 30^th Omega Dubai Classic on a luxury desert safari in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. But before the dune bashing in restored Jeeps and some authentic Bedouin hospitality beneath the stars of the 225 square km sanctuary, the 25-year-old American again took everyone on a journey to the outer reaches of golf thinking.

Like you should when you go up and down dunes, buckle yourself in for DeChambeau’s post-script to the summary of the “scrappy” but “happy” 66 he shot to sit just a stroke adrift of overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick at Emirates Golf Club.

DeChambeau was asked, for roughly the zillionth time, about his scientific approach. How far down the road are you in terms of nailing all the game’s seemingly infinite variables?

“From my knowledge of what I have about the game of golf right now, I think we’ve accounted for probably half of everything,” DeChambeau started after his bogey-free and best ever loop of the Majlis, eclipsing the 68 he carded in the third round in 2016 en-route to low amateur honours.

“We’ve still got a long way to go. Obviously there are things that ultimately I will never be able to control, which is wind, but if we can create an air tolerance that’s good enough, then obviously that’ll be better than most out here.”

Quite. Could you possibly elaborate on your quest to have a better understanding of this game than anyone has ever before?

“[I don’t want] to go out on the golf course and think, oh, it feels a little different today, I don’t know what it is and you can’t understand it. That’s not me. I want to be able to go, oh, it’s because of this and this and be able to calibrate for it and ultimately perform because of those unique and different conditions.

“So that’s what I mean. I’m trying to figure out different conditions, different atmospheres, different temperatures, different soil types, different firmness values of greens. Just everything, trying to understand as much as I possibly can so I can be consistent.”

Consistency is what the world No.5 went to seek on the range after his round and before his desert experience.

“I didn’t feel like I was hitting it my best, anywhere near my best today.  Scrappy, a little scrappy.

“It was mainly off the tee that I wasn’t comfortable, and so in that case, I’m trying to be a little more conservative off the tee, making sure I can get it somewhere in a spot where it’s okay, and then when I do have the opportunity to go for it, flag it. My irons are fine. I just need to go work on my 3-wood and driver.

“Just didn’t seem like I had it today. I was feeling pretty good on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday wasn’t great, and came out today a little scrappy and was able to get it around in 66 thankfully.”

Bryson DeChambeau, ladies and gentlemen. The gifted golfer who keeps on giving. Strap yourself in for the weekend.

The post DeChambeau goes deep… in his thinking and the desert appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
They mightn’t have produced the lowest scores but former champions Ernie Els and Stephen Gallacher rated highly on the unofficial feel-good factor leaderboard after the opening day of the 30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

The post Winding back the Omega clock – who Els but Gallacher appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

He’s a former world No.1, the European Tour’s career money leader and the winner of 42 titles worldwide but Lee Westwood is playing like a golfer reborn.

By Kent Gray
Inspired by a succinct and spicily worded pep talk from Greg Norman, a new laissez faire approach to the touring life has Lee Westwood reproducing the quality golf of old.

The post Easi-Lee Done as Westwood bolts out of the Desert Classic starting blocks with a 67 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.