By John Huggan
He’s had his moments before, of course. Welsh Amateur champion in 1989. British Amateur champion that same year, before he was a member of the first Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup side to beat the Americans on home soil. A 1992 victory on the European Challenge Tour punctuated a few years of early professional struggle before three European Tour victories came along between 2004 and 2006. In 2005 he teamed with compatriot Bradley Dredge to claim the World Cup of Golf for Wales. And just over a decade later, he recorded the first of three wins on the European Senior Tour.

So, all good, all memorable, all things to be proud of. But nothing that would quite qualify as truly life-changing.

Until now that is.

With a seemingly nerveless birdie on the 72nd hole, Stephen Dodd’s 13-under-par aggregate of 267 for four circuits of Sunningdale’s Old Course was just enough to clinch the Senior British Open title by a shot from Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez. A pair of major champions in Darren Clarke—bidding to become only the fourth man after Gary Player, Bob Charles and Tom Watson to win both the Open Championship and the Senior Open—and Bernhard Langer pulled up in third and fourth places respectively. Jerry Kelly, whose erratic putting over the four days proved to be an adventure like no other, was the leading American alone in sixth place, one shot behind the 2016 champion, Paul Broadhurst.

“I knew exactly where I was,” said Dodd of his thoughts standing over the 6-iron he struck from the right rough to eight feet on the finishing hole. “I like to see the scoreboards and know what I need to do. For me it focuses my mind more on what I need to do. I hit some decent shots coming down the last few holes.”

MORE: Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau out of Olympics after positive COVID-19 tests

For Dodd, who had played very little competitive golf—one tournament, in fact—over the previous 18 months because of the global pandemic, the perks of victory will surely outweigh the $375,000 first-place check he will be soon be banking. An exemption onto the PGA Tour Champions beckons, and just under a year from now the 55-year-old will be able to tee-up in the Open Championship at St. Andrews without having to qualify.

“That will be special,” he said with a smile. “I’ll have to start trying to hit it a bit harder and further.”

“This is an amazing feeling,” continued Dodd, who’s record-equaling third round of 62 provided the basis for the biggest win of his golfing life. “I was in control of my emotions out there, I just wasn’t in control of the ball, which was a problem. It was a bit of a battle out there. But luckily, I gave myself a few chances. I really didn’t know what sort of game I was going to wake up to. Today wasn’t a great one, so it was a challenge. I scrambled my way around because I hit a lot of bad shots. Holding the trophy was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to come in and do myself justice. Hopefully I’ve done that.”

Dodd’s immediate future remains unclear, but it would be something of a surprise if his hope is not to parlay this victory into at least a few years on the lucrative senior circuit in the States. As Kelly, his playing partner over the final 18-holes, remarked as the pair left the historic 18th green that sits directly in front of the iconic oak tree that forms the Sunningdale club emblem: “See you in the States.”

In that respect, Broadhurst is a fine role model. Since his 2016 win at Carnoustie, the former Ryder Cup player has won four more times across the pond, including another major, the 2018 Senior PGA Championship. So there is, potentially at least, much for Dodd to look forward to. As ever though, this understated soul wasn’t giving much away.

“I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet,” he said. “I’m sure on the drive home I’m reflecting on it all. I’ll look at it over the coming weeks. I’m not sure what lies ahead at the moment. It’s just too early for me to decide what’s going to happen, but I would like to play a bit in America.”

Don’t be fooled by all that diffidence though. Stephen Dodd has always been a golfer you need to keep an eye on. You just have to be patient.

The post Stephen Dodd’s triumph in Senior British Open is one that will change his life appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Rudy
Brooks Koepka has some work to do to defend a bucketload of 2019 points falling off his World Golf Ranking. He’ll undertake the job without the swing coach who was with him from his earliest days on the European Challenge Tour, in 2013, through four major championships.

Harmon confirmed on Monday an earlier report by Golfweek that he and Koepka had split.

“Brooks let me know the Wednesday after the Masters [in November] he was going in a different direction,” says Claude Harmon III, the Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher who started with Koepka when he was fresh out of Florida State. “When we first met, I asked him what his goals were. He said he wanted to be No.1 in the world, win multiple majors and play for the U.S.A in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. I’m proud I was part of the team that helped him achieve those goals.”

Koepka won three times on the Challenge Tour in 2013, then again as a European Tour rookie in 2014. He won his first PGA Tour event in Phoenix in 2015, then went back-to-back in the U.S. Open (2017-18) and PGA Championship (2018-19).

But 2020 was an injury-riddled struggle, with hip and knee problems limiting him to 13 starts and two top-10s. Koepka is ranked 12th in the world, but his 2019 PGA and Fed-Ex St. Jude Invitational win points (and those he got for seconds at the Masters and U.S. Open) fall off this year and will need to be replaced. Jordan Spieth fell from second to 91st in just over two seasons when he failed to follow up his three wins in 2017, and Rickie Fowler has fallen from 11th to 61st in the same span.

“Brooks is an unbelievable player and great champion, and extremely talented,” says Harmon, who helped Dustin Johnson to the 2020 Masters title and watched student Si Woo Kim win The American Express on Sunday. “As devastating as it is to have it happen, I’m so grateful for what he did for me and my family. Me, [caddie] Ricky Elliott, [physical therapist] Marc Wahl, the whole crew, it was like we were a band of brothers. That’s hard to not be a part of. He has to do what’s best for his career, and I know he’ll be fine.”

The post Instructor Claude Harmon III says coaching split with long longtime pupil and friend Brooks Koepka is ‘devastating’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Steve Tiley has never been afraid of hard work. Perseverance is also on his list of attributes. Eight times the Georgia State graduate has visited the European Tour qualifying school. But it’s safe to say no part of his life in golf has prepared this genial 37-year-old Englishman for what he calls his current unscheduled visit to “the real world.”

Tiley’s father, John, is the brains behind his son’s hopefully temporary switch from fairway to factory. The owner of Nutracrest Limited, based in Kent, south of London, Tiley senior converted his nutritional supplement production line into one making and bottling the hand-sanitizing lotion so desperately required by, among others, Britain’s National Health Service. And now, with the European Challenge Tour— where Tiley junior won for the first time last year—in abeyance, the son is working for his father, churning out as many as 5,000 bottles a day.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic started, my Dad was disgusted with certain companies over-charging for things that were suddenly in demand,” says Steve who competed alongside the likes of PGA Tour players Matt Every, Ryan Moore, Spencer Levin, Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson during his four years of college golf in Atlanta. “People were having to pay silly amounts for hand sanitizer. So he decided to do something about it. We’ve been selling it on at just about cost-price to the NHS Trust [who ordered about 35,000 bottles], care homes and key workers—anyone who needs it really. What we haven’t done is sell any to anyone who will sell it on for a profit.”

Working a four-day week on the 3 p.m.-10 p.m. shift, as well as helping his wife (a primary school teacher) with the home-schooling of his two children, Tiley has personally been involved in the production of around 20,000 bottles out of output well in excess of 100,000 so far.

“There aren’t many skills I can use from playing golf, but work colleagues have noted how driven I am,” Tiley says. “When you play sport you are constantly searching for how to do it better. I just tend to try and do above and beyond all the time.

Tiley says specific task is often being on the machine that puts the caps on the bottles. “But if things go wrong, I’ve learned the settings and can fix most problems,” he says. “I’m also able to manage the calibration of the pump. That can vary, so it needs a lot of attention. Athletes self-motivate very well, particularly when you play a sport on your own, you set your own goals. Every day I am thinking, How am I going to get better at golf? And I have used that in the business, thinking, How can I make this machine work better?”

All of which is very different from knocking a ball around Europe and beyond on the Challenge Tour. But Tiley is realistic. With career earnings of €445,581 on the Old World’s second circuit, he lives comfortably but is hardly able to sit back without any cash coming in and wait for professional golf to return. He once shot 66 in the opening round of the 2010 Open Championship at St. Andrews, and the biggest check of his professional life was the €43,264 he earned for finishing 26th in the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield.

“I won’t lie, the money I’ve earned in the factory has been useful,” he says. “The bills still need to be paid every month. If the European Tour is in bother, you have to assume that the Challenge Tour is in even deeper trouble. It’s a worry, especially when you see massive companies having financial difficulties. So working at the factory is something I might have to think about continuing. If things are as bad as they look like they might be, this is going to be my life for the next couple of years. I’m sure other Challenge Tour players will have to get jobs outside the game too.”

Indeed, it’s a bleak picture for those, like Tiley, who own up to “journeyman” status on tour. But it’s a safe bet that few of his peers will find employment more rewarding or useful to society in these troubled times.

The post Challenge Tour pro Steve Tiley swaps the fairways for the factory, making hand sanitizer for COVID relief workers appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joy Chakravarty
Sweden’s Niclas Weiland, in his first season as a professional, made the most of his invite from the MENA Tour by Arena to win the Ras Al Khaimah Open after making an eagle on the first playoff hole against close friend and roommate Gabriel Axell on Wednesday.

At Tower Links Golf Club, the 24-year-old Weiland was solid throughout the round playing in the leader group for a five-under par 67, which helped him match the 17-under par 199 clubhouse lead set by Axell after a storming final round of eight-under par 64.

Two European Challenge Tour stars, Scotland’s Scott Henry (70) and Switzerland’s Marco Iten (69) were tied for the third place at 15-under par 201.

England’s 20-year-old Ben Jones was the Leading Amateur at eight-under par, while Saudi Arabia’s Othman Almulla continued his fine work from last evening (three birdies in last three holes to make his first cut as a professional) to shoot the lowest round of his career – a seven-under par 65 – and finished as the highest placed MENA player at 207.

MENA Tour

In the beginning, it looked like a romp for Henry, who was five-under par through 10 holes and leading by four shots at that point. But just like the second round, the 32-year-old Scotsman faltered on the back nine and three bogeys coming in killed his chances.

Weiland was two-under par through 12 holes, but the big swing came his way when he birdied the par-5 13th and the par-4 14th holes, while Henry parred the 13th and dropped shots on the 14th and 15th holes.

Axell was off to a hot start, making birdies on six of his first seven holes, before a bogey on the ninth. He then dropped another shot on the par-3 16th, but finished strong with two birdies in the final two holes.

In the play-off, Weiland hit his second shot to 20 feet on the par-5 18th, while Axell stuffed his to eight feet. But Weiland calmly rolled in his eagle putt, while Axell’s slipped past.

After winning the RAK Open by Arena earlier today, @NiclasWeiland spoke to us on the eventful day. pic.twitter.com/P2ManLmRW9

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 30, 2019

“It just feels amazing to be able to get the win so early in my professional career. Having studied in Florida (Barry University), I loved the weather here in the UAE the moment I landed and I just kept a very positive attitude throughout the three events I played in the MENA Tour,” said Weiland, who finished tied second in Abu Dhabi and then tied eighth in Al Ain.

“I have been playing very well and I was confident of doing well again this week. However, the way Henry played the front nine, I thought I was playing for the second prize. He was a bit unlucky on the back nine, while I kept hitting some good shots and made some putts.

“It was amazing to go up in the play-off against Gabriel. We are very good friends and we travel together. We had decided before the play-off that we will split the prize fund no matter who wins, and I am OK with that. Just that he has already started to ask me about the money transfer!”

Axell, one of the most unique players in the world of golf who swings right-handed and putts left-handed, was disappointed not to win, but felt satisfied with his effort.

Gabriel Axell played his 'heart out' on the final day of the RAK Open by Arena to shoot an 8-under par 64. It was good enough to get him into a play-off, which he lost to his close friend @NiclasWeiland.

Axell spoke on his day after the round… @RAKTourism @TowerlinksGolf pic.twitter.com/saIAnrw9Z3

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 30, 2019

“I played great golf and actually thought after the two closing birdies that I would end up one short. So, to get into the playoff was a bonus. I made a birdie on the extra hole, but Niclas made an eagle, so I can’t complain,” said Axell, who had last won on the Nordic Tour four years ago and lost a tournament on the same Tour earlier this year in a play-off.

Iten, who is heading to the second stage of the European Tour Qualifying School next week, was counting the positives after finishing tied third.

“It was important that I got off to a good start, but I did not. I was one-over after 12 holes, so to make four birdies after that was good. Nothing can beat a victory, but this has been an excellent week for me ahead of the Q School and I hope to return and play a few events next year on the MENA Tour.”

The Tour now has a break before it returns for the season-ending Journey To Jordan Final, which will feature the top-60 players from the Order of Merit. The tournament will be played at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, Jordan, from November 25-29.

LEADING SCORES (after the final round of Ras Al Khaimah Open by Arena):
199 – Niclas Weiland (SWE) 65-67-67, Gabriel Axell (SWE) 67-68-64
(Weiland won on the first extra hole with an eagle)
201 – Marco Iten (SUI) 64-68-69, Scott Hendry (SCO) 65-66-70
204 – MG Keyser (RSA) 70-69-65, Craig Ross (SCO) 69-68-67, Joshua Grenville-Wood (ENG) 65-71-68
205 – Erik Lindwall (SWE) 72-68-65, Mathias Weidermann (SWE) 68-71-66, Robbie Busher (ENG) 47-70-69, Kyson Lloyd (ENG) 68-65-72
206 – Harry Ellis (ENG) 69-68-69, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 67-68-71

The post Young Weiland shows his class to win RAK Open by Arena appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 15th at Penati’s Legend Course weighs in at a whopping 783 yards, a distance not even Brooks Koepka can get home in two. (Thinking) Probably can’t get home in two.

The hole has 11 tee boxes and usually plays in the 450-yard range most weeks, but tournament officials are tipping it out. It registers as a par 6, and as this video shows, it’s a long piece of nectar.

The longest hole in Europe…in 28 seconds!#SlovakiaChallenge?? pic.twitter.com/eChLxbEtvD

— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) July 6, 2016

Granted, this is a pitch-n-putt compared to the world’s longest holes. South Korea’s Gunsan C.C. boasts a par 7 that is just under 1,100 yards, while Satsuki Golf Course in Japan was the world-record owner for decades with its 964-yarder.

Alas, those expecting numbers on the scorecard to match the distance will be disappointed. The last time the circuit visited Penati, Challenge Tour players made the 15th one of the easiest holes on the track with a 5.38 (-0.62) scoring average on the week.

The post Golf makes its triumphant return to the longest hole in Europe this week appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
A breakthrough European Challenge Tour victory on home soil has MENA Tour rookie Robin Roussel eyeing promotion to the European Tour in 2020.

The 25-year-old Frenchman played the final 36 holes of the Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open bogey-free to continue his dream start to the season in Europe’s second tier; the €30,400 victory at notoriously tricky Aa Saint-Omer Golf Club was his fourth top-10 in six starts.

Roussel is now up to fourth in the Challenge Tour standings and on track to secure one of the 15 places in the Order of Merit standings that guarantee automatic graduation to the European Tour next season.

“It’s a very special feeling, I don’t have the words right now,” Roussel told said afterwards. “I just enjoyed the moment so much and the crowd so much. They’ve been very, very supportive all week long. It’s such a great feeling. No bogeys all weekend, I didn’t think about it, but I feel like I just played perfectly.”

Congratulations to @RobinRoussel, winner of our Troon Series – Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open, who played bogey-free over the weekend at the tough Aa Saint-Omer Golf Club to win his first title on the @Challenge_Tour. Well done Robin and here’s wishing you many more in the future. pic.twitter.com/iklfNOvyAv

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) June 17, 2019

Roussel is clearly determined not to waste the lessons learned during the MENA Tour’s spring-swing earlier this year, including a breakthrough victory at the Troon Series-Royal Golf Bahrain Open in March which secured an invite to the European Tour’s Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Currently second on the MENA Tour OOM behind Matthew Baldwin, the Paris-born, Cannes-based Frenchman talks to Golf Digest Middle East about how his wary entry to the regional developmental circuit has made way for respect and awe at the opportunities offered by the those tasked with making it the best little mini-tour in the world.

[divider] [/divider]

A friend told me about the MENA Tour last season but it was too late to get in the 2018 season so I just decided to wait until the 2019 tour. I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest. I was a little nervous because it was the first time I would travel in this part of the world and I did not know the organisation of this tour. But now I know that MENA Tour team is absolutely perfect from A to Z and I’m 100% confident in playing in a MENA Tour event now.

You can’t really compare it with the other mini-tours. It’s totally different. I’ve been playing only for a year on the Alps Tour but what I can say is that the MENA Tour is closer to European Tour / Challenge Tour conditions than any other mini-tours. On the MENA Tour, you’re playing for more money, the courses are better and in a better shape, greens are way faster. The field of players is tougher. The organisation is bigger with official hotels, deals for accommodation, food and travel companies. But most importantly, this tour has big opportunities. You can get many invites on the Challenge and European Tours. That reality has been a fantastic surprise compared to what I thought this journey would be.

Before the win in Bahrain, as a pro, I’ve never been able to close a tournament when I had the opportunity to win it. This win proved me that, yes, I’m able to hold a 3-4-5 shot lead going into the last round. Now I know I’m able to get over the pressure of being at the top with some lads chasing me. It was a great feeling heading into the start of the Challenge Tour season.

I’m so grateful to the MENA Tour for the opportunity to play at the Maybank Championship, my first full European Tour start. It was such a great experience competing in one of the biggest fields on the European Tour schedule but also in the best field of the Asian Tour season. Even if conditions were really hard and I was a little tired from my five past weeks on the MENA Tour, that week in Malaysia was great. I learned a lot from other players, from this tough course, but also about myself. I didn’t play my best golf and I missed the cut by one stroke so next time I’ll be competing on the main tour I can trust myself and start the tournament with the same goals and expectations as I had at MENA Tour events.

It has been a great start to the Challenge Tour season so far but I must stay very careful because this game can be so cruel and crazy. I know that three top-10s to start is a good start [made better by his win this past weekend] but I also know that it is still a long way to reach main tour next year. But this start pushes me to work harder and harder.

It’s clear and obvious that my winter on the MENA Tour put me on this great dynamic. I just had to keep the same routine and attitude at my Challenge Tour events. I just feel like my season has started three months and nine tournaments ago [including the five MENA Tour starts]. The dynamic is so much easier to catch.

Making the top-15 of the Challenge Tour is the final goal, yes, especially after my week in Malaysia. On the European Tour, everything is put together to push you to show the best of you. This is such an amazing feeling, the great atmosphere when you’re on the range or the putting green, working with Ernie Els right next to you. You’re just telling yourself ‘ok this is where you want to be and this is where you have to be in the future’.

I don’t really know how many MENA Tour events I’ll play in the second half of the season. It depends on which tournaments clash with Challenge Tour events. But what is sure is that anytime I’m able to get back on the MENA Tour, I’ll be there. I loved it.  Really.

The post Roussel after Challenge Tour breakthrough: “It’s obvious that my winter on the MENA Tour put me on this great dynamic” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Matthew Baldwin’s week away from the MENA Tour couldn’t have gone much better.

Playing the European Tour’s Oman Open as reward for winning the MENA Tour’s season-opening Journey to Jordan-1, the 33-year-old Englishman pocketed €6,919 for a T-45 finish following a tough, weather-impacted week at Al Mouj Golf.

After a 70 to share 15th place following the opening round, the former European Tour regular would have eyed a higher finish in Muscat but wasn’t grumbling with rounds of 75-71-77 given the blustery conditions. He eventually finished on +5, 12 shots behind impressive American winner Kurt Kitayama.

Perhaps best of all, Baldwin has maintained pole-position in the race within the MENA Tour’s season-long Order of Merit (OOM) race to keep alive hopes of another European Tour start at the end of the month. But only just; the $18,000 he’s won from two starts to top the moneylist is a narrow $275 advantage over Australian Daniel Gaunt.

The leader of the MENA Tour OOM after the five-event ‘spring swing’ concludes in Bahrain next week will earn an invite to the $3 million Maybank Championship (March 21-24). That is all the motivation Baldwin needs on the eve of the $75,000 Troon Series – Dubai Open presented by Turkish Airlines at Dubai Hills Golf Club

With $13,500, three precious Official World Golf Ranking points and an invite to the Challenge Tour’s Slovakia Challenge (July 4-7) also up for grabs to the champion at this week’s 54-holer at Dubai Hills, Baldwin and co have much to play for.

Another great week for @OmanOpenGolf at Al Mouj Golf Club. Thanks very much to @theMENATour for the opportunity to play. Looking forward to pegging it up again this week at Dubai Hills! #OmanOpen #europeantour #menatour

— Matthew Baldwin (@mattbaldwin26) March 3, 2019

Gaunt, who finished solo fifth at Ghala after his emotional win in Ajman a fortnight ago, brings impressive form to the region’s newest course while Baldwin’s countryman Nick Marsh ($14,006) has also thrown his name into the Kuala Lumpur equation by winning last week’s Ghala Golf Club Open.

It’s not just the Malaysia Open invite that will have the leaders on tenterhooks; the top five players at the end of the spring swing will be rewarded with the second placed player headed to the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco (April 25-29), third to the new Jordan Mixed Open at Ayla G.C. (April 4-6) while Asian Tour invites to the Indonesian Masters (July 4-7) and Indonesian Open (Aug. 15-18) await the fourth and fifth-placed players respectively.

As well as the inevitable OOM snakes and ladders this week, there will be much interest in the performance of U.S.-bound Dubai amateur Rayhan Thomas who will make his second start of the season after a T-9 finish at the Troon Series-Al Zorah Open.

The 19-year-old, headed to Rickie Fowler’s old Oklahoma State University later in the year, described his golf in Ajman as “mediocre” despite the top-10.

“I am happy to be the leading amateur, but I obviously wanted to win the tournament. I know I could have contended for the title this week. It would have been nice to start the season with a win in your third tournament of the year,” Thomas said.

Thomas will undoubtedly serve as a marker for Englishman Curtis Knipes who leads the Amateur Order of Merit with 4442 points – 1667 points clear of Dubai-based 14-year-old Josh Hill.

Just like for Baldwin, the MENA Tour is also working for the Knipes and Hill given the World Amateur Golf Ranking points on offer.

Following the Troon Series – Al Zorah Open, Curtis Knipes and Josh Hill have achieved their highest-ever ranking on the @WAGR

And we are sure this is just the start of a long journey for these two talented amateurs.
#HarderBetterFasterStronger#JourneyToJordan pic.twitter.com/ertTETC7Y6

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) March 1, 2019

A total of 11 amateurs will tee it up in the Dubai Open which begins Tuesday with a 120-strong field.

Our #JourneyToJordan (Order of Merit) right now:
1.@mattbaldwin26
2.@Gauntgolf
3.@NickMarshgolf
4.E Jonasson
5.@RobinRoussel

These are the invites waiting after Bahrain.
1.Maybank C’ship
2.Trophee Hassan II
3.Jordan Mixed Open
4.@IndoMasters
5.Indonesian Open#HBFS

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) March 1, 2019

The post After making the cut in Oman, Baldwin eyes quick European Tour return as MENA Tour heads to Dubai Hills appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

How do you set up Greg Norman’s new, 7512 yard, par-72 layout on the shores of the Red Sea so it is an equitable challenge for the diverse field of 123 players, made up of 40 members of each tour and one leading amateur from the mens, ladies’ and over-50s’ games?

Representatives from the three co-sanctioning tours believe they solved the set-up conundrum after a recent site visit to the Aqaba resort.

Simon Higginbottom, a Staysure Tour and Challenge Tour Tournament Director, admitted the inaugural Jordan event presents  “some challenges regarding course set up.”

“With its design emphasis on proper playing angles, strategy and firm ground conditions, the course at Ayla is well suited to the mixed format and will, with our carefully managed tee and pin positions, provide all three categories of player with the ability to score well,” Higginbottom said.

Davide Lantos, the LET’s Director of Tournament Operations, concurs, and knows the set-up is critical for the April 4-6 event. Careful attention was paid not only to the length of the course facing each competitor but the angles of play as well, ensuring, where possible, bunkers and water hazards have an equal impact.

Related: Unique trophy for trailblazing Jordan Mixed Open unveiled

“The Jordan Mixed Open presented by Ayla, which will be played in the cradle of modern civilisation, is a great opportunity to showcase all that is great about women’s golf,’ he said

“In a world that is beginning to recognise the importance of gender equality, this unique format and event could not have been better timed.

“The real challenge for us is in preparing the course and in ensuring the correct format of play so that our male and female professionals can compete on the same course with the same chance to score well. We are sure that this will be a challenging but enjoyable tournament for players and an exciting and engaging event for spectators.”

Chris White, Director of Operations at the Ayla Oasis Development Company, cannot wait for April.

“Both representatives from the Tours gave very positive feedback on our projected vision for the golf course set-up and we are confident that we will be able to establish a format which encourages exciting play and will see all players given an equal chance of being crowned our inaugural champion.”

The post Organisers confident of level playing field for ‘world first’ mixed gender event in Jordan appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Beautiful but unrealistic.

As the eyes of the world turn to a currently sun-drenched Caledonia over the next few weeks, the state of Scotland’s game leaves a lot to be desired. So as this month’s Scottish Open, Open Championship, British Senior Open and Scottish Women’s Open take place at three of the nation’s most famous venues (Gullane, Carnoustie and St. Andrews), under that temporarily glossy surface, problems abound. From top to bottom, golf in Scotland and Scottish golf is in various stages of disarray.

In the professional game, despite recent signs of life on the European Challenge Tour where a small group of young Scottish pros are making some headway, prospects remain relatively bleak.

Only three Scots—Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher—have been part of a European Ryder Cup team in this century. Only one Scot, Russell Knox, is currently ranked in the world’s top 100. Just three more—Martin Laird, Scott Jamieson and Richie Ramsay—are part of the top 200. David Drysdale, the eighth-best Scottish golfer on the planet, is ranked 290th.

Knox, Florida-based since his late teens, has won twice on the PGA Tour in recent years, including the 2015 WGC HSBC Championship in China. But the Inverness-native remains the tartan-clad exception. Elsewhere, Scots are lagging behind. Way behind. More than three years have passed since Ramsay tasted victory at the Trophee Hassan in Morocco. Before Knox won last week’s Irish Open, Ramsay, the former US Amateur champion, was the last Scot to win a regular European Tour event.

By way of contrast, 16 Englishmen have won 31 times during those intervening 40 months (there are currently eight Englishmen in the world’s top 100). And, perhaps more pertinently given Denmark and Scotland’s comparable population and weather, three Danes have won five times on their home circuit, as well as claiming the World Cup in Australia.

In the women’s game, the picture is even more stark. The leading Scottish-born female golfer is Karis Davidson at 192nd. But even that is a bit of a misnomer. Davidson, an Australian citizen, emigrated Down Under from Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders at the age of eight. Next in line is the woman who has been Scotland’s top-player for almost 25 years, former Women’s British Open champion Catriona Matthew, who will be 49 next month.

In one way, Matthew’s status is a commendable feat of longevity. In another, that very same pre-eminence is a shocking condemnation of the next generation. The Scottish No. 8 is Kelsey Macdonald, who is ranked a subterranean 510th. Not surprisingly, Matthew is the only Scot who has featured in the last four Solheim Cups.

The amateur game is no better. Ten years ago, Scotland’s three-man side of Wallace Booth, Calum Macaulay and Gavin Deer won the World Amateur Team Championship at Royal Adelaide in Australia by nine shots from a United States squad made up of Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel and Jamie Lovemark. Today, Booth is an occasional player on the third-division EuroPro Tour and his teammates are both reinstated amateurs. Their proud victory proved to be the ultimate false dawn.

So what’s going on? Why is the nation where the game began struggling so badly to compete successfully at almost any level?

(Ross Kinnaird)

“We don’t have a Rory,” says Lawrie, who won the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie and is Scotland’s last (male) major champion. “We don’t have anyone who can get kids excited about playing golf. And it’s been a while now since we have had anyone playing at the very top level. Colin Montgomerie was our last superstar. He was amazing in the Ryder Cup. Kids would sit at home and watch him play and think ‘I want to be a golfer.’ But we don’t have anyone like him or Sandy Lyle now.

“Plus, golf is struggling generally at the moment. Scotland is not unique in that respect. We’re not a big country. And there is no guarantee that, just because we are the home of golf, we are going to produce an endless stream of great players. Right now, we have a bunch of good players who are also good lads. Russell Knox is certainly one of those. But he is a bit detached living in America. We need someone who looks like he could win a major.”

Lawrie’s point is well made. Somewhere around 50,000 golfers have given up their club memberships in Scotland over the last decade. Almost 20 clubs have also disappeared, although—whisper it—none of their courses was actually any good (the real worry will come when better courses start to shut their doors).

The Golf Participation Report for Europe 2017 showed 192,533 registered golfers in Scotland in 2016, a fall of 6,711 during the previous 12 months. Only one other European country, the Czech Republic, also lost more than 2,000 golfers.

The amateur game in Scotland is administered by “Scottish Golf,” which came into being on October 1, 2015, as a result of an amalgamation of the Scottish Golf Union and the Scottish Ladies Golf Association. But even that coming together was arrived at only after a lengthy period—three years to be exact—of disagreement and discord that did nothing but provoke widespread ridicule. An exercise in cooperation and bonding it was not. All it really did was underline the hard-to-dispute view that golf in Scotland is a game populated by a section of society largely out-of-touch with the modern world.

Scottish Golf, seemingly unsure of its “job description,” has also failed to distinguish itself in its three years of its existence. Does it exist primarily to grow the game at grassroots level, or is it merely a financial crutch for up-and-coming amateurs with professional aspirations? One seemingly valid criticism of the new set-up is that too much time and money has been focused on elite amateurs and not enough on youngsters looking to take up the game. To many, the base of the golf “pyramid” has been neglected, just as too much attention has been granted to the pinnacle.

Even in that area, any success in the amateur game has only rarely progressed into the professional ranks. Former Amateur champion Bradley Neil and former Australian Amateur champion Conor Syme are two of those exceptions. Both are currently battling hard to hang onto their European Tour cards.

Elsewhere, however, the system—if there is such a thing—is failing. Former Walker Cup player and European Tour winner Raymond Russell is employed by Nike Golf as a “talent scout” and so spends much of his working life watching the game at the elite amateur level. Many things perplex the Scot when he sees his compatriots in action.

“The structure I see in many of the continental countries just doesn’t seem to be in place in Scotland,” he says. “Denmark is a great example. They get so many things right. Coaches who work with kids at club level go with them all the way to them turning professional. There is no pressure on a promising youngster to switch to a ‘national coach.’ They also use their tour pros as mentors for their best amateurs. That all creates close relationships and trust that builds over time.

“The Spaniards have also figured things out. They have a ‘center of excellence’ in Madrid, where kids and coaches go to talk and learn from each other. In Scotland, there seems to be a disconnection within the system. Every year they do the same things. They have a big trip to South Africa and they have a training camp in the Middle East. But that isn’t working.”

Russell makes a valid point, the case that Scotland’s leading amateurs have been indulged and pampered to an unhealthy extent has obvious merit. On neither of the trips, he mentions do the players have to do much logistical thinking. And, unlike many of their continental counterparts, the Scots only rarely play any of their golf on the lower-level pro tours. So they come to the bigger amateur events less battle-hardened, never having seen how good they are competing against guys with mortgages to pay.

As Russell says: “If I was involved with Scottish Golf, instead of organising trips for the leading amateurs, I’d stick them in a Spanish apartment for a month and let them learn the life skills that will benefit them on tour. Right now, they are not doing any of that subconscious learning.”

(Tony Marshall)

It’s not all bad news of course. As ever—as is the case worldwide—examples abound of much good work at grassroots level. Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup captain Elaine Farquharson-Black is one who is heavily involved in the junior program at her home club, Deeside in Aberdeen. And there are many others, like the Craigmillar Park Golf Club in Edinburgh, where the under-16 membership is burgeoning. Most high profile, however, is the junior foundations run by Lawrie and Gallacher. Both have made huge strides in introducing youngsters to the game.

All of which is in contrast to the almost complete failure of the Scottish government-sponsored “Clubgolf” system. Designed to put a golf club in the hands of every schoolchild in Scotland, it succeeded in that lofty aim. But there was a very little follow-up, nowhere to go for youngsters keen to play the game for real.

“If the governing body put a bus outside every school in the country to take kids to the golf course, I’m not sure there would be that many takers,” says one close observer. “If Paul Lawrie or Steven Gallacher had another bus with their names on it, that is where most of the kids would go.

“Clubgolf was never going to work. It was held up as this great thing. But what a crock of shit. Yes, it was well-intentioned—“put clubs in kid’s hands.” But no one asked what they were doing next Saturday. They became statistics. Not too long ago they had six or seven kids at an event in East Lothian. Stevie had 83 kids at his. The whole thing needs that sort of higher-profile. Put a name on it. Which is why any money should be going to those who know what they are doing.”

Golf’s ruling body, the St. Andrews-based R&A, are not above criticism in this area either. While it does a great job giving away much of its Open Championship revenues to good causes—and any youngster under 16 is allowed into the Open free of charge when accompanied by an adult—such efforts are cosmetic and at arm’s length. The number of junior members (under-18) at the R&A continues to hold steady at none, a bad example followed by too many. Clubs in Scotland have fewer than 10,000 members under 25, but more than 100,000 over 55. And only 13 percent are women.

Those numbers only serve to make clear that, if Scottish Golf is to have a future and at least arrest the long-established slide in club membership and participation, more women, families and children need to be involved. It is then, easy to have a little sympathy for the new chief executive, Andrews McKinlay. On his first day, McKinlay—who arrived from the Scottish Football Association, labelled by one insider as” the most dysfunctional organization on the planet”—called his new role, “the best job in Scottish sport.”

“Scottish Golf needs to seek a real clarity as to what its purpose is,” he continued. “We need to make sure we are connecting properly with our members as there’s obviously something they are not 100 per cent happy about. I want to get out there and listen to them.”

One with very definite views on all of the above is former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart. The last winner of the Scottish Boys Championship (in 1987) to go on and win on the European Tour, Coltart sees coaches justifying their own existence. Too often, he feels, they are swing technicians who coach a method that causes fun and imagination and feels to disappear.

“Scottish Golf does not exist to provide the world with European Tour players,” he says. “It is not the job of any amateur body to fill the pro ranks. But is in their interests to develop talent. And, if it does, that is a happy consequence. All too often we have coached the playing of the game out of lads with talent. Rather than understanding their own games, they spend far too much time on the range worrying about the swing. Jordan Spieth is a great example of someone who knows how to play more than swing. In Scotland, Dustin Johnson’s left wrist position at the top would have been coached out of him. Today, he’d be off winning a club championship somewhere.”

Politically, life for Scottish Golf has been just as stressful. Something akin to civil war has long raged between the governing body’s board and its 16 constituent areas. Most contentious was a proposal by the previous chief executive, Blaine Dodds, to more than double the annual levy—from £11.75 to £24—paid by each club member to Scottish Golf. It was, not surprisingly in difficult economic times, doomed to failure.

Which just about sums up so much of golf in Scotland right now. In a nation that boasts so many of the world’s best courses, the real picture is far from pretty.

The post The troubled state of Scottish golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Al Hamra Golf Club are calling it ‘May Madness’ – a month long celebration of golf at the European Challenge Tour venue paired with a selection of tasty clubhouse fare – all washed down with some sensible adult hydration.

Related: Al Hamra to host Challenge Tour’s ‘Road to Ras Al Khaimah’ finale until 2020

Until May 31 golfers can enjoy selected house beverages and food for up to seven hours, including an hour before tee-off and two hours after your four-hour loop of the Peter Harradine-design (they like to play at a steady, slow-play busting clip in RAK). Food can be ordered from Al Hamra’s halfway pavilion during play and afterwards at The Bay Sports Bar where live sports light up the big screens. Alternatively, take advantage of the terrace overlooking the 18th green before the mercury makes Al fresco dining uncomfortable.

At AED 515pp* on Fridays, Saturday’s and Public holidays, and AED 470* during the week, the offer certainly puts some swanky Dubai brunches in the shade and those don’t include 18-holes of Troon International-quality championship golf.

For enquiries, call +971 (0)7 244 7474, email golfdesk@alhamragolf.com or visit alhamragolf.com.

*Terms and conditions apply. Please contact the club.

The post Al Hamra’s ‘May Madness’ is a welcoming siren to all those who love great golf, and a jolly good brunch appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.