With a swing speed three miles faster than the average PGA Tour player (116mph compared to 113mph) and an eye-popping competition best hit of 402 yards, long drive champion Troy Mullins is sure to be a huge drawcard in more ways than one at the Ladies European Tour’s (LET) $500,000 season-ender from Dec. 6-9.

At least that’s what Tournament Director David Spencer is banking on after granting the Californian her 72-hole pro event debut at Emirates Golf Club.

Spencer took plenty of heat for handing Paige Spiranac her pro debut at the then Dubai Ladies Masters in 2015 and repeating the sponsors’ invite visit last season. He unashamedly admits the social media audience that accompanies Spiranac everywhere was a key driver behind the decision, to the point where the American is returning to the emirate as official starter for the men at January’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Related: On the tee…Paige Spiranac

The key driver behind Mullins’ invite is the one the 5ft 8in American wields, and rather impressively so as this tweet highlights:

She did it!

Troy Mullins is the #MileHighShowdown Women’s Champion! #WorldLongDrive pic.twitter.com/TfM5OpFt7Y

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 26, 2017

Nicknamed the Trojan Goddess, Mullins only took up the game after attending Ivy League Cornell University when a hamstring injury curtailed her promising heptathlon career. Now she has genuine LPGA Tour ambitions.

Mullins won the 2017 Mile High Showdown, a World Long Drive event, in July with a 374 yard drive in the final and has a swing so sweet it has some of the game’s most critical analysts swooning, including Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.

Spencer is excited about what Mullins, who speaks four languages including Chinese, Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL), brings to the tournament. She will hold a clinic for spectators after play in the second round on Friday, Dec. 7.

“Troy caught our eye…we’ll we only started following long drive golf because she was on the Golf Channel and was being touted as having a perfect swing,” said Spencer.

“She’ll certainly be the longest player in the field but she’s also an accomplished golfer. We’ll she just how accomplished she is when she comes up against a professional field.”

Key Omega Dubai Ladies Classic signings (from top left clockwise): I.K. Kim, Susana Benavides, Klara Spilkova and Troy Mullins.

As well as unveiling Kim and Mullins, a new name to bring the LET event “into the ‘classic’ family”, and a “sister” trophy to match the Dallah (Arabic coffee pot) handed to Desert Classic men’s champion, Spencer also revealed 16 other name players.

They include Kim’s fellow LPGA players Suzanne Pettersen, Brittany Lincicome, Olafia Kristinsdottir, Mel Reid and reigning Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open champion Beth Allen.

Aditi Ashok, who sealed LET Rookie-of-the-Year honours with a share of third place at Emirates G.C. last December, also returns along with Rafa Cabrera Bello’s sister Emma, Dame Laura Davies, Amy Boulden, Carly Booth, Felicity Johnson, Olivia Cowan and Moroccan trailblazer Maha Haddioui.

New names include Kristinsdottir and Susana Benavides while Czech Olympian Klára Spilková returns.

Benavides is the only Bolivian-born golfer to ever play in an LPGA event and like Spiranac, will bring a strong social media audience with her to Dubai.

Being away from social media made me wanna come back ??er… #poorgreens #highheels #shooting #lpgadresscode #not

A post shared by Susana Benavides (@mumita_b) on Aug 29, 2017 at 6:41pm PDT

Spilková became the first Czech player to win a Ladies European Tour event with a one stroke victory over Pettersen at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in April.

Photo courtesy LET
Klara Spilkova

Kristinsdottir brought forward double jaw surgery, a procedure that reportedly involved the addition of titanium plates to her nose and screws to her jaw, to correct an underbite just before becoming the first Icelander to play on the LPGA Tour. She is currently 82nd in the CME Rankings with one top-10 in her rookie year, a fourth placing at the Indy Women in Tech Championship Presented by Guggenheim.

Photo courtesy LPGA Tour Olafia Kristinsdottir

I.K. Kim, the highest ranked player in the field at No.8 in the latest Rolex Ranking, banished the haunting memory of missing a 14-inch putt to win the 2012 Kraft Nabisco Championship when he won the Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns

Related: In-Kyung Kim gets her major redemption with two-shot Women’s British Open victory

Englishwoman Sophie Lamb, who closed with a 69 at Kingsbarns to win low amateur honours, will is also a confirmed Majlis starter along with the 29-year-old South Korean.

The post Troy Mullins set to rip it past major champion I.K. Kim and co. in rebranded Omega Dubai Ladies “Classic” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Yeah, I think we have to play maybe a couple less holes than her,” the vanquished overnight leader quipped after Feng clinched an awesome foursome of Dubai titles with a closing 64.

“She seems to have got rights to it at the moment. Is that four from five or something, something ridiculous like that? And even when you think she might not have been in contention today, what’s she, five back today, and stormed it.”

That Johnson was able to see the light side of a dark day personally speaks volumes of the red-headed 29-year-old.

The Englishwoman slipped from the summit of the leaderboard following her own 64 around Emirates Golf Club Friday to a disappointing share of seventh on the back of a topsy-turvy 75.

SEE ALSO
Red hot Johnson fires 64 to lead in Dubai

After bogeying the first, Johnson settled down with a up and down birdie on the short par 4 2nd. An eagle-birdie combo on the par 5 3rd and par 4 5th respectively saw her extend her overnight lead of -7 to -10 for a commanding four shot lead over Charley Hull (England).

But then Fend fired up, Johnson began spraying her approaches and the chance to return to the winners circle for the first time since the 2011 Open de France had vanished.

“I think I looked at the board at one point and I had a three-shot lead and the next I was three behind,” Johnson said.

“I knew I made a couple of mistakes, but I don’t know what her scorecard looked like. Around the turn, the back nine, there [must have been] quite a few birdies thrown in there. She just took over.”

That position enlightening leaderboard must have made for difficult reading?

“Yeah, obviously a little bit of deflation because I wasn’t playing as well as I could have done. But I kind of smiled to myself because she had some round going, so I kind of appreciated what she was doing.

“She’s one of the best players in the world, so you can never count her out of it. I knew what the situation was. I knew I had a two-shot lead. But I didn’t look at it and think, right, Shanshan’s five back, Flory is a couple back.

“I thought if I shot maybe four-under today in the conditions that was maybe forecast in the wind, I thought -11 would probably be good enough and it would have been.”

But it was not meant to be for Johnson, her final round summing up a topsy-turvy 2016.

“t’s obviously a top-10, any day, you’ve got to be happy with but I’ve kind of wanted this year to end. On and off the golf course hasn’t been a great year. To finish this way, yes, does epitomise it, but there’s some positive stuff to take into a fresh season.

“It shows what I’m working on works really well when it works, obviously yesterday [her second round 64], but it’s just more time on the range, grooving it in.

“Obviously your old faults come back under pressure like they did today. Left is my bad shot, and hit a couple of those today. I just need to go back and keep working on the same things; it works. It’s just a time process.”

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Johnson will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the €500,000 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at Emirates Golf Club on Saturday after producing a sizzling second round 64.

The Aston Villa fan’s blemish free round, sprinkled with eight birdies and some sparkling iron play, came within a stroke of matching Dutchwoman Dewi Claire Schreefel’s 2012 Majlis course record 63.

It propelled her from 47^th after an opening 73 to the summit of congested leaderboard in the shortered 54-holer, two shots clear of first round pacesetter Florentyna Parker who backed up her opening 67 with an even par 72.

“I hit a lot of really close iron shots. I holed out really well with my putts but I had probably seven birdie putts within four feet, so that always makes the game a little bit easier,” Johnson said in the understatement of the day.

“All the ones I hit close, I converted, so 24 putts. Hitting a lot of good iron shots, you’re going to have a good score.”

Johnson has played the last 10 Dubai events but has missed the cut three times in her last five appearances. And after eight weekends off in 15 LPGA Tour starts in 2016 and five more missed cuts on the LET, there was little hint of her impending brilliance Friday.

To put the 64 into context, the next best score Friday was 70. Rookie-of-the-Year Aditi Ashok was one of eight players to card a two-under second round, propelling the Indian teen into a share of third place with Dane Emily Kristine Pedersen at –4.

Three-time defending champion Shanshan Feng also had 70 but at -2, she has much ground to make up on the red-hot leader.

Johnson owns two LET titles but will have to rewind to her 2011 Open de France triumph for winning vibes today.

“I’ll draw on some of that experience and any time you’re in contention the last day, it’s going to be fun. A good ball-striker usually does well here, which I think I am a lot of the time. It sets up well for my draw,” Johnson said.

“You don’t worry about other people. I’ll try and make as many good golf swings as I can, make myself chances again [and] we’ll see what happens.”

The post UPDATED/VIDEO: Red hot Johnson fires 64 to lead in Dubai appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“She has no idea about golf,” the first round leader said after scrambling like crazy Friday for an even par 72 and a spot in the final group alongside countrywoman Felicity Johnson, whom she trails by two strokes, and Dane Emily Kristine Pedersen (-4).

“I tell her to stand. That’s what we talk about, where to stand for the next shot and not be in anyone’s way. We just talk about non-golf things.

“I know what I’m doing and I know what I have to do. We have the yardage books and we have the green books. There’s nothing else we need.”

What Parker, a two-time LET winner, wants to do Saturday is turn a solid season into a great one by winning. The world No.141 entered the final week of the season fourth on the money list courtesy of six top-10s from 16 starts but won’t be nursing her enviable position.

“The only thing I haven’t done this year is win and that’s all I’m going to do tomorrow, I’m just going to go for it. That’s what I’ve got to do. Even if I finish second or third, I’m not really interested,” she said.

Parker cancelled out three bogeys with three birdies on Friday but opened with a 67 so knows how to go low around the Majlis. She’ll need something similar today with 12 players within four shots of the lead and a further 10, including three-time defending champion Shanshan Feng, within five.

Cheyenne Woods, tied fifth overnight after three three-putts on the back nine in her second round 73, is among those poised.

“That definitely hurt me but overall, I felt like I played well today,” Woods said of her putting woes. “I gave myself a lot of chances for birdie but my putter just wasn’t as hot as it was yesterday. I’ll work on a few things and hopefully get it back [today].

“I felt like I really needed that birdie on 18 to at least get myself up there a little bit closer. I’m really happy with where I’m sitting going into [today], so I’m looking forward to a good day.”

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