By Kent Gray
Cheyenne Woods will chase her second Ladies European Tour (LET) title at the new-look Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic early next month.

The 28-year-old niece of new Masters champion Tiger Woods has been confirmed for the 54-hole, Pro-Am event which will be played, partially at least, under the new LED floodlights on the Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club from May 1-3.

It will be Woods’ third tilt at the Dallah trophy after she finished tied 20th at the then Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in 2014 and shared 10th place in 2016 with rounds of 68-73-72.

The world No. 285, who placed 15th at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadiyat Beach in January, is one of the Moonlight Classic’s highest-profile signings. She joins current LET money leader Marianne Skarpnord (Norway), 2017 Solheim Cuppers Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark) and Florentyna Parker (England), former money list winners Beth Allen (USA) and Becky Brewerton (Wales) and LET life-member Trish Johnson. The 53-year-old from Bristol is an 18-time winner on tour.

World No. 133 Caroline Hedwall, who has won eight LET titles heading into this week’s €450,000 Lalla Meryem Cup in Rabat, Morocco, is the highest rated player in the official Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings headed for the $285,000 Moonlight Classic in Dubai.

We’ve got a star studded line up for the Moonlight Classic ??

Join us for FREE from 1-3 May to see some of the finest @letgolf players take part in the world’s FIRST day-night tournament!!

You do not want to miss this ?‍#ODMC pic.twitter.com/dhFyb2YBLL

— OMEGA Golf Dubai (@OMEGAGolfDubai) April 16, 2019

Woods has won two professionals titles, the most notable coming at the 2014 Australian Ladies Masters on Queensland’s Golf Coast. She played four LET events last season with her 8th placing at the Vic Open one of her four top 10s from 38 starts on the world’s second largest ladies circuit. She has recorded two top 10s on the LPGA Tour.

“We are delighted to welcome Cheyenne back to Dubai for the new Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic,” said out-going Tournament Director David Spencer. “She is an extremely talented golfer and is always a crowd favourite. To have Cheyenne playing alongside the strong field of confirmed amateurs and professionals will make this year’s tournament extra special and we wish her the best of luck.”

There will also be much interest in the performance of 24-year-old former world amateur No.1 Leona Maguire and the Irishwoman’s twin Lisa who was born 15 minutes earlier than Leona. Other names include Englishwoman Meghan MacLaren and Sophie Lamb, Scot Carly Booth and Spaniard Emma Cabrera Bello, the sister of Dubai-domiciled European Ryder Cupper Rafa Cabrera Bello.

Carly will be with us on the 1st May … will you? ?@CarlyBooth92 #ODMC pic.twitter.com/8edo5zkCl7

— OMEGA Golf Dubai (@OMEGAGolfDubai) April 17, 2019

American Angel Yin, who won the last Omega Dubai Ladies Classic on the Majlis course at Emirates G.C. in December 2017, will not return to defend her title.

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So much so, the 31-year-old Englishman has been lured back to the desert by a newly created and high-profile role at Yas Links. He’s the first ever Director of Instruction at the acclaimed Abu Dhabi club and loving it, perhaps keeping in theme with his February 14 – Valentine’s Day – start date.

“I am extremely excited to be back to the UAE,” said Parker who quickly climbed the ranks to head professional during four years at Al Badia Golf Club before being headhunted to help set up and run the European Tour Performance Institute at Jumeirah Golf Estates as Senior Teaching Professional.

“I’ve been back and forth a lot in the past two years for coaching trips and vacations and I’m really fortunate to be joining a club that has so much ambition and drive to want to be the best. The academy at Yas Links has huge potential which I hope to tap into to bring the best service standards, improvement and enjoyment to our students.

“I aim to bring my experiences from my past roles and my recent adventures [at Prevail Golf in the U.K.] to offer what I believe will place the academy as a leader in the country.“

Parker comes from good golfing stock. The family has produced six professionals, three-time Ladies European Tour winner and Solheim Cup representative Florentyna Parker the most high profile among them.

Mathew has overseen the revival of another cousins game in the past year, a couple of satellite tour wins earning Ben Parker promotion the European Challenge Tour and climb inside the top 500 in the OWGR. He’s previously coached Ross McGowan to MENA and Sunshine Tour wins and more recently guided Steve Kelbrick from a two handicap to a +2 handicap and the 2016-17 Emirates Golf Federation Order of Merit (OOM) title.

Related: Kelbrick qualifies for the Sharjah Senior Masters

Perhaps Parker’s best-known client in the past two years is Yas Links-attached Englishman Luke Joy who has rattled off six second place finishes on the MENA Tour and second and third placings on the developmental circuit’s OOM before his breakthrough win at the King Hamad Trophy at the Royal Club in Bahrain in November.

Related: Finally some Joy as Luke wins in Bahrain

As well as continuing with some of the region’s top players, Parker cannot wait to get to work with aspiring amateurs and promises plenty of banter along the way.

“Grass roots golf, both at youth and adult levels, will be a target as we become the place to perform at the highest level possible. Goals will be reached, fun will be had and there’ll be lots of smiles along the way,” said Parker.   

For lessons, email mparker@yaslinks.com.

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The 21-year-old may have been attired in loud golf-themed trousers but her limited and quietly-spoken English meant there were slim post-round pickings for the press following her five-under 67 on the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club.

Rest assured Sangchan is fluent in Siamese and super low scoring. She’ll take a one shot buffer into Thursday’s second round over five players – Scot Kelsey MacDonald, Finland’s Minea Blomqvist and Noora Tamminen, Australian rookie Celina Yuan and Dane Nanna Koerstz Madsen – while Dame Laura Davies and Solheim Cupper Florentyna Parker are among a group of seven players a further stroke back after 69s.

Sangchan’s media huddle afterwards lasted all of five questions, the first of which was clearly lost in translation. Paraphrasing the rest, she arrived in Dubai feeling pretty chipper about her game, stayed in the moment and found the Majlis greens “really fast”.

To flesh that out a little, know that the world’s 228th ranked player arrived in Dubai fresh from four top 30 finishes in her last four events, highlighted by T-11 and T-12 efforts in Abu Dhabi and China, the latter in defense of her thus far sole Ladies European Tour title at last month’s Sanya Open. Her pursuers will also be aware that the Thai won the Hong Kong Ladies Open in June so clearly knows how to get the job done.

With two LET titles, Blomqvist is the most decorated of those closest to Sangchan on the leaderboard but it was her compatriot Tamminen who had the most to cheer about on the centenary of Finland’s independence after acing her second hole, the 11th, with a seven iron from 140 yards.

Elsewhere, newly crowned European No.1 Georgia Hall escaped a tiring day with a pleasing two under 70, a score matched by last December’s Dubai runner-up Charley Hull. Brittany Lincicome and Aditi Ashok signed for 71s but reigning order of merit champion Beth Allen won’t have been thrilled with a 75 on her 36th birthday.

Hall can’t be beaten in this season’s OOM race and it’s just as well as she is running on empty at the LET’s season decider after successfully negotiating last week’s final stage of LPGA Tour Q-School.

“I landed from Orlando at like one o’clock yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon. Didn’t get to the hotel until three. It’s a 13-and-a-half-hour flight and I didn’t sleep. So I had a good sleep last night but still a bit jet-lagged,” said the 21-year-old Englishwoman who is still searching for her maiden LET title.

“I kind of struggled on the back nine today but I played okay. Just some approaches to greens weren’t that great, but I’ll sort it out tomorrow and see what happens.”

In-Kyung Kim is another looking for a big Thursday after signing for a one-over 73. It left the reigning British Open champion sitting on the projected cut line but at least the South Korean slept easier than Camille Chevalier. The Rookie-of-the-Year title is the 23-year-old Frenchwoman’s to lose but she won’t be pleased with her opening 75. It gives Swede Jenny Haglund (76) and third placed Luna Soburn (70) hope, albeit of the slim variety as they’d both need Chevalier to miss the cut as well as finishing at least second. Yuan has a mathematical shout too if Chevalier misses the weekend but would also need Haglund, Soburn and others to finish down the standings.

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By Kent Gray
Sir Nick Faldo pauses momentarily as he reflects on the 21st anniversary of his globe-trotting junior development series.

“It’s been quite a good journey, yeah,” the 60-year-old golfing knight turned commentary box royal says with a hearty dollop of English understatement.

The Faldo Junior Series has indeed come a long way – 40 events in 30 countries annually to be exact – since the six-time major champion created the non-profit organisation in 1996 to give back to a sport that has given him so much. Among the talented youngsters identified and nurtured along the way have been major champions Rory McIlroy and Yani Tseng, plus tour winners Nick Dougherty, Oliver Fisher, Marc Warren, John Parry, Rashid Khan, Melissa Reid, Florentyna Parker and Carly Booth.

You can bet a handful of the 57 names on this week’s 21st Faldo Series European Grand Final leaderboard will emerge from Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club as future stars too after benefitting from the unique combination of tough tournament examinations and lashings of expert advice.

Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy poses with Nick Faldo after winning the U-17 division of the 2006 Faldo Junior Series at The Celtic Manor Resort on October 6, 2006.

From his home in Orlando, Faldo himself has come along way this week to host in Abu Dhabi. He’s brought sports psychologist Kjell Enhager with him, a man Faldo admits he could have done with during his playing days when he feared his mental fortitude might be exposed if he didn’t hide behind that famously aloof “blinkers on from the first tee to the 18th green” exterior.

“Kjell did a great presentation talking about the mind, how to visualise, how to make decisions, how to practice better, how to get yourself in the right mental state,” said Faldo. “It was a real good eye opener for them, they’re getting some good stuff from us.”

The learning, it seems, is a two-way thing.

“When we started [in 1996] you didn’t really appreciate all the differences but when you take European kids to say Asia and they get thrown in the deep end and suddenly they have to learn to play golf with an eight hour time change, different grass and you’re going to get sunburnt even when the sun doesn’t even come out, it’s a great learning experience.”

Faldo has been imparting his wisdom too, playing nine practice holes Sunday with some of the starry-eyed youngsters before holding a clinic for AESGC members on Monday morning as the talented teens from Europe, Asia and the UAE [Reema Al Heloo and Rashed Al Emadi] set off on their 54-hole odyssey.

A separate clinic for the players was planned for Monday afternoon and typical of his playing days, Faldo has come prepared, as much as his busy television commitments allow anyway.

“I always come in with some kind of theme to try and give the kids a bit of insight into what and how top sportsmen think, act and react, and how they can test themselves,” Faldo said

Asked for this weeks theme, the serial swing tinkerer of old emerges and makes for a fascinating listen.

“It’s funny I’ve been practicing and I always talk about my ‘four swing”, I mean I had one backswing and four different follow throughs to hit different shots,” says Faldo, clearly just warming up.

“When you play less you go right to what has to happen, the absolute musts, so if you’re trying to hit the ball high, what do you have to do to make it happen, how do you release the club? If you want to hit it low, if you want to hit a fade, hit a draw…and I’ve been doing that myself from the same stance basically, and then you learn to make minute differences and how to feel the differences and then what happens when you make the differences.

“You know, if you make some kind of difference in your swing, where does the golf ball go and if it goes consistently in a certain direction, can you use that as a positive, in a way to use it on the golf course?”

Just as he’s making a huge difference to the careers of all those involved at Al Ain this week, so too is Faldo playing the mutual appreciation game.

“It’s great, a great spot,” the CBS analyst says of AESGC . “Obviously this time of year its perfect. To try and go as late as possible in the season as we do, I mean you struggle in central Europe, it’s too cold. We’ve been to Loch Lomond where it’s blowing 40 miles an hour and it’s 40°f  (5°c), it snowed in the Greenbrier and well, they’ve got a treat here. They’re in nice breezy conditions in the low 80s (27°c), it’s going to be a good test for them.”

Faldo holds court at Monday’s AESGC members’ clinic.

The first day scoring showed many are up to the test with England’s Charlie Salter and Australian Daniel Gale leading the way with four under 66s. In all, 11 players bettered par.

With the backing of the R&A, World Amateur Golf Ranking points and trips to next year’s Asia Grand Final – Faldo will invite three boys and two girls to the event at his Faldo Design course in Vietnam, Laguna Lang Co, in March – on the line, there is still much to play for.

Regardless of the scoring this week, the chance to glean tips of the trade from Europe’s most majored golfer is a priceless opportunity. The journey – for both Faldo and his juniors – continues.

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South African Lee-Anne Pace somehow achieved just that with a second successive 66 at Saadiyat Beach to hold onto her overnight lead at the halfway stage of the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open.

The 36-year-old is -12 through 36-holes of the Ladies European Tour event, a shot clear of reigning LET Rookie-of-the-Year Aditi Ashok after the Indian teen matched Pace’s 66.

Lee-Ann Pace

Luna Sobron soared 73 places up the leaderboard with a 62 that eclipsed the old course record by two shots and shares third at -9 with Swede Camilla Lennarth (65) and Cheyenne Woods who holed out with a seven iron from 161 yards on the 6th en-route to a 66. It wasn’t the only pure shot the American hit in the second round either:

Who said long bunker shots were tough?! @Cheyenne_Woods giving a masterclass @FBMLadiesOpen pic.twitter.com/DNtaouXHZ3

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) November 2, 2017

Related: Luna Sobron rockets into contention at FBMLO with course record 62

“It feels great,” Pace said of remaining atop the leaderboard.

“I remembered the course better today but I struck the ball really nicely too. I hit the shots I wanted to hit and I hit it really close to the pin and made the putts.

“Tomorrow I’d like to start the way I did today, and be a bit patient, as patience helps you to do a lot. I had some chances which I didn’t take but in the end I’m pretty satisfied.”

Luna Sobron en-route to her course record 62.

Ashok is ominously poised.

“I feel I’m hitting the ball well enough, though I missed a couple of drives left. But apart from that I struck the ball pretty well. My putting has been pretty good too, so I’m happy,” said the 19-year-old from Bengaluru.

“I’m still bogey free and everyone is mentioning it. I’m just focusing on hitting the fairways and letting the birdies happen.”

Georgia Hall shot an impressive 67 to finish at -8 in joint fifth place with fellow Englishwoman Florentyna Parker, Celine Herbin (France) and Swede Linda Wessberg.

.@georgiahall96 so close to a hole-in-one on the par-3 6th hole @FBMLadiesOpen pic.twitter.com/M9Uw23ds6k

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) November 2, 2017

It was a tough day for Marianne Skarpnord as Norway’s rising star dropped to -2  while fan favourite Carly Booth shot another 72 to finish even and miss the cut – made at -1 – by one shot.

Defending champ Beth Allen also has an unwanted weekend off after adding a disappointing 76 to her opening 73 to finisb +5.  Her tweet afterwards summed up the America’s feelings:

What a world class event here at @SaadiyatBeachGC for @FBMLadiesOpen. Gutted to have put up such a terrible defense. #nextyear

— Beth Allen (@BethAllenGolf) November 2, 2017

Full scores here

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The 35-year-old Edinburgh-based Californian has confirmed she will return to defend the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open’s Gazelle trophy when the €515,000 event returns to the Gary Player-designed oceanfront layout for its second edition from Nov. 1-4.

Allen’s year in the U.S., her first full LPGA Tour campaign since her 2005 rookie season, has been challenging with just one top-10 and six cuts made in 20 starts in 2017. But three scores of 69 in her last five rounds, even if she did miss the cut in her most recent start at the Evian Championship, the final major of the year, has the likeable American in an upbeat mood.

She hopes to ride the recent change of fortune to a confidence-boosting result at this week’s New Zealand Women’s Open before returning “home” to play at least four of the LET’s last six events, including also defending the Open de France early next month and “possibly” teeing it up at the season-ending Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in December.

“I’ve had some success in New Zealand before so I’m excited for this week and then obviously I feel very happy and comfortable in Europe so I’m looking forward to spending a few weeks back on the LET. The goal is to have a strong defence in France and Abu Dhabi,” Allen told Golf Digest Middle East from Auckland.

Allen, who takes an LPGA Tour stroke average of 72.53 (133rd) into this week, is “super excited” about her return to Saadiyat and understandably so. She rolled in nine birdies in a career best eight-under 64 to win the inaugural FBMLO by five shots from Englishwoman Georgia Hall last November and can’t wait to get back on Saadiyat’s pure greens.

Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of State for FNC Affairs, presents Allen with the inaugural Gazelle Trophy last November after the American’s closing 64 at Saadiyat Beach.

“It just really suits me, you know when you turn up to a place, and every tee shot I saw where I was going and I just had a really solid plan, “ Allen said of Saadiyat Beach G.C.

“If you can putt on the line you meant to, they’re going to go in and that’s always great. So it’s perfect for us and it’s going to be great again I’m sure.  It was such a great event last year, so well run and I got such a great vibe there and I know that the atmosphere will be great again with the main idea being family being involved at Saadiyat.

“It’s one of the best events we have all year, it’s comparable to Dubai and everybody loves that event and I think this one is probably going to take over as my favourite event soon.”

Hall and fellow European Solheim Cup players Mel Reid, Florentyna Parker (all England), Scot Catriona Matthew (just named non-playing captain for Gleneagles 2018) and Dane Emily Kristine Pedersen are listed as Saadiyat starters alongside Allen on the LET website.

Indian teen Aditi Ashok, who shared third place at Dubai last December to secure LET Rookie-of-the-Year honours, and the golfing royal, Dame Laura Davies, are also listed although no other confirmed names have yet been released.

The Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open is free to attend. Visit fbmladiesopen.com for more information and follow on Instagram, Twitter (@FBMLadiesOpen) and Facebook.

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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.”

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“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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The 26-year-old Hamburg-born and raised Englishwoman takes a one-stroke lead into Friday’s second round. She’ll also take thoughts of what might have been into the penultimate day of the €500,000 event, shortened to 54-holes as a mark of respect for Max Zechmann, the Dubai-based Austrian bagman who tragically collapsed and died on the 13^th hole while caddying for Frenchwoman Anne-Lise Caudal on Wednesday.

At a scarcely believable -7 through nine holes before play was suspended on Wednesday, Parker had Dutchwoman Dewi Claire Schreefel’s 2012 Majlis course record of 63 in her crosshairs.

Not surprisingly she was unable to keep the momentum going on a sombre Thursday, dropped shots on the 3^rd and 8^th compounded by a three-putt double bogey six on the her final hole, the tricky 9^th.

Parker still signed for a five-under 67, one better than Cheyenne Woods (USA) and Sophie Gilquel-Bettan (France).

“It was horrible what happened,” Parker said afterwards. “Our thoughts are with the family, but it was the right decision to stop play and let us come back this morning. Yeah, we still have to do our job and concentrate on golf this week, but we’ll be thinking of [Zechmann] as well.”

Parker will also be consoled by the fact she’s missed the cut the past three years in Dubai.

“I struggled here the last few years. I was thinking back to 2010, I think I started with five or six under on the back nine, which was my front nine. And I said, I need to get that feeling back and somehow do the same, and I can do it.

“Yesterday I started so well. I had seven birdies on the front nine and gave myself nine chances, basically. Well, I went one or two better, so that it was really good, [but] then I struggled a bit this morning. It’s quite hard to find your way again…’

Six players are tied on -3 while India teen Aditi Ashok is in a group of seven players at -2 heading into the second round. Beth Allen, the Californian who has already secured the LET’s money title, is at -1, alongside Emma Cabrera-Bello whose brother Rafa led the European Tour’s UBS Hong Kong Open overnight.

Three-time defending champion Shanshan Feng (China) carded an even par 72 , as did Charley Hull (England), Carly Booth (Scotland) and, perhaps most creditably, Caudal.

Two-time major champion Suzann Pettersen (Norway) had a 74 to sit on the projected cut line at +2 while at +3, Blair O’Neal (USA) and Dame Laura Davies (England) will need fast starts Friday survive the chop, as will LPGA Tour hopeful Paige Spiranac (USA) who signed for a 77.

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But this has been no ordinary start to the 11^th edition of the Ladies European Tour season-ender, the tragic death of Austrian caddy Max Zechmann on Wednesday forcing the first round to spill over to Thursday and players to take stock of what really matters.

“It puts a lot into perspective…I’m just thankful to be able to be here today and to be able to play golf,” said Woods after an opening 68 saw her share second place with France’s Sophie Giquel-Bettan at -4, a shot shy of English pace-setter Florentyna Parker.

Woods looked poised to own the lead outright after picking up yesterday where she left off on Wednesday when play was suspended out of respect for Zechmann. Resuming at -4 through six holes, the sporting world’s most recognisable niece rattled off three successive birdies on the 18^th, 1^st and 2^nd holes to lead at -7.

But a bogey on the 4^th and the double on her penultimate hole, when she pushed her drive into the sand on the testing dogleg par 4 before playing dodgems with a palm tree, stalled Woods’ momentum.

“Yeah, that was not very good. It was ugly,” Woods said of the setback on the 8th which required a second thwack out of the sand, a chip and two putts to complete.

“Despite that, I thought I played a really solid round. I hit the ball well and gave myself a lot of chances for birdies and my putter felt great, so I’m really happy with today. I feel like I’m in a great position and I think I can do even better tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to it.”

While some struggled to read the Majlis’ quick, carpet-esque greens, the LPGA Tour player cannot wait to wield her new Callaway putter again Friday in the penultimate round of the shortened 54-holer.

“I have a really good vision when I’m out there. I can really see the breaks and feel them. I struggled a little bit with speed towards the end of the round but overall I loved the greens out here and they are in great shape and I’m really rolling the ball well,” said Woods here finished 20^th in her only other visit to Dubai in 2014.

“Having a little bit of history out here two years ago I played, it’s kind of nice to have some, I don’t know, some memories of where the flags were, how the greens roll or which way to play the holes. I would say I’m maybe more comfortable with the golf course.”

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