The Senior Open returns to Royal Porthcawl in Wales for a third time this week and several stars have spoken to the European Tour website about the challenge the historic Welsh links course poses.

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship is back at the venue following memorable events in 2014 and 2017 in which Germany’s Bernhard Langer won on both occasions.

When Royal Porthcawl hosted its first Senior Open in 2014, two-time Masters Champion Langer stormed to a wire-to-wire victory as he finished 13 shots ahead of runner-up Colin Montgomerie — a record margin that still stands.

Royal Porthcawl, which offers stunning views across Swansea Bay to the Gower Peninsula and offers a true test of golf, has hosted The Amateur Championship and the Walker Cup.

Once again the members’ 18th hole will be used as the first this week, but what are players making of the test?

Bernhard Langer. European Tour

Two-time Masters Champion Langer admitted both his triumphs were achieved in vastly different conditions and the German believes mentality will again be vital if he is to win his 13th senior Major title and fifth at this event.

“It is a typical links course and a very demanding one,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “The last two times we have played here were totally opposite. One time it was bone dry, the ball was running 100 yards — that was a challenge in itself because you couldn’t stop it.

“The second time we played it the rain came sideways, the wind was howling, and it was wet and miserable. But I am used to making the best of it. It seems to bring the best out of me.”

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good golf course.”

Colin Montgomerie. Getty Images

Colin Montgomerie, one of many European greats of the game in the field, believes Royal Porthcawl ranks highly among the best UK links courses.

The Scot revealed how new fairway bunkering since it last played host in 2017 will provide an even greater complexity.

“The greens have got a lot of undulation to them,” he said. “Most links greens don’t, the trouble is really off the tee with most links courses but here it is actually everything.

“They have put in a number of new fairway bunkers in the last five or six years since we were last year and it has made it much tighter off the tee.

“You will see a lot of people having to think more on their tee shots rather than just hit a driver aimlessly and try to find it.

“Now there are bunkers in the way and you know with links golf — Brian Harman proved it at The Open — if you stay out of the bunkers, drive the ball well you can score.

“You can always move it forward from the rough but you can’t move it forward from the bunkers, you have to come out sideways.

“It starts from the tee shot and that is the sign of a good hole and golf course overall.”

Royal Porthcawl boasts a stunning setting sloping down to the seashore, with impressive views of the coastline from every hole.

Ian Woosnam. European Tour

The second to fourth holes can play particularly difficult when played into a freshening wind, something Ian Woosnam attests to as he highlighted the challenge of approach shots onto undulating greens.

“If the wind is off the left playing those first few holes, trying to get it on the green is a challenge,” he said. “You have got to try and hug the right hand side to get a better shot into the green.

“Once you get on the green it is hard to get it close and you have got to try and two putt.”

Padraig Harrington. Jared C. Tilton

But it isn’t just the greens that Pádraig Harrington is focusing on as he targets a strong performance off the tee in his bid to complete The Open-Senior Open double.

“The course is well designed,” the 15-time DP World Tour winner said. “There is a staggering number of bunkers. You can take some trouble out but you can’t take it all out. Avoiding trouble off the tee will be my goal for the week.

“Sometimes I will play cautious, sometimes I will play a little more aggressive. If I can avoid those bunkers and any of the major trouble I think that will set me up enough.

“The greens are difficult, there are slopes, but if I hit it straight you will create so many opportunities that you will overcome the odd lack of knowledge or the odd mistake around the greens.”

Darren Clarke. Mark Runnacles

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is this week’s defending champion having won his first Senior Major at Gleneagles last summer.

On his first return to Royal Porthcawl since the 1988 European Team Amateur Championships, the 2011 Open Champion is excited and alert in equal measure of its challenges.

“Conditions-wise, holes, everything, it’s pristine,” he said. “But no, there are some very strategic bunkers positioned out there.

“Sometime you’ve got to play in between bunkers, carry one and not reach the next one.

“And then obviously with the contours on the greens, there are a few you’ve got to miss in the right place.

“The wind is going to get up a little stronger and that’s fine.”

The post The Senior Open: What the players are saying about Royal Porthcawl appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
It is said you can’t quit love, which perhaps explains why Ian Woosnam, in spite of past proclamations, continued to return to the Masters. Woosnam, who became the first (and, to this point, only) Welshman to win the green jacket with his triumph at the 1991 Masters, has said that he was done competing in the tournament on two different occasions, only to tee it up again.

Alas, while that affection clearly remains, his relationship with Augusta National and its tournament will enter a different status this spring, as Woosnam announced—and we believe this time he means it—that he is retiring from Masters competition in 2022.

“Thought long and hard about playing the Masters again this year and in the future,” Woosnam wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, “but it’s time for me to watch the young guys play.

“So I’m going to sit back and enjoy the memories that Augusta has given me over the years, thank you for everything Augusta.”

Woosnam has long battled ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that affects the spine, and claimed his body could no longer handle the rigors of the course after the 2016 Masters. He was eventually talked into returning by his wife, playing in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 tournaments. Woosnam again called it quits after a disappointing performance in 2019. It was his 11th straight missed cut at the Masters, making the weekend just twice this century (2000, 2008).

But after skipping the 2020 tournament he reversed course last spring, coming back to shoot a 76 and 77 to miss the cut.

Woosnam finished with 32 appearances at the Masters. Though he boasts seven top-25 finishes, his 1991 victory was the only time Woosnam finished in the top 10.

Woosnam is a former World No. 1 and has 29 career wins on the European Tour, which ranks sixth all-time on the Old World circuit. The eight-time Ryder Cupper was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.

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By Shane Ryan
Time passes, seasons change and things that once felt new are now alarmingly old in ways that whisper to you, “Guess who’s also old? YOU.” That’s the real function of an anniversary or at least the de facto effect it has on the psyche.

And yet, who are we without our memories, and what better way to honour the best memories than acknowledging the time that stands between us and them? The list that follows highlights a few things we’ll never forget, a whole bunch of things you never knew you wanted to remember and also some things you definitely didn’t want to remember, but now you do, and you’re mad about it. Welcome to 2021, baby … and now, journey with me to the sweet embrace of the past.

100 years ago: Jim Barnes inches closer to the career slam
We’ll never forget where we were when “Long Jim” Barnes, Cornwall’s finest, won the U.S. Open to add to his two PGA Championships and put him just one Open Championship away from the career slam (the Masters was a cow pasture at that point). Personally, I was churning butter when news came over the victrola, and I began to churn so wildly with excitement that it ruined the batch. We’d have to wait four more years until he completed the slam at the ’25 Open Championship, and he got beat to the job by Walter Hagen, but I still have the words “Long Jim” and the Union Jack tattooed into my chest in squid’s ink.

MORE: Our top 25 Newsmakers of 2020

• • •

75 years ago: Herman Keiser wins the first Masters after World War II despite having a first name and a last name that are associated with famous German military leaders
Nobody talks about this.

• • •

50 years ago: Charles Coody becomes the most famous Masters winner
Etched in our collective golf memories is that famous Sunday when Charles Coody defeated a pair of men whose names are mostly lost to history—Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller—to win the green jacket and capture the minds of the golfing public in a way that persists even today, 50 years after the magical day. That wasn’t Coody’s only great accomplishment, either. He’s also very well known on school playgrounds as the first man to have a unique kind of germ that can only be spread to members of the opposite sex.

1971 Masters champion Charles Coody speaks at the Presentation Ceremony with (from left) Billy Casper, Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus. Augusta National

• • •

30 years ago: The year of the Ians
There have only been two men named “Ian” to win a major championship, both won just a single major, and they won it in the same year. It was 1991 when Ian Woosnam, a Welshman, took home the Masters title, followed by Australia’s Ian Baker-Finch winning the Open Championship a few months later. Following these triumphs, parents all over the world began naming their children “Ian,” which is why it’s the most popular name for both men and women among 30-year-olds today.

MORE: 18 quotes that summed up golf in 2020

• • •

25 years ago: Tiger Woods turns professional
On Aug. 29, 1996, a much-ballyhooed youngster named Eldrick (Tiger) Woods officially became a professional golfer. He failed to make anything of himself for months and months, simply winning normal PGA Tour events, before finally breaking through at the 1997 Masters—a gap of seven endless months after he turned pro. Since then, he’s won less than 18 percent of all majors he’s played in, and seems likely to never win 500 events on the PGA Tour. Still, we can’t forget how promising he seemed, once upon a time.

So much hype greeted Tiger when he made his pro debut in Milwaukee in 1996. Too bad he only managed 82 PGA Tour wins and 15 majors.

• • •

21 years ago: Ian Woosnam carries too many clubs, blows chance at Open Championship
Speaking of Ians, you can imagine the distress when Woosnam, tied for the lead on the final round of the 2001 Open Championship, was approached by his caddie with a devastating message: He was carrying two drivers. That meant a two-stroke penalty, and a psychological blow that made it all but impossible for him to win. (He eventually lost by four strokes.) Woosnam’s blunder lives on in infamy, and—

Ian Woosnam does a great job of masking his frustration after learning of his two-shot penalty to start the final round of the 2001 Open Championship. Getty Images

Sorry, hold on a moment, my editor is calling and he says it’s important. I’ve got to take this. Back in a second.

Oh no.

Oh God no.

It was 20 years ago. Not 21. I had one too many years. I was in contention for golf article of the year up until this point, and now there’s absolutely no chance. I’ve blown it. This is the worst moment of my life, and I don’t even have a caddie to fire.

• • •

12 years ago: Henrik Stenson strips to his underwear to hit a shot
In a triumph of Swedish engineering, Stenson correctly ascertained that in order to truly be free to swing the club as he wanted at the WGC-CA Championship, he must shed as much clothing as legally possible. The result:

Actually, this might just have been about trying not to get his clothes too muddy. But how long can it be until Bryson DeChambeau gives it a go for scientific purposes? The naked revolution will soon be upon us.

• • •

10 years ago: Rory visits Masters cabins, but too early
It’s the shot that inspired a thousand jokes: Rory McIlroy, holding a four-shot lead heading into the final round of the 2011 Masters, managed to hang onto that lead for nine holes despite some unsteady play. Then, on the 10th, he managed to hit a ball beside the cabins left of the fairway (way left). Of course, Butler Cabin is the place where the winner is famously presented the green jacket. Alas, he made his visit to one of Augusta National’s residences about nine holes too soon, and a triple bogey on 10 ensured that it would be his only trip that day.

• • •

Eight years ago: Sergio climbs a tree, hurts himself
Situation: You’re playing in the final round at Bay Hill with absolutely no chance to win. Your ball lodges in a tree. As you look up, you see that you could maybe climb up and hit it out, at great risk to yourself and with nothing to gain. Do you do it? If you’re Sergio Garcia, the answer is an unequivocal sí.

The post-script is that, after accomplishing one of the bravest feats in the history of sports, he did indeed hurt himself—achilles and shoulder—and then withdrew from the tournament. If there’s a better metaphor for this man’s career, I haven’t seen it.

MORE: Latest Anthony Kim sighting sends Golf Twitter into its usual frenzy

• • •

One year ago: A guy wins the Wyndham Championship
The word “unforgettable” gets thrown out a lot (especially in the song “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole), but this is truly one of those cases where it will be impossible to forget the man who won the 2020 Wyndham Championship on that historic weekend in Greensboro, N.C. His name, of course, was … John something. Or was it Jed? Jed Pearlman? It’s something like Jed Pearlman. I remember he had a hat. This is embarrassing, because I usually go to the tournament and I actually wrote about it this year. Jug. Jug Candyman. Can’t be that, doesn’t sound real. Jello Hang-ten. Hey, where are you going? It’s on the tip of my tongue, just give me a minute. Jib Cartman. Jub Lindham. Do not walk out that door! Jog Dougden … Jibs Horton … Jinks Downton …

The post The (absurd) golf anniversaries we’ll be celebrating in 2021 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Early progress was slow to the point of immobility in the years after its first playing in 1955, when six-time Ryder Cupper Ken Bousfield won at Pannal Golf Club in Yorkshire, thanks to the fact many outside the British Isles weren’t even remotely aware the event existed. Between 1955 and 1966, participation was limited to English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish members of the game’s oldest professional golfers association. Why then would anyone else pay attention?

Which is not say that the origin of the event did not have at least one powerful and influential backer. Three-time Open champion Sir Henry Cotton was, according to veteran television commentator and eight-time Ryder Cup player Peter Alliss, a “driving force” behind the early PGA Championships.

“Henry felt strongly that there should be a PGA Championship,” says Alliss, who would win the event three times, a record until Nick Faldo’s fourth victory in 1989. “He saw it as affording British professionals a certain status in the world of golf. That was important because it was so difficult for us to go and play in America. Things were different then. I never thought I would see the day when so many of our leading players would live in the States. In my day, that was never going to happen because they made it so difficult for us to go over. We weren’t wanted there, especially if you could really play.”

That same sort of insularity had to change if the new tournament was to make progress. And it did, albeit only after a false start. The first response to criticism of the obviously restrictive entry requirements was the staging of “open” and “closed” versions of the tournament in 1967 and ’68. In other words, any professional from anywhere in the world could participate in the “open” event.” The “closed” version remained available only to those hailing from GB&I.

That attempt at compromise, however, didn’t work so well. By 1970, the championship had fallen into what turned out to be brief abeyance.

“The early 1970s was a turbulent period for the [British] PGA as an organization,” explains Alliss, who has twice served as the organization’s captain. “There was a lot going on, a lot of changes in management at the top over a short period of time. So there was a lot of negativity until the European Tour came into being. That changed everything, of course.”

The “Viyella” PGA Championship, a smaller-scale forerunner to today’s big-time reality, returned in 1972 (at Wentworth) as part of that newly-formed European Tour. (The British PGA did retain an interest in the event, as it still does, in that a small minority of the field qualify to play through PGA regional tournaments). Subsequently, six more sponsors have inserted their names ahead of “PGA.” And five other courses played host (Royal St. George’s, Royal Birkdale, The Old Course at St. Andrews, Ganton and Hillside) prior to Wentworth’s West course, the “Burma Road,” making its second and so-far permanent comeback in 1984.

“We always had a good venue and good sponsors,” says Ken Schofield, whose 29-year tenure as European Tour executive director ended in 2004. “But I can’t claim we had any kind of long-term plan in place. As was the case with a lot of things back then, it was intuitive.”

In retrospect, the 1975 championship at a blustery Royal St. George’s was especially significant. Arnold Palmer, 45, came from far behind with one of his patented charges (his final-round 71 was at least seven strokes lower than anyone in the top 10 after 54 holes) and won the £10,000 first prize in what was by then the Penfold PGA Championship. Just as his mere presence had done for the Open Championship 15 years earlier, golf’s most-charismatic performer raised the profile of the tournament to a previously unimagined height.

“It was the biggest event on the European Tour by then, bigger than any national Open. And we all wanted to play in it,” recalls swing coach Denis Pugh, who works with former Open champion Francesco Molinari and played in the event in 1975 at St. George’s. “But it was a bigger deal that year because Arnold was there, although it had nothing like the prestige it has now. I recall watching him walk down a fairway wearing a cashmere sweater. On a day when the rest of us needed four layers just to feel cold. He was the ultimate macho-man.”

Even as the tournament continued to grow in stature, a caveat hovered just beneath the surface. And it lingers today. Maybe because the European Tour has necessarily or unintentionally (take your pick) diminished the resonance of the title through the prominent presence of so many commercial entities, the PGA of America has, rather presumptuously, assumed ownership of the phrase “PGA Championship.”

It may seem pedantic, but “USPGA Championship” is a more accurate and appropriate title for the major held each year in the U.S. The PGA in Britain, the world’s first association of golf professionals, was born in 1901, 15 years ahead of the American version. And with age and precedence comes rank and privilege.

“The Americans understand marketing,” says a smiling George O’Grady, European Tour chief executive between 2005 and 2015. “I once had a chat with [former PGA Tour commissioner] Tim Finchem. I told him there really should be two brands for the entire world. ‘The PGA’ for the club professionals around the world. And ‘PGA Tour’ for all the professional golfers, which would make his organization the ‘U.S. PGA Tour.’ He was quick to dismiss that notion.”

Still, despite the New World’s indifference, the early days of the Old World PGA Championship were not totally lacking in merit. Not in Alliss’ mind at least.

“It quickly became a little bit more than an ordinary tournament,” says Alliss, 89. “If you won, you were a champion, the best in Britain. So it had quite a bit of kudos. Having said that, we were playing at far more modest venues and for a lot less money. First prize was something like £400, which was a lot then I suppose. So it had some razzamatazz to it. And it was certainly an event I enjoyed winning. It was just a little bit above the rest.”

It was also an innovator. At least in one respect, the championship was moving with the times. At Dunbar in 1968, the then Schweppes PGA Championship became the first “big-ball” tournament in Europe. Englishman David Talbot’s eight-under-par winning score over the East Lothian links was achieved with the 1.68-inch diameter ball, rather than the 1.62 version.

Into the 1970s, the prestige of the event was soon accelerating, as evidenced by the list of winners. BP (before Palmer), former Open and U.S. Open champion Tony Jacklin won in 1972. And 12 months later, then European No. 1 Peter Oosterhuis succeeded his biggest rival.

Even more significantly, by the end of that decade the so-called “Big Five” of European golf—Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer—were emerging and blossoming en route to accumulating 16 major victories between them. Only Lyle would not win the PGA Championship at Wentworth, although the Scot came close, losing a playoff to Paul Way in 1985. Throw in Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Angel Cabrera, former World No. 1 Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Molinari and the tournament today boasts a fittingly stellar list of past champions.

“The buy-in from the top five was crucial,” O’Grady says. “The key to what the PGA Championship has become today was the support of the leading players in the 1980s. Faldo in particular was a huge boost to the prestige of the event. For whatever reason, he saw it as a big deal. Back then, I was managing director of Tour Enterprises, but I was also, in effect, the tournament director. My job was to negotiate with the players as well as run the commercial side of the operation.”

Peter Dazeley
The exceptional record in the tournament from Europe’s Big Five of Nick Faldo (four wins), Seve Ballesteros (2), Sandy Lyle (playoff loss), Bernhard Langer (3) and Ian Woosnam (2) helped cement the event as the biggest outside the majors on the European Tour.

The burgeoning success O’Grady describes wasn’t all about the willingness of star players to show up, albeit they were and are an obvious prerequisite for any aspirational tournament. Another big plus was extensive BBC TV coverage, the viewing figures enhanced by the event finishing on Monday, the May Bank Holiday in the U.K. Throw in the annual World Match Play Championship that ran from 1964 to 2007 at Wentworth and a special connection was thus created between fans and venue. Reminiscent of the relationship that exists between golf fans and Augusta National, Wentworth’s holes are today familiar to millions who will never see the course in person. All in all, the end result represented a potent package, one only enhanced by a shift to September when the now twice re-designed lay-out is typically in better shape.

“It’s a title we all grow up craving to win, more than any other on the European Tour,” says former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, neatly summing up the prevailing view.

Further adding to the mix is the unpredictability of the eventual result. Not every champion at Wentworth has been a bonafide superstar. Journeymen have popped up now and then. Simon Khan. Scott Drummond. Andrew Oldcorn. Anders Hansen (twice). Chris Wood. Tony Johnstone. All have lifted the trophy. And for all, victory was life-changing.

“The PGA Championship was a huge event by the time I won it,” says Johnstone, who outdueled Faldo on the final day in 1992. “That the top guys all played throughout the 1980s was huge in terms of establishing the credentials of the event. The big thing for me though was the 10-year [tour] exemption [now reduced to three] that came with the £100,000 winner’s check. That meant I could have a bad year, or an injury and still have my card the following season. I did keep my card every year without the exemption, but that was at least partly because I knew i had that safety net. I was able to just go out and play, which was a massive relief mentally.”

Andrew Redington
Having the likes of Rory McIlroy in 2014 (shown), Francesco Molinari in 2018 and Danny Willett in 2019 win the title helps connect the tournament to the current generation of European Tour stars.

Through all of the above one thing has been noticeably missing: anything more than sporadic American participation. But even that was showing signs of change. In 2019, Billy Horschel, Patrick Reed, Kurt Kitayama, Andrew Putnam, Julian Suri, Tony Finau and David Lipsky made up a record seven-strong contingent. This year, however, has a different look. Of those seven Americans, only Reed, Kitayama and Suri are returning. Like the European Tour on which it stars, the BMW PGA is, in many ways, poorly positioned to cope with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

It remains to be seen, for example, how many of the U.S.-based European stars will cross the Atlantic to play at Wentworth in years to come. McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Viktor Hovland and Henrik Stenson aren’t flying over this year. The most recent European winner on the PGA Tour, Sergio Garcia, citing tax issues, never more than an occasional visitor, is another absentee. The six events on the so-called U.K. Swing earlier this year featured fields well below the norm. Top 50 players were hard to find. The fear is that, even boasting an exceptional purse, the BMW PGA Championship will suffer a similar fate.

“We’ll get through it though,” insists McGinley, who serves on the European Tour’s board of directors. “It’s just a question of what is left at the end of it. How swiftly can we come back? We’re dealing with some really difficult curveballs. The restrictions imposed by the British government are so severe. We have to deal with international players. And we have to deal with the travel that comes with being a truly international tour. So we have a number of headwinds against us.”

McGinley’s ultimate optimism is likely justified. In the 65 years that have passed since its low-key inception, the Schweppes/Viyella/Penfold/Colgate/Sun Alliance/Whyte & Mackay/Volvo/BMW PGA Championship has always found ways to survive and thrive.

The post The strange, sometimes rocky story of how the BMW PGA Championship became the European Tour’s ‘flagship’ event appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
In the absence of many star names plying their trade primarily on the PGA Tour Champions in the United States, what was the European Senior Tour, then the Staysure Tour, has always struggled for attention. Nostalgia was its biggest selling point, the circuit reliant on pro-am income to survive.

Although specifics in terms of scheduling and the number of future events are still to be determined, things are going to be different in 2021. For one thing, the Staysure name will be replaced by the rather grand Legends Tour. And for another, Staysure Group CEO Ryan Howsam has assumed a majority equity share in what is, in golf, a unique ownership structure. Working alongside the head of the Legends Tour, Mark Aspland, Howsam, who founded the travel insurance company in 2004, will oversee the tour’s commercial strategy.

In that regard, the so-far lack of many recognisable names to build events around has been acknowledged and rectified. Going forward, former Ryder Cup captains Darren Clarke, Mark James, Tom Lehman, Paul McGinley, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam, along with 2005 U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell and 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, will act as the tour’s “official ambassadors.” They will, according to the press release announcing the changes to the 50-and-older circuit, “play a key role in outlining the tour’s vision in the months to come.”

“Our major champions, our past Ryder Cup players and captains and our European Tour winners have considerable pulling power,” Aspland said. “The accessibility to them offered by our new structure will form the basis of our growth plan moving forward.”

Indeed, perhaps the biggest difference will be in what Howsam calls the “alliance format” of the as-of-now undetermined number of 2021 events, in which amateurs will get the chance to play alongside the pros in tournament conditions. An additional focus on the amateur experience, will include a selection of celebrity pro-ams aimed at bringing together the “legends of golf” with others from sports, music and entertainment.

“I see the re-launch of this tour as something which could change the landscape of over-50s golf forever,” said James, a seven-time Ryder Cup player. “The alliance format brings a different dimension to competitive golf and will give the players the opportunity to meet a plethora of people and form new relationships, while amateurs will continue to hear the many stories from our lives on tour.”

Entry to that sociable atmosphere will come at a premium price. Membership into the “Legends Club” will cost £60,000, a source told Golf Digest. There will also be a dedicated Order of Merit where the amateurs will compete for a place in the end-of-season Tour Final by playing in three-day alliance events at some of the “best golf courses in the world.”

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By John Huggan
He played only nine holes on the eve of what will be his 32nd Masters appearance, but it was obvious Ian Woosnam was hurting. The 1991 champion’s 30-year bout with ankylosing spondylitis, a rheumatic disease that can cause his vertebrae to lock, is never-ending, and he thought it prudent to stop at the turn.

“I think this is going to be my last time playing here,” said Woosnam, who last made the halfway cut in the Masters back in 2008, the same year he last shot a sub-par round. “I’m just in too much pain. And it happens every time I get here. It must be the hills because I’ve been playing and hitting a lot of balls recently with no ill-effects. But as soon as I get on this course my back bothers me.”

We’ve been here before, of course. Three years ago, Woosnam was saying pretty much the same thing and actually announced his retirement from Masters play. But this time sounds even more convincing. His old friend, 1988 champion Sandy Lyle — the pair have been competing together since their early teens — certainly fears the worst.

“I could see Ian was having trouble walking between shots,” said the Scot. “Which is such a shame. He’s hitting the ball so nicely. I hope he isn’t done but if he is he has nothing to be ashamed of. He’s had a great career.”

Indeed, Woosnam’s seemingly chronic discomfort is obvious to all. Standing under the tree behind the Augusta National clubhouse the 29-time European Tour winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member’s back began to spasm.

“I can still get round as a golfer — I can still hit the shots — but physically I’m not really up to it any more,” he continued. “I had treatment before I went out today and I’m fine swinging the club. But the walking is killing me.

“I know I‘ve said this before. But this time it feels like the end. I want to enjoy playing but I just can’t. It’s too bad really. I’ve got a new driver and I’m ripping it off the tee. I even managed to knock it past Sandy a couple of times this morning. I’m playing well so it it is really disappointing. But I have to say goodbye sometime. If nothing changes physically, I’m done. I just can’t go on like this.”

Which is not to say Augusta has seen the last of the wee Welshman. And he hasn’t lost his sense of humour.

“I’ll still come back every year and play in the par-3,” he said with a smile. “That works for me because you don’t have to play the next day.”

The post Ian Woosnam says ‘the walking is killing me’ and that it’s likely his last Masters appearance appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Welcome to the Masters morning rundown, your one-stop shop to catch up on the action from Augusta National. Here’s everything you need to know for the morning of April 11.

It’s finally here. The Masters, in earnest, begins Thursday morning (PM UAE time). May the weather be kind, the pimento be fresh, the azaleas remain in full bloom and the fist pumps, plentiful.

Wallace wins Par 3
Most Masters entrants will purposefully DQ at the Par 3 Contest, hoping to avoid the event’s infamous curse. Matt Wallace went into overtime in hopes of breaking it.

Wallace, making his Masters debut this week, went three rounds of sudden death with Sandy Lyle at Wednesday’s competition, winning with a birdie on the third hole.

“I wanted to hole that putt on the last (Wallace missed a birdie at the ninth), and I didn’t, and then went to a playoff and it got a little bit more serious than how the nine holes went,” Wallace said. “I guess I just I wanted to win this. I want to break history somewhat.”

Wallace tied Lyle with a five-under 22, which included this ace at No. 8:

Oh Matt Wallace ??pic.twitter.com/zJulN22uHN

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) April 10, 2019

As Wallace alluded, no one has captured the Par 3 Contest and Masters in the same week. (Media members reminding their audiences no one has won the Par 3 and Masters in the same week: a true tradition unlike any other.) But there have been close calls, with Raymond Floyd (1990) and Chip Beck (1993) finishing runner-up.

Wallace, who won three times on the Euro Tour last season, will tee off with Bernhard Langer and Alvaro Ortiz at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday.

Finau returns to scene of crime

On April’s Fools Day, Tony Finau and Nike “released” the Finau1, a shoe with exaggerated ankle support. A sneaker that gave a not-so-subdued, and sardonic, nod to Finau’s gruesome injury at the 2018 Par 3 Contest.

However, Wednesday proved that fake boot is very much real, as the 29-year-old broke out the high, hightop at the seventh hole, the scene of the crime last spring.

.@TonyFinaugolf came prepared for the Par 3 Contest this year. pic.twitter.com/vEXwv9opeZ

— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 10, 2019

A closer view, thanks to our Golf Digest photography team:

Andrew Redington

Considering Finau managed a T-10 finish on a busted wheel last season, go ahead and give Big Tone the green jacket if he has this bad boy at his disposal Thursday morning.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. Picture: Chris Trotman

The latest broadcast innovation fans will love
A common complaint lodged at golf broadcasts, especially on Thursday and Fridays, is the abundance of missed televised shots. A complaint the Masters has heard, and answered with an ambitious endeavour.

Beginning on Thursday, fans will be able to see every shot, from every player, on Masters.com. Well, almost every shot; the occasional strike that’s off the grid—think of Rory McIlroy’s notorious tug on the 10th in 2011—may be missing. Nevertheless, all but a handful of foul balls are at a viewer’s disposal is one of the biggest presentation breakthroughs in the past decade.

The venture was announced on Wednesday by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley.

“The reason we’re going it is because we have always subscribed to the notion that we want to provide content to our fans in the way they want to receive it,” Ridley said. “You know, the world is migrating more and more towards digital technology. It was something that we thought, and that we were hearing, that our fans wanted, and with a lot of great work of our digital technology committee and our staff, we were able to develop this.”

As our Alex Myers discussed, the Masters website and app will continue to track every player’s shot. Coverage that will now be supplemented with raw video stitched into a virtual scorecard.

“It’s been two or three years in developing,” Ridley said. “We had it in a beta test mode previously, but now I feel like we can actually execute on this.”

An innovation that hopefully manifests in fans’ ultimate viewing desire: clips of Jim Nantz rehearsing his weekend intros and victory calls. With a little teamwork (and IBM), we can make the dream work.

Picture: David Cannon

A new pin on 18, but no new tee on 13…for now
During his annual pre-tournament press conference, Ridley also discussed several items pertaining to the course. Most notably, that plans to lengthen the par-5 13th hole—enabled thanks to the acquisition of land from neighbouring Augusta Country Club—are currently on hold. According to Ridley, the club is waiting on results from the USGA and R&A’s project regarding distance impact in the game.

Conversely, reading between the lines (as well as aerial images suggesting initial steps have already occurred), it seems, eventually, yardage will be added to the 13th.

“Admittedly, that hole does not play as it was intended to play by [Bobby] Jones and [Alister] MacKenzie,” Ridley said. “The momentous decision that I’ve spoken about and that Bobby Jones often spoke about, of going for the green in two, is to a large extent, no longer relevant.”

Additionally, it appears, at some point this weekend, there will be a new hole location on the 18th green.

“The 18th green was a green we rebuilt this summer, and we captured or recaptured some areas on the back part of the green that had been lost to encroachment, which is really a natural process in all golf greens over time,” Ridley said. “So there is a larger area, both on the back left and the back right. The back right I think is going to give us an opportunity for a really good hole location. There’s plenty of room back there, but it kind of looks like it’s almost tucked, almost in the bunker, when you’re in the fairway.”

This will be the second Masters under Ridley’s command.

Ian Woosnam. Picture: Kevin C. Cox

Woosnam’s last ride?
Three years ago, Ian Woosnam, winner of the 1991 Masters, announced his retirement from the tournament. Only he didn’t, as the Welshman’s continued to tee it up at Augusta.

However, it sounds like 2019 will be, officially, Woosnam’s last ride in Georgia. The 61-year-old told Golf Digest’s John Huggan it’s time, his 30-year-bout with ankylosing spondylitis, a rheumatic disease that can cause his vertebrae to lock, is becoming too much to bear.

“I know I‘ve said this before. But this time it feels like the end. I want to enjoy playing but I just can’t,” Woosnam said. “It’s too bad really. I’ve got a new driver and I’m ripping it off the tee. I even managed to knock it past Sandy a couple of times this morning. I’m playing well so it it is really disappointing. But I have to say goodbye sometime. If nothing changes physically, I’m done. I just can’t go on like this.”

This will be Woosnam’s 31st appearance at the Masters. Aside from his 1991 triumph, the Hall of Famer has not finished inside the top 10 at the tournament, and he last made the cut in 2008.

The post Masters 2019 morning rundown: Wallace wins Par 3 Contest, Finau’s prank turns out to be very real, and Augusta National announces new broadcast endeavour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Welcome to another edition of the Sand Trap where we really should be beavering away on resolutions for the New Year, not to mention myriad deadlines that give ‘silly season’ a whole new meaning. You know the drill – more golf, fewer three-putts and even less whinging about the work that pays for the “pleasure” of the inevitable three-stab blobs. That kind of thing.

We’re also itching to reveal the Dubai link to Louis Oosthuizen’s emotional South African Open win, share a very tall (trophy) tale of amateur success for a MENA Tour star in Saudi Arabia, not to mention a heart-warming story of Open Championship ambition and some of best (read savage) tweets of the year.

But first, we have a guilty admission to make, wrapped up in a lingering obsession.

ARISE SIR NICK

The Sand Trap’s boyhood hero worship, turned middle-aged man crush on Sir Nick Faldo will come as little surprise to regular visitors of this irregular Middle East-themed array of social media/golfing goodness. I mean, those wind-piercing long irons bounced into inaccessible pins to grind out pars and three Open Championship wins; the mastery of Augusta National that delivered a wardrobe of green jackets and a dagger to the heart of the Great White Shark (it’s a Kiwi-Aussie thing even though The Sand Trap secretly admires Greg Norman too); the thanking of the British tabloid press from the “Heart of my bottom…” Classic stuff.

Now the six-time major champion is a class act behind the microphone, merging the deep knowledge of his maddening craft with that trademark British humour to bring the predictable pitch and putt of the PGA Tour to life on the little screen. The Sand Trap might never flush a three-iron like Sir Nick, but we get how tough it is not to sound/read like a complete numpty as a media analyst. In fact, we reckon that Kiwi Frank Nobilo is the only ex-player who comes close to Sir Nick as a TV analyst, all parochialism aside.

We also get Faldo isn’t everyone’s cup of English Breakfast but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the beholder is typing this, so we’ll press on with our confession.

There’s no place for fairway fanboys in the media centre and you certainly don’t go asking stars for their autograph. But hey, given that the Sand Trap still owns several Faldo highlights tapes and Faldo-Leadbetter instruction cassettes (with no way of playing them) from the early 80s, it has become a bucket-list mission to meet said hero and get his scribble on something for the home office wall.  The thing is, I’m 0-3 when it comes to chances to meet Sir Nick in a private setting (e.g. where no other hack will see the giddy fanboy behaviour) and it’s gnawing away at me. Is it truly meant to be?

There was a club manufacturers’ meet and greet during the 1997 Open at Royal Troon (won by Justin Leonard), an opportunity a young Kiwi living off a high street golf shop assistants wage in East London could ill afford. Then, last year, those blessed (they really aren’t very funny) silly season deadlines prevented a trip out to Al Ain where our man was hosting his Faldo Series Middle East final. Then last month at the Faldo Series European Final back at the same Abu Dhabi satellite course – agghh!!!!…

One can’t grumble too loudly given the latest excuse was research for an upcoming stay and play feature at Oman Open venue Al Mouj Golf (above). To prove our press room impartiality, let it be known that the Sand Trap are unashamed fans of Norman designed courses, Al Mouj, Ayla in Jordan, Danang in Vietnam and Earth and Fire in Dubai among the Shark’s creations we’ve also savoured. Seriously, do yourself a favour if you haven’t played Al Mouj already and book a long weekend – the Shark’s contribution to Muscat golf is arguably the most under-rated ( even at No.3 in our biennial top-10 course rankings), and definitely the most under-visited gem, in the region.

But we digress. Back to Sir Nick who is to be applauded for what he’s giving back to the game with his global junior series, not only providing international competition and imparting priceless tips to the game’s elite young amateurs as captured by Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club legend Tom Buchanan…

Privileged to be able to watch and listen to @NickFaldo006 educating the future of golf tonight. A complete joy. I hope that these kids took it all in like a sponge. #GrowTheGame pic.twitter.com/cEA8OpuY5s

— Tom Buchanan (@tompro66) November 27, 2018

…but also encouraging newcomers to consider the sport as this Emirates Golf Federation tweet shows :

Thank you to @NickFaldo006 & the @FaldoSeries for putting on a special coaching clinic for the @MOEducationUAE Sultan Bin Zayed School at @aesgc. pic.twitter.com/TZuAgJl1lS

— Emirates Golf Fed. (@EGFuaegolf) November 27, 2018

Hearty congrats to Dubai-based, Welsh junior international Toby Bishop for his victory in the U-16 division of the European final at Al Ain. Look out for our feature on the Jumeirah Golf Estates junior in the January ’19 issue of Golf Digest Middle East where he talks about his long-term goals.

SIR NICK CRITIQUES ‘THE FALDO’… LOVERS OF TIGHT DOGLEGS BEWARE
Faldo was a busy man during his latest UAE stop-over, also calling in at Emirates Golf Club to review the club’s Faldo layout which will host the new-look Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic next May.

It was a pleasure to welcome back @NickFaldo006 to the Faldo Course yesterday! pic.twitter.com/uR8QLVEFIG

— Emirates Golf Club (@EmiratesGC) November 25, 2018

Faldo surveyed the floodlit layout with Emirates G.C.’s head agronomist Matt Perry and the Sand Trap has it on good authority they spent extra time musing the design merits of the 7^th and 13^th holes, both tricky par-4s where our admiration for Sir Nick has briefly wavered more than a few times in the past. We await any changes with anticipation – and with any half-new ball swapped out for an old-Dunga on those card-wreckers in the meantime.

WEE WOOSIE DROPS BY
Faldo wasn’t the only Masters winner/Ryder Cup hero of yesteryear to visit Emirates G.C. recently, nor the only big-name colleague of the Dubai club’s popular teaching pro James Williams.

Childhood friends and team mates Ian Woosnam and James Williams bumped into each other after their last meeting nearly 30 years ago!

Woosnam the Masters Champion and former World Number One golfer passed through Dubai en route to the European Seniors pic.twitter.com/RrzE9QEmfM

— Emirates Golf Club (@EmiratesGC) December 3, 2018

Wee Woosie was en-route to the Staysure Tour’s MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius where he placed T-13 to finish the European senior circuit season 29^th overall with €68,014. Not bad retirement money for the Welshman who will turn 61 in March.

CRICKETERS WHO GOLF, GOLF THE UAE
Hollywood celebrities and stars of other sports are regularly spotted golfing in the UAE and recently the Sand Trap spied former New Zealand cricket captains Brendon McCullum, Dan Vettori and all-rounder Kyle Mills heading to the 10^th tee at Trump Dubai with smiles on their dials.

Thank you @EmiratesGC for hosting us this morning. If you are in Dubai, it’s a must do for golfers!! pic.twitter.com/1La1IcAsM8

— ben dunk (@bendunk51) November 25, 2018

Seems McCullum and Mills also teed it up on the Majlis a few days before big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman McCullum got the shock of his life with what turned out to be a hoax tweet about the death of his brother Nathan, also a former Black Caps international.

https://twitter.com/Bazmccullum/status/1068854050106601472

We’ve long marvelled at the power with which Brendon smashes a cricket ball so wish the social media perpetrators/cowards all the best if they are unearthed. Anyway, enough of the fanboy stuff. Back to Faldo.

DUBAI’S NEW TOPGOLF FACILITY BREAKS GROUND

We’re strangely delighted to report that the driving range attached to Faldo’s aforementioned course at Emirates G.C. is now officially closed. Thankfully the decommissioning is for a very worthy cause as the Middle East’s first TopGolf facility takes shape.

Ground Breaking in #Dubai… pic.twitter.com/NjTfsQmPmV

— Topgolf (@Topgolf) December 1, 2018

Dubai Golf’s Abdulwahed Al Qasim and Troy Warfield, Top Golf’s head of international development, posed for pictures at the official ground-breaking ceremony recently. Construction on the 97-bay, three-tier building began last month with the venue due to open in the first quarter of 2020. This is later than originally anticipated but having played TopGolf in Tampa, The Sand Trap cannot wait for this perfect intro to golf/pals night out magnet to open. Here’s hoping they keep it reasonably priced to entice newcomers to the game and ample summer patronage from already-hooked amateurs.

GETTING INTO THE DESERT SWING OF THINGS
Talking of giddy anticipation, we cannot wait for the Desert Swing to begin in Abu Dhabi next month. Can Tommy Fleetwood pull off an Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship three-peat?  How long before Mr. Major, Brooks Koepka, is reminded he missed the cut the last time he played The National in 2014 (oops, sorry Brooks)? Will Dustin Johnson’s pre-tourney press conference garner a single, useful quote this year?

.@BKoepka will kick off his 2019 #InAbuDhabi! Can the Double 2018 Major Winner and @pgatour POTY beat the #BestOfTheBest to his first falcon? ?
–
Tickets here – https://t.co/rJA5PeJwel …
–#ADGolfChamps #AnyonesGame #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/IxJ2NBg2hs

— Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (@ADGolfChamps) November 19, 2018

All these mysteries and more will be answered before the golf sorcerer Bryson DeChambeau shows up to confound us all again on the Majlis the following week. The Mad Scientists’ Omega Dubai Desert Classic presser is guaranteed to do exactly what DJ’s won’t, and there will also be plenty of entertainment and interest on course from spectators and peers alike, the former from beyond the ropes and the latter at arms-length as this recent Kevin Na tale relates.

ERNIE’S NEPHEW v DUBAI’S FAVOURITE SON
How about Dubai Creek prodigy Rayhan Thomas winning his second professional title at the King Hamad Trophy aged just 19? It wasn’t that long ago that the MENA Tour trailblazer looked like this, as posted by the Indian Golf Federation’s defacto PR officer Joy Chakravarty:

Here is a quiz and a blast from the past! Who is this young boy with @JeevMilkhaSingh? The picture was clicked in 2010! pic.twitter.com/wYocgVvEpw

— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) November 19, 2018

The Indian No.1s next big test will be the Desert Classic where he’ll line up against Jovan Rebula in the most anticipated amateur showdown at a Desert Swing event since DeChambeau won low amateur honours from Englishman Allan James in 2016.

Rebula has already played the Open at Carnoustie and will tee it up at the Masters at Augusta and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2019. If Thomas needed any further motivation, how about the fact the 21-year-old South African is the nephew of three-times Desert Classic winner Ernie Els? He even played with uncle Ernie at last week’s SA Open.

Tricky, windy day for scoring @RandparkGolf today @SAOpen_Golf @Sunshine_Tour @EuropeanTour, but what a special experience playing with my nephew @JovanRebula. We’re all so proud of this fine young man. pic.twitter.com/ishpgJ5IcZ

— Ernie Els (@TheBig_Easy) December 8, 2018

GLORIOUS MAJLIS
One thing for certain is that Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Emirates G.C. will put their collective best feet forward as golf tourism magnets, as Desert Classic tournament director David Spencer’s recent tweets lavishly illustrate.

The stunning & all new hospitality lounges for the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic are rapidly coming out of the ground ⁦@EmiratesGC⁩ Our 30TH Edition of this tournament is going to be most memorable…January 24 to January 27…#MadeForGreatness ⁦@OMEGAGolfDubai⁩ pic.twitter.com/bIZt5Nlt3T

— David Spencer (@golfspennie) December 5, 2018

Another stunning Autumn afternoon in #MyDubai The 30TH EDITION of ⁦@OmegaDDC⁩ is only 65 Days away at the truly magnificent ⁦@EmiratesGC⁩ #MadeForGreatness ⁦@GolfDigestME⁩ ⁦@TheJoyofGolf⁩ ⁦@chrismaydxb⁩ ⁦@OMEGAGolfDubai⁩ pic.twitter.com/J1jwJnOH24

— David Spencer (@golfspennie) November 20, 2018

We’re actually 45 days from the Desert Classic now, and just 37 until the Wednesday start of the AD HSBC Championship which has been brought forward a day to accommodate football’s Asia Cup across the UAE. Bring it on.

The hard work is already well underway at Emirates G.C. as Donal Mulvey, right-hand man to superintendent Matt Perry, recently tweeted:

Overseeding Majlis. Rough, tee, approach’s. Great job by the team, a lot of steps today. @EmiratesGC pic.twitter.com/2hCbn5yZq1

— Donal Mulvey (@dmulveygolf) December 4, 2018

THE ‘HOW AM I GOING TO PASS THIS OFF AS HAND-LUGGAGE TROPHY’ TROPHY
Least we forget Saudi Arabia will make its European Tour debut after Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The Saudi International might have been shunned by Tiger Woods for what is believed to be golf’s highest appearance fee but has fellow U.S. Ryder Cuppers Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed as headline acts and is set to generate much media interest, from golf and non-sports media alike.

Judging by the trophy reigning MENA Tour amateur order-of-merit champion Todd Clements just won in the kingdom at the 4th Saudi Open, we’re picking the trophy handed out to the inaugural champion come Feb. 3 might overshadow Abu Dhabi’s Falcon and Dubai’s fabled Dallah too, at least in size.

We’re still waiting to hear if Clements managed to get the behemoth past customs and into the overhead lockers on his flight back to England.

JP’S PARTING GIFT, VIA JO’BURG
Continuing the theme of hugely popular winners, congrats to Louis Oosthuizen on his runaway six stroke victory in the SA Open, his eighth European Tour title but first in his homeland’s oldest event.

A closing 67 at Randpark G.C. in Johannesburg got the job done and Justin Parsons straight onto social media. The former Butch Harmon School of Golf, Dubai chief instructor is off to the U.S. and is rightly chuffed with his role in helping Oosthuizen end a three-year winless streak.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

This one will mean a lot to him, has been coming for a while. Such a great player and beautiful swinger. Well done King Louis!! #seaislandgpc #golf #golfinstruction #golfswing #golfcoach #golfcoaching #titleist #teamtitleist #footjoy #vokey #scottycameron #georgia #usa

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Dec 9, 2018 at 4:09am PST

JP was understandably a little emotional himself as he handed the reigns of the BHSG Dubai over to long-time deputy Jamie McConnell – coincidently Toby Bishop’s coach.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A wonderful gift from the @bhsgdubai for my last day. Been a great run at the school and there will be great times ahead for Jamie and the team. #butchharmondubai #golfinstruction #juniorgolf #titleist

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Nov 29, 2018 at 2:21am PST

With former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (who qualified for July’s Open at Royal Portrush with a share of third place in Joburg), PGA Tour star in waiting for Peter Uihlein and Rayhan Thomas on his books, we wonder if a major championship victory is on the horizon for Parsons.

OPEN ENDED DREAMS
Oosthuizen captured the claret jug at St. Andrews in 2010, of course, the stuff of boyhood dreams.

Joshua Marshall was just three years old at the time and until his mum Laura posted a picture of the bedroom shrine he created to golf’s oldest major after attending the 147^th Open at Carnoustie last summer, his love of the royal and ancient game was known only by friends and family.

When your 11 year old is still buzzing from the @TheOpen and wanted his room done to keep all his memories from Carnoustie. Lots of great signatures on that wall. #CarnoustieOpen #TheOpen18 #Golf #Memories pic.twitter.com/COX3buyOXW

— Laura Marshall (@Lauralou_m) December 3, 2018

Now? Well, the 11-year-old from Dundee is a viral sensation after the R&A and Carnoustie picked up on the story and ran with it.

Imagine coming home to find the Claret Jug in your bedroom ?? pic.twitter.com/RLQSzGgyUL

— The Open (@TheOpen) December 5, 2018

Like so many others, we loved Joshua's room. But we reckoned there was something missing from his bedroom wall…so we were delighted to give him a signed copy of @F_Molinari's scorecards from @TheOpen.

An incredible young man + a fantastic family @Lauralou_m @andymarshall19? pic.twitter.com/ZHv8iRmP9n

— Carnoustie Golf Links (@carnoustiegolf) December 8, 2018

Young Joshua is reportedly a 27-handicapper but with that sort of inspiration, don’t be surprised if the real claret jug returns to the Marshall household one day in the future. Well played the R&A, well played.

WOW what a 24 hours!!!
Huge Thank you to @RandA & @TheOpen for this huge surprise for Joshua, The Claret Jug in his Bedroom & the bag of open goodies – Such a kind gesture, and one we are very grateful for. Thank you to everyone to you all kind responses too! #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/yDjKcKyMCF

— Laura Marshall (@Lauralou_m) December 4, 2018

KHALID YOUSUF AND THE GCC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Want more amateur inspiration? How about this video piece starring UAE amateur representative Khalid Yousuf shared during the recent DP World Tour Championship.

UAE national team captain, Khaled Yousuf, gives us an inspiring insight into the evolution of golf in the UAE in this short film about his journey with the @EGFuaegolf #GenerationGolf pic.twitter.com/8rkmJzhWY0

— DP World Tour Championship (@dpwtc) November 19, 2018

Researching Yousuf’s Eisenhower Trophy record takes plenty of perseverance and a dash of detective work, as this piece we did on the Emirati before October’s world amateur teams championship in Ireland unveils.

There are clearly no grey areas when it comes to his commitment to developing the local game, however. We wish Khalid and his UAE team-mates Ahmed Skaik (the defending individual champion), Saif Thabet and debutant Daood Jaffal the best of luck in the 22^nd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Championship starting at Ghala G.C. in Oman today. We’ll also be keeping close tabs on the other UAE teams – including the women’s team seeking a title three-peat – and the fortune of all six GCC countries at the event which runs from Dec. 10-13.

POSSIBLE THREE-PEAT & NEW FACES ILLUSTRATE THE 2018 GCC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP FOR UAE GOLF – @golfinoman @GhalaGolfClub – https://t.co/3okq1pd4yC pic.twitter.com/pa2hOES4za

— Emirates Golf Fed. (@EGFuaegolf) December 9, 2018

11^th SGSC AMATEUR CHAMPION A NAME TO WATCH
A closing 69 saw youngster William Ang win the 11th Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club Men’s Open at the weekend, his first Emirates Golf Federation OOM title. Ang mixed two bogeys with five birdies for his three-under finish to pip Nathan Fisher and SGSC team-mate by a shot in the 36-hole event while Trump Dubai +2-handicapper Steven Kelbrick was third, a shot further back.

11th MEN’S OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
7th & 8th December 2018
Youngster Ang claims his First SGSC Men’s Open title ???

For More : – https://t.co/MMfzfwfyWU#golf #sharjahgolf #champion #mensopen pic.twitter.com/WsIxrUXN0V

— Sharjah Golf & SClub (@SharjahGolf) December 9, 2018

TWEETS OF THE WEEK
How about fan favourite Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnson with news of impending wedding bells?

She said YES!!!!!!! ???? pic.twitter.com/oPYdYXkKNX

— Andrew 'Beef' Johnston (@BeefGolf) December 8, 2018

Or golf’s latest social media hit Jack Bartlett. The American impressionist has just given Bubba Watson the full treatment but our favourites are DJ (hold the pose) and Lefty.

People have said for years I should put some of my golf impressions on social media.. Feedback appreciated! @BennyTaylor92 @mitchfarrer14 @EvansRyan9 @DJohnsonPGA #JBimpersonates pic.twitter.com/sfywiTOyNH

— Jack Bartlett (@JackBartlett1) November 7, 2018

Remember when you watch this dandy Phil Mickelson swing that Bartlett is…right-handed.

Straight from the office to the match..#TheMatch #TigerVSPhil #JBimpersonates pic.twitter.com/0o87Dvn4xH

— Jack Bartlett (@JackBartlett1) November 19, 2018

Wow, the kid has talent. But frankly, the tweet/s of the week and possibly the year go to U.S. Ryder Cup nemesis Ian Poulter.

Can anyone spot the mistake in this photo… ? ? @RyderCupEurope pic.twitter.com/jopZodybK2

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) December 7, 2018

It’s ok folks I fixed the mistake. How does it look now ? ?????@RyderCupEurope pic.twitter.com/2i3uFRxyEr

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) December 7, 2018

Savage, Poults, savage.

The Englishman’s epic tweets are a reminder to share your best pro impersonations, or your playing partner’s latest epic fail, using the usual GolfDigestme social media channels and let’s see if the Sand Trap can’t get a video or two to go viral too.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS RULES

Finally, don’t forget to make learning golf’s revised rules, which come into play on Jan.1, a 2019 resolution. Here’s a handy guide from the R&A and USGA to get you up to speed if you’re not already.

Refresher time. pic.twitter.com/w2nY0pk4bk

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) December 10, 2018

Or this more detailed piece from our colleagues at Golf Digest HQ in New York.

Anyway, we’re off. Fortunately we’ve got more than three minutes to search for a ball for Faldo to sign during his next visit to the UAE. Just don’t tell any of our colleagues…

The post TopGolf Dubai breaks ground, gigantic Saudi trophy threatens to do likewise and we get into the Desert Swing of things. All (somehow) wrapped up in our guilty Sir Nick Faldo obsession appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
James Williams is a stress-free interview. Simply press record, sit back and enjoy a captivating journey through a lifetime in golf as colourful as that famed tan, one that strangely never acquainted itself with his legs. It seems there is a reason seasoned golf professionals wear trousers and if you ask nicely, Emirates Golf Club’s newest “old” pro will likely hitch said slacks to keep a running joke rolling. Self-deprecation is one of the Shropshire product’s endearing trademarks.

But we digress. Back to an interview where probing lines of enquiry, beyond the initial conversation starter, are rarely required.

So, how did you get into golf?

“My golfing life started…actually, I was a much keener cricketer to the extent that I did play a lot of county cricket and got selected for England training. Didn’t get on the team, but that was my true love. Left-handed cricketer, totally right-handed person.”

Williams is a totally natural storyteller too, and clearly just warming to his task as the next 112, almost pauseless minutes prove.

It transpires his introduction to golf came through his father, a bank manager who took up the game later in life. Williams’ Snr saw a neighbour throwing out an old set of clubs one day and seized on an opportunity for young James.

“It was a rusty old pencil bag with about eight clubs in there. Believe it or not they were hickories. We cut them down and of course I gripped it cack-handed because they’re right-handed clubs. I probably would have been world No.1 if I didn’t remain left-handed,” Williams says with a hearty dollop of English jocularity.

He may never have become a world-beater but the then Shrewsbury G.C. member was good enough to get down to a one-handicap and play county golf. And in some illustrious company too.   

“I come from a county that at that time had five courses so we had to join forces with a neighbouring county. We played in the Midlands league… [European Tour Dubai chief] Nick Tarratt probably played against me years ago, we didn’t know each other then. [Golf in Dubai President and former R&A chief] Peter Dawson actually played for Warwickshire. They’ve got like 20, 30, 50 golf courses, we had five, got thrashed every time.

“The incredible thing was, we had as our No.1 and No.2, AWB [Alexander Walter Barr or “Sandy”] Lyle and Ian Woosnam. So the other 10 of us turned up and lost most times and those two played together in the foursomes and always won.”

Williams eventually fell into a PGA traineeship and deeply in love with teaching. After cutting his teeth in the UK, foreign adventures beckoned and he soon found himself mixing with 4-Star Generals at Woodlawn G.C., a course within the Ramstein Air Base in southwest Germany which remains today the U.S. Air Force’s European HQ and home to the NATO Allied Air Command.

It was an enlightening life and golf experience but the icy German winters eventually wore thin so Williams applied for a role at a club soon to open in the UAE. It was 1987 and his military pals were worried.

“No one had heard of the UAE but I speculated and put in an application.” Williams sat back and waited for a response. And waited. Six months later he’d almost given up but decided a call to Emirates Golf Club was in order, if only to politely register his disappointment at the lack of a courtesy call to say he’d missed out.

An apologetic Rodney J. Bogg, Emirates G.C.’s first general manager, answered and had a surprise, inviting Williams out for a trial along with two other hopefuls.

“I stayed for a week – gobsmacked! Horrible word, but just gobsmacked by the whole place. I remember walking on the driving range. I’ve been to many golf courses by this time but I was tip-toeing across the grass. I have never seen anything so level, every blade of grass vertical to the ground like a brand new scrubbing brush. ‘Well hit a few shots, guys.’ You know I’m a big ball and turf guy which golfers should be if they are going to strike the ball. But I didn’t dare take a divot, I was just clipping it off the top, didn’t want to be the guy digging up their new range.”

Williams became part of the furniture at Emirates G.C. for the next decade as Dubai grew up around its pioneering grass golf course. The next chapter in his career spans 20 years at Jebel Ali where, as golf operations manager, Williams was the perpetually smiling face of the resort course. Recently though, the grin started to fade as he did a stocktake of his career and realised he was no longer in the customer-facing roles he loved. A hankering to get back to those happy old teaching days become impossible to ignore and thankfully Emirates G.C. were receptive to a home-coming.

“I was the first pro to get here, and sadly now I’m the oldest pro,” Williams jokes of being back on the tools as part of Dubai Golf’s Peter Cowan Academy Dubai team.

“It is fabulous fun. I’ve got to rebuild my clientele but a lot of the original members have already come back. It never goes fast enough for me because I want to show that it’s worth Emirates having me back but it’s been very encouraging so far. I hope it’s been for the club. I couldn’t be happier.”

Mustufa Abidi/Motivate Publishing
James Williams and son Robbie are now working side-by-side at Emirates G.C. where Robbie is part of the Golf in Dubai team delivering the Omega Dubai Classics and MENA Tour.

The role means Williams now has the joy of working even closer to his 25-year-old son Robbie who is part of the Golf in Dubai team behind the Omega Dubai Desert and Ladies Classics and increasingly the face of the MENA Tour. Like his father, Williams Jnr’s first love wasn’t golf either, rather football. He was good enough to play for England Schoolboys and sign junior papers with Wolverhampton Wanderers but also cunning enough to see a good opportunity when the father of Emirati golf, Mohamed Juma Buamaim, offered him an internship.

“As a Dad, to see him growing and getting all this experience, yeah, I’m very proud. I will say that there is no one prouder than me seeing him on television doing the Desert Classic presentation. I’d be shaking like a leaf and apparently he was but he doesn’t stumble over his speeches like me.“

James Williams is equally proud of his daughter Anna-Louise, a physiotherapist in London, and grateful to his understanding wife Heather for allowing him to pursue a career where weekends and family time are a precious commodity. “She’s been very patient with her husband. You’d better get that in writing before she divorces me!”

Conversation reverts back to his beloved cricket but this time with a golf spin, not unlike the leg-breaks he used to “turn a yard”, at least the ones that bounced anyway. His childhood hero was the elegant left-handed West Indian batsman Sir Garfield Sobers so imagine the thrill when, during his initial stint at Emirates G.C., Bogg asked him to look after the visiting cricketing knight one day.

“He was just the greatest guy to talk to. When your hero turns out to be as nice as that, it’s one of the biggest things that has happened to me out here. Perhaps in our own countries we would never meet all these famous people. Is it a big deal? To me it has been. To actually see these people and find out they are normal like us has been a thrill.”

Williams played in the first three Desert Classics but his biggest playing kick came before the inaugural event in 1989 when he was asked to guide another idol, Tony Jacklin, in a reconnaissance lap of the Majlis course. The 67 he shot in the company of the Ryder Cup legend is a treasured memory and made all the practice beforehand, and some predictably nervy play in the tournaments proper afterwards, worth it.

“We were working 14 hours a day preparing everything for the first Desert Classic so I’ve hardly played and I’m going to look stupid in front of the members. All of a sudden I’m feeling a lot of pressure. So three weeks before I fished my clubs out. I would finish giving lessons at 10 o’clock at night, quickly run home, have a shower, half an hours kip, and then put the range lights on and belt balls all night long, over and over and over again until I actually had an awful cut down here [pointing to his left palm] because of a poor grip and soft hands. I don’t think we paid for the electricity in those days but I’ve paid with a scar for life.”

Williams would love to play more often and has a goal of teeing it up in the Sharjah Senior Masters if he can get his game, and his now 59-year-old body, to co-operate. But it’s teaching that really inspires him.

“I don’t think I’m really somebody, maybe not good enough, to be at the sharp end teaching top professionals but that was never been my goal. I actually don’t think you get as much satisfaction as seeing someone that’s come along, dead keen, they finally get the ball up in the air, they’re running around jumping in the air, like whoopee!

“I’m sure some people here think I’m a bit of a pain in the arse, but for people to say its really nice to have you back, and there’s been too many saying that for it not to be half true, it’s humbling. I think maybe they just like my enthusiasm, that I care. It is lovely to be back.”

The feeling from friends old and new at Emirates G.C. is mutual. For lessons, and yarns, delivered with genuine enthusiasm, the club couldn’t have hired anyone better.

The post James Williams is back on the tools at Emirates G.C. delivering lessons – and legendary tales – with unbridled joy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 2017 Open Championship is one we’ll never forget for many reasons, but the image that will undoubtedly stand the test of time is that of Jordan Spieth hitting a 3-iron from the range, next to a Titleist truck, over a huge mound, without really knowing the yardage, all after a 20-minute delay. It led to an incredible bogey save that sparked Spieth’s remarkable final five-hole stretch, ending with him lifting the claret jug.

Earlier this week, Spieth signed and sent the famous 3-iron back to Royal Birkdale, where it will be on display for years to come. In light of this news, we thought of some other indelible golf mementos that also deserve their place in history.

The 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup Shirt

Two words: Fire Flames.

All of the clubs Jean van de Velde used on the 18th hole in the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie

David Cannon

The driver, the 2-iron, the wedge, the putter, hell throw the shoes and socks in there, too.

Tiger Woods’ mock turtleneck

Icon Sports Wire

Among Tiger’s many accolades, perhaps the most impressive is that he won at Augusta while wearing a t-shirt. Truly remarkable.

Rory’s alarm clock from the 2012 Ryder Cup

Hero Images

Were iPhones not a thing five years ago? They literally change the time to whichever time zone you’re in.

Roberto De Vicenzo’s 1968 Masters scorecard

Bettmann

Yes, the Rules of Golf lacked common sense in 1968, and still do now. Shocking stuff.

Ian Woosnam’s 15th club from the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYV-csdgRv0

Not many know who caddie Miles Byrne is… but we do know he had one job.

Robert Allenby’s bar tab from Hawaii

Does this guy know how to party or what?

Dustin Johnson’s socks from his 2017 Masters fall

Image by cesarr t.

We are, of course, assuming that the staircase was one of those slippery hardwood ones.

The fire hydrant Tiger Woods’ crashed into

Caja Digital

Sorry, we had to.

Anthony Kim’s ‘AK’ belt

Sam Greenwood

Swagger on a billion.

Woody Austin’s Presidents Cup goggles

Scott Halleran

One of like three things the Presidents Cup is known for. Not sure what that says about the event.

Jordan Spieth’s divot from the 12th hole at the 2016 Masters

David Cannon

Can you frame grass? If so, probably going to need a large frame for this sod.

Martin Kaymer’s scarf thing

Hitting the slopes or playing in the WGC-Accenture Match Play? Hard to tell.

The post 13 other great golf mementos that deserve their place in history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.