By Kent Gray
Whatever Tiger Woods can nearly do at Torrey Pines, Matthew Southgate can really do at Emirates Golf Club.

The 29-year-old Englishman aced the water-fronted par-3 7th on the Majlis Friday morning with a nine iron – roughly 12 hours after Woods nearly holed out on the 16th hole of the South Course at Torrey in an eventual even par start to his PGA Tour comeback at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Here’a Tiger’s near miss in case you missed it.

WOW!

THAT close to a hole-in-one for @TigerWoods!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/VfEpjdSq6A

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 25, 2018

Southgate’s perfect shot helped him forget a bogey start to his second round at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic, the start of which had been delayed by nearly three hours due to a blanket of heavy fog hovering over the European Tour venue.

It saw him move to -6 through 27 holes after his opening 68 and earned the world No.142 a Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m Master Chronomter timepiece from headline sponsors OMEGA. The fun didn’t stop there either; he went on to eagle the par 5 -15 hole to get to -3 for his second round and -7 for the championship with five holes to play.

Southgate was due a bit of luck after cruelly incurring a fateful four stroke penalty at the DAP Championship during last September’s Web.com finals.

Putting on the 15th at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio, his ball was struck by a leaf that blew across the green, nudging the ball off line ever so slightly.

Southgate finished the hole, but he made a huge error in the process as he should have placed his ball back to its original location and replayed the shot without penalty. Instead, by continuing the hole, he was handed a four-stroke penalty – two for playing from the wrong spot and two more for signing an incorrect card.

Here’s the incident:

Golf is hard … especially when you're playing for a @PGATOUR card. pic.twitter.com/SoyWo6X01q

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) September 24, 2017

The unlucky break ultimately cost Southgate a PGA Tour card for 2018 but rather than cursing to the heavens and golf’s sometimes silly rules, it left him “embarrassed”.

“It was poor from me to not know the rules of a game I’ve played since I was two,” Southgate later told The Telegraph.

“I take full responsibility. ¬People say it’s bad luck but it’s not bad luck because I should have replayed the shot and could have made four. But I didn’t and it became nine, and that ¬became me missing my card. I’ve only got myself to blame. I’m not annoyed with anyone else.”

Overnight leader Jamie Donaldson, meanwhile, had stretched out to -12 through eight holes of his second round after his sizzling 62 on Thursday. He led by one from fast charging Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez who had birdied five times in an outward nine of 32.

The leaderboard will be complicated by days end due to the fog however with the marquee groups of Sergio Garcia-Henrik Stenson-Rory McIlroy and Pat Perez-Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Pieters not scheduled to start their second rounds until 3.10pm and 3.20pm respectively.

That will see the cut-deciding second round spill over into Saturday and will force a big catch-up on moving day.

? Hole-in-One Alert ?@SouthgateMatt at the 7th hole with a 9-iron from 156 yards ?? pic.twitter.com/F4AM9XRQDF

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 26, 2018

The post Perfect timing as Southgate aces the par-3 7th hole at Emirates Golf Club appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Established players can be rather snobbish when it comes to par 3 courses, if not downright dismissive. Isn’t that the place beginners’ are sent? Never mind that fluffed chip you just (mis)hit, the resulting three-putt or the fact you haven’t hit a green in regulation for weeks or played to your handicap in months. Nothing to see here. We’ll move on to the club’s championship course, thanks all the same.

But are we entrenched golfers missing a trick? Quite aside from being an ideal place to introduce friends and family to the game in bite-sized chunks (think length of time required as opposed to the length of the holes), mini-me layouts have long lured better players looking to hone their approach play and short games.

There is challenge aplenty for even the lowest of handicappers.

Trump International Golf Club Dubai’s newly opened par 3 course is a contemporary, 1257-yard case in point. There mightn’t be a bunker in sight but with its attractive moonscape fairways, tightly clipped runs offs around large undulating greens, water in play and tee shots stretching to a big-boy 210 yards, there is challenge aplenty for even the lowest of markers.

For newbies and juniors or those looking to dial in their wedge distances, the little Gil Hanse-designed links style course can be played from tees set up between 65 and 110 yards. The club’s teaching pros are happy to tag along for a playing lesson too.

Open from 8am to sunset and eventually slated for floodlights, there’s another big little course benefit – the cost. At just AED 100, given that the pristine surfaces are a match for any course, big or small, in the UAE, its unbeatable value.

Photograph by Kevin Murray

The post Trump International GC Dubai – Par 3 golf has never looked so good appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.