By Brian Wacker
The Official World Golf Ranking, frozen since March when every major men’s tour around the globe halted play because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will restart next week when the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour resume their respective seasons.

The decision to resume the ranking was expected, but doesn’t come without some concern. The staggered resumption of various tours—the European Tour, for one, won’t return until late July—has some questioning whether PGA Tour members will be at an unfair advantage since players on other tours won’t have the opportunity to compete for points.

https://twitter.com/MikeMlv/status/1268188133302075393

Officials from the OWGR attempted to address the matter in a statement released on Wednesday, which noted that elements of the averaging formula used to calculate the ranking will help mitigate that.

“The safeguards in the OWGR system alongside the continued recognition of the frozen Ranking will help players globally, and the Board will continue to monitor developments in these difficult times,” said Peter Dawson, chairman of the ranking board.

OWGR officials also said that tours and the organizations that run golf’s major championships should incorporate the ranking through Week 11—when play was paused—“wherever possible and appropriate” in their qualifying criteria. To that end, when the Masters was rescheduled from April to November, Augusta National said that players who had qualified for the tournament in April would still be in the field in November.

At next week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, 15 of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are slated to play, including No. 1 Rory McIlroy and the rest of the top five.

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By Kent Gray
Dubai’s stop on the Ladies European Tour (LET) has undergone a radical makeover with a big clue to the pioneering transformation in its new name.

The LET’s end-of-season event since its inception in 2006, the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Classic has been renamed the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight  Classic.

The 13th edition of the 72-hole strokeplay event has been shifted from its traditional December timeslot – and the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club – to May 1-3 next year. Even more significantly, it will now be played in a 54-hole Pro-Am format with an innovative day-night system on the Majlis’ sister course, The Faldo.

The event will continue to be sanctioned by the LET and OMEGA’s sponsorship remains with the rebranding a nod to the floodlit portion of the event and one of the Swiss watchmaker’s most popular models, the Speedmaster Moonwatch Chronograph.

A total of 56 professionals – the top 35 players on the LET moneylist and 21 sponsor invites – will play their opening round during daylight hours on Wednesday, May 1 before being joined by three amateur partners for the final 36 holes. Each pro will finish either the second or third round under lights.

A special “Draft Cocktail Party” will be held after the opening round on the Wednesday night to allocate an amateur threesome to each professional. The teams will play for separate prizes over the final 36 holes in a “Tour Scramble” while the professionals will continue to play strokeplay over 54 holes for the famed Dallah trophy. The final prize fund for the rebranded event – US$500,000 last year – has not yet been released.

Tuesday’s revelation has massive ramifications for the embattled LET which has been forced into a significant scheduling rejig given the new direction unveiled by Falcon Golf, the owners of the Moonlight Classic, and a new date for the region’s other event, the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadiyat Beach G.C.

The Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club.

Golf Digest Middle East understands the 3rd edition of the FBMLO at Saadiyat Beach will shift from November to early January, slotting in the week before the European Tour’s Jan. 17-20 Desert Swing opener, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, at Abu Dhabi G.C., Saadiyat’s Troon sister club.

The draft party, meanwhile, is just the start of what Falcon Golf intend being a celebration of not only women’s golf but also the wider game in Dubai.

There will be a second party for golf industry heavyweights on the Thursday of championship week (May 2) as well as an official prize-giving gala dinner on the Friday (May 3).

The May time slot is a strategic ploy to highlight the longevity of Dubai’s golf season to international viewers who will undoubtedly be wowed by the Dubai Marina skyline, particularly at night, in the process.

It’s another bold step by the game in the UAE which also holds the honour of the first professional event played on a nine-hole layout, the Staysure Tour’s (formerly European Senior Tour) Sharjah Senior Golf Masters.

Falcon Golf chairman Peter Dawson believes the remodelled Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic will be embraced as an “exciting” development for the game.

“Set in one of the world’s most dynamic cities, the creation of the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic is an important initiative for golf and as always, we are greatly indebted to all of our partners and patrons for their continued support,” said Dawson, the former chief of the R&A.

“It is important for golf’s future that innovative ways continue to be found which embrace the changing needs of players, sponsors and fans.”

Tournament Director David Spencer insists the makeover will safeguard the future of professional women’s golf in the emirate.

“We have been huge supporters of women’s golf for many years and not only will the new format further the women’s game in the region, it also gives us an opportunity to make this event a highlight of Dubai’s golfing, sporting and social calendars,” Spencer said.

“The Pro-Am element of this tournament will be the hottest ticket in town.”

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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.

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English amateur star Lamb will play the Ladies European Tour season-ender from Dec. 6-9 after accepting an invited from Golf in Dubai, the tournament organiser. It mean’s the low amateur at August’s Women’s British Open will be reunited with the South Korean winner of the fourth of the season’s five ladies major championships.

Related: British Open champion I.K. Kim fizzing for Omega Dubai Ladies Classic return

“Winning the amateur medal in a major event was a huge moment for me. It is something everyone dreams of when they first start to play golf,” said the 19-year-old of winning the Smyth Salver with a -6 aggregate at Kingsbarns Golf Links, 12 shots adrift of Kim.

“It’s been a great experience for me to see where my game compares to the best in the world.  When you have confidence in yourself you feel like you can do just about anything, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself and will take things as they come.

“It will be fun playing in Dubai as I have heard a lot of good things about the tournament and know pretty well that it attracts a very strong field each year.

“I am grateful to Golf in Dubai for the invitation and look forward to visiting the magnificent city and playing on the famed Majlis course, Hopefully, there’ll be some more good times to come.”

Related: Pettersen on her Dubai return: “I show up to win tournaments”

Lamb, whose career took off when she captured the the British women’s stroke-play championship and England Golf Women’s Order of Merit title in 2016, has no intention of turning professional until she’s represented Great Britain and Ireland in the biennial Curtis Cup matches against the U.S. in Scarsdale, New York next June.

“That’s something I want to achieve before I turn professional. Not sure how things will pan out, but definitely the Curtis Cup is something I want to do,” said the East Lancashire teen who is listed as a +4.1 handicapper on the England Golf website.

Lamb was England’s top scorer in the mixed international against Spain for the Seve Ballesteros Trophy earlier this year, winning all her games.

Said Falcon Golf (Golf in Dubai) chairman Peter Dawson: “Her achievements since winning the North of England under-14 championships amply show she has enormous potential. This is just the beginning, and I am sure we will see more of her in time to come.”

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Asked to sum up his form leading into the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, Jason Day politely deflected. It spoke volumes.

“It wouldn’t be any words I’d use in here,” the former world No.1 retorted in the massive media marquee beyond the grandstands that tower above the Southport links’ 18th green.

It was also the only time the Australian was economic with his answers during a wide-ranging and often emotional interview that offered an intriguing insight into a player clearly struggling to regain his mojo. Donald Trump even rated a mention or three after Day delayed his arrival to Birkdale till Sunday to avoid running into the U.S. President’s travelling circus at JKF International following his visit to the U.S. Women’s Open, but enough of the Golfer-in-Chief already.

Day’s year has been an emotional rollercoaster after his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, forcing the 29-year-old to tearfully abandon his defence of his WGC-Dell Match Play title in March.

He’s understandably struggled ever since, save for a runner-up finish at the Byron Nelson in May, one of just two top-10s in 13 starts. However, four missed cuts in 2017, including unwanted weekend’s off at the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship leading into this week, has seen Day slide to 6 in the rankings.

Golf in Dubai chairman Peter Dawson, this time in his guise as chairman of the Official World Golf Ranking board, presented the Aussie with the Mark McCormack Award at the conclusion of his press conference. It recognised Day’s 41 weeks at No.1 in 2016 but also served to emphasise Day’s dip after his five wins in 2015, the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits amongst them, and three last year.

So lets start at the start, where’s it’s all gone wrong?

“Okay. If you take my years 2015 and 2016, I hit it long and straight, straightish. I hit my iron shots a lot closer and I holed everything on the greens. And this year it’s not as long, it’s not as straight. My iron shots aren’t as close, and I’m not holing as many putts. So it’s a perfect formula for not having a good year.”

It runs deeper than that of course. Add in a back injury, his open admission of burnout at the end of 2016 and the “difficult” pressures of being No.1 to the almighty scare with his mother, and you get a sharper picture of his struggles.

“Like really in any sport, you need balance — off the course and on the course — to be able to do the right things, think properly, be disciplined enough, be able to just play against the best players in the world. It’s really difficult to play against these guys. And when things are out of order and you’re trying to battle other things and then you try to get to a golf course and play against the best players in the world, it makes it very, very difficult to win,” he said.

“But I have to understand sometimes I’ve got to give myself a little bit of leeway, know that golf is a marathon, and hopefully at the end of my career I’m in somewhere way at the top, somewhere I’ve never even thought I would be.

“I’ve just got to be patient and just let things happen. Because I honestly believe good and big things are coming for me. I’ve got to just trust it and understand, keep working hard.”

Day’s conference ducked and weaved thereafter with insight into a recent text message from Tiger Woods offering putting advice, his thoughts on the pivotal, brutal par 4 6th hole at Birkdale and revelations his caddy had unwittingly led the R&A to turn the 10th fairway into an out of bounds for players taking a shortcut off the 9th in practice.

He was unrepentant when the questioning moved to his laborious pre-shot routine: “I think at the end of my career no one is going to go, he was a great golfer, but he was slow. To be honest, I don’t really care what people say. I need to do what I need to do to win a golf tournament. And within reason of respecting other players and the Rules of Golf. “

But his voice wavered when conversation returned to his mother Dening, who was initially told by doctors in Australia that she only had 12 months to live. Thankfully, her prognosis has improved since she joined her son in the United States for treatment.

“When you feel like you’re going to lose someone that are very close to you, there’s nothing you want to do more than just be with them and you don’t even want to think about playing golf or even think about working,” Day said.

“And obviously the time that I would be spending working and practicing, it caught up to me as I hadn’t been playing as great as golf as I should have, but within reason. I needed to take that time off because I thought I was losing my mom, and didn’t think she was going to be around anymore. Up to that time I’d only see her once every year and that was nowhere enough time to spend with your mom.

“Everything seems like it’s kind of coming back into balance for me. And I’m able to focus on just really getting after it and working hard and trying to really pinpoint what has been going wrong in my game, which is I alluded to earlier, driving, kind of the shorter irons, wedges and putting. And if I can really hit those, hopefully I’ll get back to the winning form and get back to No. 1. That would be the ultimate goal.”

Day’s best Open finish was his tie for fourth at St Andrews in 2015. He was T22 at Troon last year but given his 2017 struggles, does he see any chance of reigniting his legacy at Royal Birkdale?

“You always have to believe in yourself [but] it’s easier said than done. You can say that you want to win, but if you don’t truly believe in it, it’s not really going to happen.

“I’ve just got to resolve myself to the fact that I’ve worked very, very hard and been disciplined in the weeks leading up to the few weeks that I had off, that I’m doing the right things — not only on the practise range, on the golf course, but I’m doing the right things in the gym and off the golf course, as well.

“So I’m trying to not give myself too many expectations with regards to I’m coming in here, I’m coming in here and going to beat everyone else, and that’s it. I’ve got to understand the form hasn’t been great. I’ve got to just try and start with tomorrow’s first ball and just somehow find it on Sunday and hopefully I’m there in contention on Sunday.”

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 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Dubai club, which has hosted the Race to Dubai decider since its inception in 2009, has extended its host venue status for the US$8 million DP World Tour Championship until 2020.

The announcement, made on the sidelines of the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, came as global sea port operator DP World also reconfirmed its title sponsorship for the same period.

The European Tour’s top 60 players are set to tee it up at JGE for the ninth time from November 16-19 where the season-long race for the Race to Dubai’s $5million bonus prize pool will also be divvied out.

“The support of Jumeirah Golf Estates has been critical in the growth and development of the DP World Tour Championship over the past eight years and we are delighted they have reaffirmed their support until 2020,” said European Tour CEO Keith Pelley.

“Jumeirah Golf Estates is a world class golfing facility and this new commitment will help us further develop a tournament fitting not only for the final Rolex Series event of the season, but also the climax of the Race to Dubai. As the premier golf and residential community in the UAE, it will also help continue to promote the game of golf in Dubai as a whole.”

Peter Dawson, Chairman of Falcon Golf, the entity set up to optimise the benefits golf brings to Dubai that also manages Dubai’s sponsorship of the Race to Dubai which includes 47 tournaments in 26 countries, said: “…Jumeirah Golf Estates… continued commitment will be integral to the growth of the game and its increasing importance to the city.”

“The Earth course has a reputation for delivering dramatic finales and providing a stage for the biggest stars to shine, making the tournament an incredible showcase of Dubai’s golf offering. It not only highlights that visitors can watch elite players up close, but also the extraordinary golfing experiences available. Few places in the world can offer tourists the chance to walk so easily in the footsteps of champions on courses designed by legends in perfect conditions.”

Abdulaziz Bukhatir, Executive Director and Deputy CEO of Jumeirah Golf Estates (left) with European Tour CEO Keith Pelley

JGE CEO Yousuf Kazim said the contract extension would help the city in its bid to attract 20 million tourists by 2020.

“Not only does hosting such a tournament underscore Dubai’s credentials as a global hub for international sport, it also provides a platform to tell Dubai’s story on a world stage and provides the perfect showcase to promote golf at a grass roots level across the UAE.”

His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman and CEO, said: “Golf’s international exposure and reputation as a global sport for all is one that fits with our direction as a business, enabling trade for nations across the world. Dubai has now become a leading destination for golf, with many world class courses, regularly attracting top players and contributing significantly to sport tourism in the UAE.  We are delighted to continue our commitment to the grand finale of the Race to Dubai, the DP World Tour Championship, and look forward to the ongoing development and enjoyment of the ‎sport across all generations.”

JGE’s Earth course, a member of the European Tour Properties network and branded as a European Tour Destination, has been the permanent home of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai for the last eight years and will be the the last of eight venues in the European Tour’s new Rolex Series this November.

Past champions include Lee Westwood (2009), Robert Karlsson (2010), Alvaro Quiros (2011), Rory McIlroy (2012 and 2015), Henrik Stenson (2013 and 2014). Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick won the 2016 event.

JGE encompasses two Greg Norman-designed Championship layouts, Earth and Fire, a luxury residential golf community, a eye-popping clubhouse and the first European Tour Performance Institute in the Middle East.

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First it was Tiger Woods serving as the honourary starter for Falcon Golf, hitting balls from the foot of the Burj Al Arab to unveil the new government-backed entity during February’s Desert Classic. Now Sergio Garcia has lent his suddenly major name to launch the body’s new online home.

The newly minted Masters champion has teamed up with Indian No.1 Anirban Lahiri to headline the content on golfindubai.com, a long overdue one-stop shop for golf tourism in the emirate.

Falcon Golf engaged Garcia and Lahiri in a friendly long drive duel at Skydive Dubai during the Desert Classic. If they couldn’t believe their luck when the Spaniard went on to win the “major of the Middle East” at Emirates Golf Club, imagine the delight when Garcia edged Justin Rose in an epic Sunday showdown at Augusta National in April.

In conjunction with key local stakeholders including clubs, tournament sponsors, Dubai Sports Council, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and the Emirates Golf Federation, golfindubai.com centralises information for tourists and tour operators.

Commenting on the new website, Peter Dawson, Chairman of Falcon Golf, said: “Driving greater golf tourism is one of the key goals we set ourselves on our establishment, and I’m delighted that just a few months into our operations we have launched a website which for the first time provides one place where Dubai’s fantastic golf offering is showcased in full.”

The new Golf in Dubai website is a one-stop shop showcase of Dubai’s 11 courses (and counting) for golf tourists and tour operators

“A coordinated approach between all parties who together make up Dubai’s golf experience will unquestionably pay dividends for all concerned. golfindubai.com is one important step in our endeavour to rekindle awareness among discerning holiday makers, business travellers and Dubai residents of the enjoyment they all can have playing or watching golf here.

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Former R&A chief Peter Dawson to helm Falcon Golf

“Not many places in the world can so readily offer the access to walk in the footsteps of champions like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Shanshan Feng while playing a round of golf during your holiday or business trip. Dubai can, and thanks to the new website, finding out how has become a lot easier.”

Said His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of DTCM: “Dubai is one of the most esteemed golf locations in the world and has much to offer beyond the courses, from incredible hotels and pristine beaches, as well as world-class attractions for all ages, such as Dubai Mall, the Burj Khalifa and amazing water and theme parks,” he said.

“With more courses in the pipeline to complement the world-class choices already available, and initiatives such as this new website, there is huge potential for the sport to help us hit our target of 20 million visitors by 2020.”

The website was officially launched today at the Asia Golf Tourism Convention in Danang, Vietnam. A VIP trip to Dubai, including a start in the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic Pro-Am, has been teed up to lure traffic to the new site.

Photographs by Getty Images

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Falcon Golf, the most exciting if worst-kept industry secret since golf first met grass in the emirate nearly three decades ago, was finally unveiled Wednesday with Dawson as its high-profile and globally-networked chairman.

As well as enhancing the emirate’s world-class golf tourism offering, promoting grass roots participation and using the sport as a platform to tell Dubai’s remarkable growth story overseas, Falcon Golf will oversee two of Dubai’s three professional tournaments – the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters.

Sergio Garcia teeing off at the 28th Omega Dubai Desert Classic (Photo: Getty Images)

Management of the events will transfer to Falcon Golf from ‘golf in DUBAi’ on April 1. Mohamed Juma Buamaim has accepted the role of Honorary President of the two Emirates Golf Club tournaments while ‘golf in DUBAi’ – under a yet to be announced new moniker – will continue to administer the MENA Golf Tour.

In Dawson, Falcon Golf have headhunted one of the most influential powerbrokers in golf. As well as serving as R&A chief executive for 16 years, the 68-year-old Scotsman is a former Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and was instrumental in securing golf’s reintroduction to the Olympic Games after a 112-year hiatus as President of the International Golf Federation, a position he still holds.

His pulling power is illustrated by this interview with Tiger Woods, shot during last week’s Desert Classic before the former world No.1 withdrew citing back spasms following his opening round of 77.

Dawson said he was “delighted” to have been chosen for this “special role” and motivated to promote Dubai “through the lens of golf,” as well as boost the emirate’s reputation as one of the world’s leading golf destinations.

“Dubai has a fantastic golf offering and, combined with the emirate’s forward-thinking approach, I believe there is a real opportunity to develop it further,” he said.

“Dubai’s investment in its golfing credentials, including its relationship with the European Tour, has proved to be very successful and I look forward to working with all of our stakeholders as we look to the future.

“Mohamed Juma Buamaim and the team at ‘golf in DUBAi’ have done an outstanding job and I look forward to building on the strong foundations they have laid.”

One of Dawson’s first and most stiffest challenges will be the bringing together of a various local stakeholders, not all of whom have been keen to collaborate previously, to maximise international opportunities. Promisingly, Falcon Golf appears to have widespread support.

“Golf has been played in the UAE for more than 40 years. In Dubai, as recently highlighted in a Deloitte report, it has grown into an industry worth $270 million. In Falcon Golf, we now have an entity that is responsible for the growth of the game,” said Khalid Mubarak Al Shamsi, Secretary General of the Emirates Golf Federation.

Buamaim, chairman and CEO of ‘golf in DUBAi’, added: “These are very energising times for Dubai and its golf offering and I am excited to see the industry being convened in this way.

“I am honoured to have been able to contribute to the success of Dubai’s growth through golf over the last two decades and look forward to my continued involvement, guiding the success of the two tournaments that are so close to my heart.”

Dubai Sports Council Secretary General, His Excellency Saeed Hareb, said Dubai had “long recognised the potential of both golf’s contribution to the sport economy and the platform it provides to tell our story to the world”.

“[Falcon Golf] will bring together the emirate’s fantastic golf assets and ensure that these continue to deliver for Dubai. This is great news for the continued development of the game in this part of the world,” Hareb said.

“With world-class facilities and courses, a number of professional golfers calling Dubai home, including Rory McIlroy and Rafael Cabrera Bello, as well as new courses coming to the market, we see a clear opportunity for future growth.”

Falcon Golf Management Ltd, established late last year, is a subsidiary of Falcon and Associates FZ-LLC which is an independent strategic advisory company working on behalf of the Dubai leadership to enhance the emirate’s position as a global hub for finance, business and tourism.

Dawson and his team certainly have a solid platform to build from. Deloitte’s ‘2015 Economic Impact of Sport in Dubai’ report found that golf generates US$270m in gross expenditure each year with $131m coming from overseas (economic impact). The three professional tournaments account for 61% of golf’s direct economic impact in Dubai while the emirate’s nine clubs and 11 courses (Al Badia has since shut its doors but will soon be replaced by Trump International GC Dubai) contribute an additional $120m of the total spend on golf in Dubai.

17th hole of the Trump International Golf Club Dubai (Photo: Kevin Murray)

A key target area for Falcon Golf will be tourism which pumps in excess of $38m into the economy annually. The Deloitte report found 16,000 golfers visit Dubai, annually, each staying an average of five nights, playing 2.5 rounds of golf and spending around $410 a day.

Golf employs around 1800 people in Dubai and is enjoyed by around 6000 resident golfers who collectively play approximately 400,000 rounds a year.

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