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Suradit Yongcharoenchai takes the lead at Asian Tour International Series Qatar in Doha

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 17:26:19 +0000

Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai shot a solid opening four-under-par 68 in difficult windy conditions to take the clubhouse lead in the $2.5 million International Series Qatar at Doha Golf Club.

Canadian Richard T Lee, Sangmoon Bae from Korea and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai came in with 69s, while South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Darren Fichardt and Travis Smyth from Australia shot 70s — in the third event of the season on the Asian Tour and the second of the year’s International Series tournaments.

Australia’s John Lyras and Todd Sinnott, Andy Ogletree from the United States, Indian Jyoti Randhawa, Malaysian Ben Leong, Filipino Miguel Tabuena, Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant, Nitithorn Thippong and Gunn Charoenkul, and Saudi Arabian Saud Alsharif all carded 71s.

Suradit finished late in the day, unlike the three trailing him in second who played in the morning, and took the outright lead with a birdie on his last hole, the par-four ninth, having started his round on the back.

The 24-year-old Thai, a winner once before on the Asian Tour in 2019, made five birdies and dropped one shot.

In hot pursuit is Lee a two-time winner on the Asian Tour who came close to winning two International Series events last year in Singapore and Morocco before finishing runner up on both occasions.

“I made a few good long putts in my round and just kept it in play, windy conditions so you have to keep it in the fairways and get it on the green to have putts that can go in,” said the Canadian.

“I think I converted that pretty well even though I had two bogeys out there, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s round.”

It was an encouraging round, made up of five birdies and two bogeys, for Lee considering he had to retire from last week’s International Series Oman as he was feeling unwell.

He added: “Yeah I’m feeling about 70 per cent healthy again and hopefully the next three days I can hold up and play the round I played today.”

Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, was happy to make a good start considering the difficult conditions, which saw the wind reach gusts of 35 kilometres per hour.

He said: “Yeah, I thought teeing off early we would get a little bit of benefit with the wind, but we didn’t, so spent most the day in pretty strong conditions and thought I played really well. You always feel like when you played well you always feel like you could have left a few out there but in these conditions two under will be good.”

A total of nine players will resume their rounds at 6.40am local time on Friday with the second round scheduled to start at 6.20am as planned.

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Gareth Bale reportedly installed a golf simulator at his Qatar hotel to get around Wales’ World Cup links ban

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 12:57:27 +0000

By Coleman Bentley
A week or two back, it was revealed that Gareth Bale — the Wales football star and certified golf addict — had been expressly banned from playing golf while representing the Welsh national team at the World Cup in Qatar. “There’s no golf. We’re out there to do a job,” said manager Rob Page. “We won’t have enough time. Every four days there is a game. It’s relentless.”

That was the end of Bale’s winter golf sabbatical … or so we thought. According to the Daily Express, Bale has found a loophole, installing a golf simulator at the team hotel so he and the boys can still get a couple hacks in without needing to commit to a full afternoon round. Genius. Pure diabolical genius.

The island green on 17 is special

Welsh footballer @GarethBale11 is no stranger to the nerves, but they hit a little different @TPCSawgrass.

His next challenge will be today's opening round versus #USMNT at the #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/Oz87Gi40NG

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 21, 2022

“We’ve just been in the swimming pool, playing table tennis, pool and golf,” Cardiff striker Mark Harris told the Express. “Team spirit is great anyway but games like that help you. Gareth’s very good at the golf. I think most of us have had a swing and we had a go after training as we had some spare time.”

Hopefully the simulator downtime will help Bale’s Wales stay loose as they try to qualify for the knockout round in their first World Cup appearance since 1958 — the began with a 1-1 draw against the US. As the old saying going, all work and no play makes Jack, sorry, Gareth a dull boy.

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Fifa 2022 World Cup in Qatar can be quite an Education for football and golf fans alike

Matt Smith — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:11:29 +0000

Education City Golf Club in Doha offers the best of both worlds for golf and football fans

By Matt Smith
We all know that a vast number of footballers are avid golfers — but this is the stuff of dreams for anyone who likes both sports.

Education City Golf Club — home of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters — has begun to establish itself as one of Qatar’s top golf courses since its opening in 2019.

And as far as backdrops go, this club has one of the best in the Middle East.

The 7,300-yard, José María Olazábal-designed layout is a stone’s throw — or short chip — away from the 40,000 Education City Stadium, one of the eight arenas hosting matches across Qatar at the Fifa 2022 World Cup this winter. With the likes of Denmark, Uruguay, South Korea, France, Portugal, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia set to play a number of matches at the stadium – right through to the tournament quarter-finals in December — Education City is a perfect venue for fans travelling to Doha for the World Cup who also want to squeeze in 18 holes, too.

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No more Amazing Grace in Doha

Kent Gray — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 11:30:19 +0000

Two-time defending champion Branden Grace has withdrawn from this week’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters to support his wife through a long-planned surgery.

It means the South Africa will not chase a Mother of Pearl trophy hat-trick as billed.

“You know it is a pity, I would have loved to go there,” Grace said.

“I’m going to head back, there’s a little bit more important things on the table I have to take care of. It’s something she’s planned a long time ago and this is the only dates they could have done.

“So she’s taken a lot on her table and pushed it back for me and I think it’s time I did the same for her.”

Grace’s withdrawal is a blow but a strong field has still assembled at Doha Golf Club.

After making a strong start to the season by finishing in a tie for fourth in Abu Dhabi last week, Martin Kaymer is making his first return to Doha Golf Club since 2014, The European Tour reports.

The German made seven straight appearances at the tournament from 2008 and enjoyed his best finishes in 2012 and 2013, tying for ninth in successive years.

Kaymer is one of four players in the field from Europe’s 2016 Ryder Cup team, along with Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan and desert specialist Rafa Cabrera Bello, while 2018 captain Thomas Bjørn also makes the short journey to Qatar from Abu Dhabi.

Bjørn and Wood were champions in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and are joined by five other past winners: Darren Fichardt (2003), Ernie Els (2005), Alvaro Quiros (2009), Robert Karlsson (2010) and two-time winner Paul Lawrie (1999 and 2012).

World No.10 Alex Noren, a four time winner in 2016, is out to back up his top 10 finish in Abu Dhabi last week while former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell is set to get his 2017 European Tour campaign underway.

Photograph by Getty Images

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Olazabal interview: Qatar poised for a golfing revolution

Robbie Greenfield — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 09:43:51 +0000

As it nears completion, the Qatar International Golf Club is promising to bring a golf revolution to Doha and emerge as one of the best facilities in the entire region. We sat down last month with the man at the creative helm of this ambitious project, two-time Masters champion José María Olazábal

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It may have hosted a top European Tour event for nearly 20 years now, but the growth of golf in Qatar has effectively been dormant for the duration of this time.

That is set to change in a big way this year however, as the Qatar International Golf Club facility (with its Pearl Coaching Programme featuring SNAG Golf already in full swing) is well on schedule to open for play in early 2017.

Golf Digest Middle East travelled to Qatar to check out the progress of the course and meet with its famous designer, José María Olazábal, an accomplished architect as well as one of the game’s legends, and a man who prides himself on leaving a legacy – and not just a signature – on the design projects he undertakes.

We arrived to find Qatar not just rising from its golfing slumber, but positioning itself at vanguard of the game’s future. Not only is the QIGC a globally unique concept, but how many other courses under construction have invited a large group of school kids already signed to their junior programme to help a two-time Masters champion seed the greens?

Energised by the welcoming committee, Olazábal strode the immaculate turf of the 13th fairway, stopping to offer chipping advice to youngsters and encouraging a group of other kids and parents to help him evenly disperse the sprigs of paspallum grass across the newly shaped putting surface.

Jose Maria Olazabal shares the secrets of his famed short game with one of the Peal Programme’s juniors

Even in this constructional phase, it is clear that when open, the Qatar International Golf Club will be a very high calibre proposition. The turf is already among the finest we have seen in the region. Paspallum has always been the ecologically preferred choice, but scientific improvements now mean it’s no longer a compromise as a playing surface.

Located in Education City and comprising of an academy, a state-of-the-art practice area, par 3 course, unique six-hole course and the championship course itself, the QIGC promises to provide a worthy home for every level of player, and bring many more new recruits into the game on a local level.

With his impromptu lesson on golf course construction complete, we had the chance to sit down with Olazábal and find out more about the project.

FEATURED: 2016 Top 10 Golf Courses in the Middle East

What we are doing here in Qatar is unique on a global level

This is no ordinary golf course project, is it? how have you found your experience here in Qatar so far?
JMO: It’s been interesting. Obviously it has taken a little bit of time, but the progress has been good, especially over the last few months. The grass has taken really well on the back nine. We’ve already started seeding the greens, and in that regard it has been remarkable to see things start coming together. To hear that 2,000 kids have already signed on for the golf, I’m extremely happy with how the Pearl Programme is taking shape.

The idea of the golf course here in Education City was to incorporate the entire journey, from the very beginning when you start with your first lesson, to the chipping area, to the par three course and the six-hole golf course and finally onto the championship course. On top of that, we’ve taken it a step farther by going to the schools and bringing the game to more people. Our goal is to reach 4,000 kids by the time the club opens. We are bringing professionals to teach those kids the basics of golf, and I’ve heard that some of the schools have taken golf into their own programs, which is a huge step, considering that there are less than 100 active Qatari golfers.

The Qatar International Golf Club is the two-time Masters champion’s first design project in the Middle East

Have you ever come across a golf project like this one?
To the best of my knowledge, what we are doing here in Qatar is unique on a global level. For a club to go to the schools before even opening for play and actually take the game outside of its boundaries, and then to provide such a thorough path of development from within the game, that is an exciting thing to be involved with.

Was the idea for a six-hole course born out of the current focus on speeding up the game?
Everyone in golf now is fixated on solving the issues of slow play, and cutting the time it takes to play golf recreationally, but our concept for the six-hole course began way before this was topical. The idea behind it is the fact there are a lot of business people or family members who don’t have five hours of spare time.

Playing a six-hole course gives you the chance to experience all those elements of a full course, but at the same time you could bring your family and finish the round in a reasonable amount of time. On top of that, if you’re working and you have a break of a couple of hours, the six-hole course is there for you. Maybe it’s not as demanding as the championship course, but it’s very close.

What type of layout is this going to be? There looks to be plenty of sand and water, as you would expect with a course in the Middle East.
While there are plenty of bunkers and water hazards to contend with on the course, in general the playing surfaces are generous. We have big fairways and big greens. It’s not like you need to have pinpoint accuracy. On the greens there will be plenty of different pin positions to choose from. In this part of the world, where there are a lot of beginner golfers, or players that just want to relax and have fun, we don’t want a golf course that is going to be too difficult. At the same time, we have the room here to bring a championship, by letting the rough grow in and making it much more demanding off the tee.

What features stand out for you?
The wadi area of the course is going to be the highlight. It runs through the fourth, fifth and sixth holes and used to be a palm garden in the old days. We are trying to keep it as close as possible to its original form. That will be the only area of the course that will have palm trees, to maintain that heritage. The 13th on the back nine will also stand out, as a par 5 with two distinct fairway options from the tee. Everything we’ve done is in line with Education City’s focus on sustainability. The grass we have used is not only the best strain of paspallum, but it copes well with poor quality water.

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