We continue today with our third edition and the best part is that it is available FREE here. Get up to speed and in the mood for tonight’s final round by scrolling through the ISSUU link below or download Friday’s Daily News to your favourite device to read offline or keep for prosperity.

Enjoy and stay tuned for the DMC Daily News special review edition of the final round, out bright and early Saturday.

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A stunning, course record 63 from Mexico’s Maria Fassi was the standout on Wednesday but there was plenty of other storylines from the first round of the annual Ladies European Tour (LET) stop and you can read all about it here. 

Each day Golf Digest Middle East, as an official media partner, will produce the official Dubai Moonlight Classic ‘Daily News’ to help you stay up to date with all the action from The Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club.

We continue today with our preview edition and the best part is that it is available FREE here. Get up to speed and in the mood for tonight’s second round by scrolling through the ISSUU link below or download Thursday’s Daily News to your favourite device to read offline or keep for prosperity.

Enjoy and stay tuned for the DMC Daily News review of the second round, out bright and early Friday.

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In its third season as a 54-holer and the world’s only nighttime pro event, the Dubai Moonlight Classic presented by EGA is rich with a stellar cast and numerous subplots, key among them the professional debut of Jumeirah Golf Estates-attached German teen Chiara Noja.

Each day Golf Digest Middle East, as an official media partner, will produce the official Dubai Moonlight Classic ‘Daily News’ to help you stay up to date with all the action from The Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club.

We start today with our preview edition and the best part is that it is available FREE here. Get up to speed and in the mood for tonight’s opening round by scrolling through the ISSUU link below or download Wednesday’s Daily News to your favourite device to read offline or keep for prosperity.

Enjoy and stay tuned for the DMC Daily News review of the first round, out bright and early Thursday.

The post Get your official Dubai Moonlight Classic ‘Daily News’ FREE here appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Atthaya Thitikul was just 14 years, four months and 19 days old when she entered golf lore as the youngest winner of a professional tournament. It seems the now 18-year-old Thai has been hurriedly distancing herself from the competition ever since that magical week at the Ladies European Thailand Championship in July 2017.

Thitikul now counts four LET titles to her name, two of which have come in a thus far phenomenal 2021. The triumphs at the Czech Open in June and the Swiss Open in September plus another 10 top-10s saw her arrive in Dubai with a 1400 point – and seemingly unassailable – lead over Sanna Nuutinen in the LET’s Race to Costa del Sol.

With three individual events – including this week’s Dubai Moonlight Classic – until the end of the season, it seems European No.1 will soon be etched into her impressive résumé. Not that Thitikul, who has skyrocketed from 308 to 28 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, is getting ahead of herself. This is golf after all, a game that only ever promises the unexpected. 

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“Everyone knows the situation with the Race to Costa del Sol. I’m not focusing on it because every week is not the same… especially this week [under lights],” Thitikul said. “I’m working on something with my putting which I’m not confident on, but it should be okay if I adjust it. Hopefully it’s good.”

Thitikul has not played since Switzerland but has not sat about during her month away from the LET.

“I was still doing golf. I spent 14 days in a hotel for quarantine when I was back home, but I was still working with my coach – he came in from Bangkok. Then I had a week before I left [for] Dubai and I was busy working with sponsors on photoshoots. It was nice to take some time out of competitions and get some rest ahead of the end of the season.

“It’s nice to have the three events [Dubai, Saudi and the Andalucia Costa Del Sol Open De Espana] in a row because I already took that time off after Switzerland. It’s nice to be back and here in Dubai – especially with this different event and there is no cut. I hope to keep the momentum going for this first event.

“I haven’t been to Dubai before. This is my first time playing night golf as well. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good week.”

RELATED:
5 Reasons to Attend the Dubai Moonlight Classic
A decorated Thai trio won’t have the spotlight all to themselves at the 15th Dubai Moonlight Classic

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The emirate’s annual LET stop never fails for a storyline and the 15th Dubai Moonlight Classic presented by EGA is no different.

Much focus on The Faldo will centre around a trio of Thais headlined by Atthaya Thitikul, the owner of a world record as the youngest winner of the professional tournament, four LET titles and a seemingly unassailable lead in the LET’s season-long Race to Costa del Sol. 

The 18-year-old world No. 28 was no doubt inspired as a junior by the Jutanugarn sisters, 25-year-old Ariya and the former world No.1’s older sister (by two years) Moriya. UAE fans, unable to attend last year due to pandemic restrictions but allowed back in 2021 on the Thursday and Friday of this week’s 54-hole championship, are set to be wowed by the sisters too.

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Ariya Jutanugarn became the first Thai to win a major when she captured the 2016 Women’s British Open. She has since won the 2018 U.S. Open among her 12 LPGA Tour victories, two of them secured this year. Moriya, meanwhile, was the LPGA Tour Rookie-of-the-Year in 2013 and has gone on to claim two titles on the U.S. circuit, the most recent of which, the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, was emotionally shared with her younger sister in July. 

Chiara Noja’s professional debut is another noteworthy narrative, partly due to the fact the German now calls Dubai home but mostly because she is just 15. Noja earned an  invite to last year’s Dubai Moonlight Classic and will be keen to cash-in on another sponsors’ exemption and the experience of finishing 55th in the 56 player pro field last year following rounds of 77-86-73.

While Aussie Minjee Lee won’t be back to defend her title, legendary Dame Laura Davies – the holder of a record 45 LET titles – and two-time Solheim Cup winning captain Catriona Matthew have returned to their beloved Emirates Golf Club.

There is also a bevy of 2021 LET winners on display with Czech and Swiss Open champion Thitikul joined by Stephanie Kyriacou (Big Green Egg Open), Lee-Anne Pace (Investec SA Women’s Open), Marianne Skarpnord (ATS – London), Pia Babnik (Jabra Ladies Open) and Pajaree Anannarukarn (ISPS Handa World Invitational).

Mix in tempting Food Truck fare on Thursday and Friday, free-taster golf lessons, kid-friendly family entertainment and music (even a saxophonist) and the €260,000 event promises to be a rich and rewarding experience for players and spectators alike, one of the highlights of Dubai’s autumn social calendar.

As the world’s only floodlit professional tournament, Dubai is once again #InTheSpotlight. Flick the switch on the lights, cue the cameras and let the action begin.

RELATED:
5 Reasons to Attend the Dubai Moonlight Classic

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Australian Minjee Lee survived a nerve-jangling Friday night under The Faldo’s floodlights to add her name to the illustrious roll-call of champions engraved on the Dallah Trophy.

By Kent Gray
Many rate Minjee Lee the best player in the women’s game without a major. The way she bravely clung onto the emotional rollercoaster that unceremoniously shed joy seekers all over The Faldo on Friday night, it seems only a matter of time before that unofficial asterisk is passed on to another unwitting recipient.

The 24-year-old Australian came up clutch late in regulation play and again in overtime to claim the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic at a club getting awfully good at unearthing major champions-in-waiting.

With a curling, uphill birdie putt centre-cupped from 20-feet, Lee edged French Solheim Cupper Celine Boutier at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to tag a second LET win onto her five LPGA Tour titles and already exalted international reputation.

She mightn’t own any of women’s golf’s five bigs, yet, but Lee will now see her name on the Dallah Trophy alongside legendary Annika Sörenstam, Lexi Thompson and Shanshan Feng, major champions all. For a further confidence injection, she need only have surveyed the men’s honours board in the clubhouse foyer for more proof of Emirates Golf Club’s enviable status for anointing superstars ahead of time.

Indeed, after learning from a final round pairing with eventual champion Sophia Popov en-route a major championship best third place at September’s British Open, it seems there is little other than a little luck stopping Lee from emulating Messrs Willett, Garcia and DeChambeau soon.

The Perth pro has one last chance in this crazy old year and it helps that the rescheduled U.S. Women’s Open at the Champions Golf Club in Houston next month isn’t far from her Texas-base.

But that is for the future. For now, Lee can bask in the afterglow of a nerve-jangling Moonlight Classic where no fewer than five players still had a legitimate shot at glory with two holes to play. The 14th edition of Dubai’s history rich LET stop may have been sans fans due to the coronavirus but there was no lack of drama.

“I couldn’t really see the break too well on the last hole, but I thought it would be about two cups outside the right and luckily I hit it hard enough and it dropped,” Lee said of her playoff clincher to collect the champion’s €36,266 cheque.

“It feels pretty special to be here playing at night-time and the course has been amazing. It’s been a really fun week and just an unreal experience for me.”

Starting the final round two strokes adrift of Swedish pole-sitter Caroline Hedwall, Lee complied a closing round of 67 to match Boutier’s clubhouse target of -10.

Both former amateur world No.1s and both now based in Texas, Lee and Boutier (68) were the only players among the six legitimate contenders starting Friday’s shotgun to break 70. But while the likes of Hedwall struggled early and finished strongly, Lee and Boutier went from cruise mode to late wobblers.

Boutier (pictured below) led by two for much of the final round but opened the door when she pushed a fairway wood well right and into the water on the par-5 16th en-route to a bogey.

Getty Images

A hole behind, Lee inexplicably fatted her approach to the par-4 and left her par putt attempt in the jaws of the cup. But the Aussie rebounded immediately with an up and down birdie from the front left trap on the 16th after deliberately hooking her approach around a floodlight and into the bunker.

Kiwi Lydia Ko’s chances had long since evaporated courtesy of five pesky outward nine bogeys. Englishwoman Meghan MacLaren, second starting the final round, likewise never gave in but as much as she willed her icy cold putter, it wouldn’t listen. MacLaren finished T-6 on -8 but will long rue three missed tiddlers, all from inside two feet.

After three bogeys in an outward 39, Hedwall rallied to get it back to where she had started the day at -9 and had two decent birdie attempts on the 53rd and 54th holes to get into the playoff. She eventually had to settle for a share of third with the impressive German Laura Fuenfstueck and Spaniard Nuria Iturrioz whose title defence lasted till her final hole, the 16th, when an eagle try slid agonisingly by.

Lee had a chance to win on the 54th hole but undercooked her left-to-right downhiller. The putt she faced in the playoff was almost a mirror image and she ensured the grainy Faldo greens wouldn’t be a handbrake a second time.

“This year has been tough but this is a nice way to close it out. I’ve really enjoyed the format and everything about the week. My second time playing night golf was certainly memorable.”

A memorable week in a year not quite finished yet. Roll on the U.S. Women’s Open.

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By Kent Gray
It’s peak 2020, all a bit topsy-turvy.

About the time Minjee Lee tees it up in pursuit of her second LET title on Friday, she’d normally be thinking about what Netflix show to pop on after dinner. But with the 14th OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic to be decided under The Faldo’s bright LED floodlights, she’s planning to do the exact opposite.

The 24-year-old Australian roared into contention with a seven-under second round 65 on Wednesday morning to get it to -7 for the $285,000 championship. The five-time LPGA Tour winner will start the final round’s 5pm shotgun in the final group off the 1st tee, just two shots adrift of 36-hole leader Caroline Hedwall.

It will be a unusually long wait to get going but Lee has a cunning plan.

“I don’t mind being inside until tomorrow’s afternoon round because it is so hot out here and I’m just going to trust I’ve done enough practice last week before I came out here,” said Lee. “There are a few shows on my Netflix that aren’t available in America such as a few Korean dramas. I felt like I watched all of the American shows while we were in lockdown the first time.”

The world No.9 is the highest ranked player this week and as such will enter Friday as a clear and present danger. Capitalising on three birdies in her opening four holes after teeing off from the 10th  on Wednesday, Lee went out in 30 strokes, six-under. She then traded two birdies with a late bogey on the par-3 8th to eventually sign for an equal best of Wednesday 65.

“I got off to a pretty hot start. I wasn’t able to get many more [birdies] on the back nine, but I am pleased with my day. I feel like I had a look for birdie on every hole.”

The Perth pro’s last win came at the LPGA’s LA Open in April last year. The former world amateur No.1 will be looking to emulate her brother Min Woo Lee as a 2020 winner after he secured his breakthrough on the European Tour at the Vic Open in February.

“I have played night golf once in Korea but that was just for fun. This is my first time competitively and to play at night is something so different to the professional game, I think it will attract a lot of the younger generation,” said Lee who was third at the recent Women’s British Open before a T-7 finish at the ANA Inspiration.

“I think during the day, it goes a bit further and rolls out and the greens are easier to read but at night time I think it is hard to see the ball land and judge the roll out. There’s a bit of adjustment to make.”

But not before logging into Netflix for the biggest adjustment to her usual final round preparation. TV behind closed doors, almost like in lockdown. Peak 2020 indeed.

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By Kent Gray
Meghan MacLaren isn’t sure she’s figured out all of The Faldo’s night-time nuances but has her putter cooperating sufficiently to believe Emirates Golf Club could be the scene of a third LET win.

A second-round 67 to go with an opening 69 propelled the 26-year-old Englishwoman into contention at the $285,000 OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic. At -8, MacLaren will start Friday’s final round in the company of world No.9 Minjee Lee (-7) and just a stroke adrift of Caroline Hedwall, the Swedish pole-sitter who rounds out the event’s final three-ball.

With Kiwi Lydia Ko also among those in hot pursuit, Friday won’t be easy. But Sir Nick Faldo’s desert re-design shapes as MacLaren’s toughest foe as she sets out in pursuit of the Dallah Trophy to go with her back-to-back Women’s NSW Open wins in 2018 and 2019.

“It’s a strange course because it doesn’t look like a course you can score on,” MacLaren said. “Level par is a good place to be but once you get your rhythm you can get going.”

MacLaren had just one bogey in her morning circuit on Wednesday.

“I thought I’d find the greens easier today but to be honest I didn’t. I don’t know if I am overthinking it now but on the whole, I’ve been rolling it well all week. It’s the biggest improvement of my game and I feel that I can take advantage of my good play and make more out of my rounds.“

MacLaren has enjoyed just one LET top-10 in 2020 at the SA Women’s Open in March but has been trending with a pair of top-20s at the Swiss Ladies and Open de France en-route to Dubai. She also captured a Rose Ladies Series title at Moor Park in Hertfordshire after lockdown and will take the experience of last year in Dubai, where she finished a lowly T-38 after rounds of 71-73-77, into Friday.

“I enjoy the conditions here, the good weather is a plus and it’s nice to come back somewhere you’ve been before. I’ve learnt from last year, it’s in great condition and you just have a look around, it’s a great place to be.”

It could be an even better place late on Friday if her game, and The Faldo, continue to play ball.

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By Kent Gray
A few days either side of captivating victories by Daniel Berger and Webb Simpson at the Charles Schwab Challenge and RCB Heritage respectively, Nick Watney and Cameron Champ tested positive for coronavirus. Then, in a blink, Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka, like Champ, withdrew from the Travelers Championship in Connecticut after their respective caddies returned positives tests. Simpson and Chase Koepka scratched themselves hours later out of an abundance of caution. Cracks had suddenly appeared in the PGA Tour’s travelling bubble with fears it might burst, leading to another indefinite shutdown.

Trying to navigate his own COVID-19 conundrum at the time – namely how to get back to Dubai after being caught in Australia with the family when travel restrictions were imposed – Simon Corkill watched the drama unfold with a deeper interest than most.

Like the rest of us, the return of top-flight golf, even without spectators, was heartening. Indeed, the golf was exceptional at times, Berger, Simpson and co. showing few signs of ring rust. But as the Executive Tournament Director for Falcon and Associates, the positive tests on the other side of the world must have felt disconcerting close to home for the Englishman.

There is still a way to go before Corkill will assist at the inaugural $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International (rescheduled to Oct. 8-11) and oversee Dubai’s own Ladies European Tour stop, the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic from Nov. 4-6. There’s longer still until the European Tour’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic returns to the Majlis course in late Jan. All going well, spectators will be allowed at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City and at Emirates Golf Club for both the women’s and men’s events in Dubai. But the first fortnight or so into the PGA Tour’s return showed elite golf and those tasked with delivering it are walking a wobbly health and safety tightrope. Above an equally scary business knife edge.

Fans could be marshalled around the majlis in COVID-friendly zones. (Getty Image)

“Yeah, it’s had its challenges,” Corkill admits. “We’ve spent the last few months looking at contingency plans for all our events, scenario A, B, C and D and even E on everything and it changes daily with the news.

“That stands us in good stead though. We already had emergency plans for all sorts of things but this has refocused everyone’s time. It’s interesting. There are seminars and talks going on at the minute about sports events [in the COVID era] but we’re well ahead of that because we’ve been living and breathing it since February when we were talking about it with the Saudi Ladies event [originally planned for late March].

While sagely planning for every conceivable eventuality (who saw a global pandemic coming?), Corkill insists the outlook for the Middle East events is positive. While the Desert Classic is in a “strong position” with all the event’s sponsors still on board for now, other European Tour events aren’t so fortunate. Corkill won’t be surprised if more fall by the wayside but is hopeful replacements will pop up in their place.

As European Tour chief Keith Pelley has said, the circuit will look radically different going forward, perhaps even with a PGA Tour twist with rumours of a takeover still swirling around the financially troubled European Tour. Only time will tell what the global golf landscape looks like post COVID but the impact, fingers crossed, mightn’t be so noticeable in the Middle East.

“The Desert Classic fits in where it has always been. It’s been one of the long-standing events on the European Tour, 31 years, the heritage is all still there and it will still be one of the best events on the tour,” Corkill said when asked where the Old World tour’s longest-running event outside continental Europe will fit in what is already a new-look European Tour.

“The talk of prize funds being reduced and courtesy cars not happening and different things, unless there are serious restrictions with COVID, that’s not going to happen. We are in very healthy shape as an event. We want to build on the success of the last few years and the event will be as good, if not better, than last year.”

Spaniard Nuria Iturrios is the defending Moonlight Classic champ. (Tristan Jones)

Falcon and Associates will, of course, be guided by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Dubai Sports Council at the two upcoming events. The Moonlight Classic will serve as a smaller scale testbed for the seemingly inevitable player and patron testing and social distancing measures set to be in place at Emirates G.C. in January. Corkill has vowed to share learnings from the Moonlight with the team tasked with delivering the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in December.

The talk of prize funds being reduced and courtesy cars not happening and different things, unless there are serious restrictions with COVID, that’s not going to happen.

“I think there will be a number we will be restricted to have on-site [for the LET Moonlight Classic] but with a golf course, it’s very big, we can work around those restrictions. As you look forward to bigger numbers [at the Desert Classic], yeah there is going to be restrictions but I think they’re going to be manageable. We can be creative with zones and things, how many people go in each area. Yes, there is going to be challenges around 18 [the hospitality chalets and spectator stands] but let’s be positive and think by the end of January, we’re in better shape.

“I think there will be social distancing elements around the golf club but that’s the norm anyway. The golf clubs have been fantastic in how they’ve adapted to this, they’re all geared up for it already, way ahead of a lot of businesses in the way they are dealing with it.”

Corkill insists the bullish attitude is rooted in lashings of real-world reality. He knows the region, as financially robust as it is, isn’t immune to any further global disruption caused by COVID. It’s a matter of being nimble, Corkill says, able to react swiftly and call on plans B, C, or D. Maybe even plan E.

“We’ve got to be prepared if we get something from left field that causes us to change things. If we get a second wave of COVID, then the whole world is going to change but we’ve prepared for everything. We’ve prepared for player safety, patron safety and it will be a fantastic event.

“The restrictions they [European Tour members] would have played in throughout the next six months, they’re driving to venues, and they’ll be staying in these bubbles, I don’t think we’ll be in a position where they’ll have to stay in bubbles. But if we have to create one, go to JA Resorts, we put them in a bubble, they come off flights and they go there, then so be it. But I don’t think we’ll be in that situation.”

The Saudi Ladies International has been rescheduled for October.

Approaching his second Desert Classic in charge, Corkill could never have imagined how his role (Falcon & Associates have also been appointed to assist with the delivery of rugby’s Dubai 7s) has changed so quickly. He’s thrilled with how his team have quickly adapted to the new norm that is online meetings but couldn’t wait to get back to Dubai and back to business, with all the new complexities confronting sports administrators the world over

“Yeah, there’ going to be challenges, there are no two ways about it, we are going to have to look at ways and think about how can we do it all a bit more efficiently,” he said.

“But the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic is going to give us a great launching pad for the Desert Classic. What we really want to do for the Desert Classic is [show] Dubai’s back, it’s 2021, this is Expo year, we’re back, we can run a world-class event with everything that has been thrown at us. I’d like to think everyone who comes to the Desert Classic in 2021 won’t notice anything different apart from improvements.”

Here’s hoping.

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