The latest Aramco Team Series event gets under way in Florida on Friday, and once again a strong field has assembled to compete for the team and individual titles.

The crowds will be out in force in the Miami sunshine as two of the world’s best players headline a stacked field at Trump International, West Palm Beach.

Lexi Thompson is the home hopeful, and will be eyeing another ATS title after winning in New York last year.

“I’m overall just looking forward to the week,” she said. “The Aramco Team Series events are such great events to begin with, and I have a lot of support out there coming from Friday.

“It’s definitely a bonus to be here in Florida and it would mean the world to me to win to defend the title. I have a lot of family friends coming up to support me, so overall it’ll just be a blast of a week.

“I would say it’s a little bit of an advantage being on my home course, but you still have to go out there and hit the golf shots”.

Lydia Ko. LET

Thompson will face competition form Lydia Ko, the world No. 3 who finished third Laguna National Golf Resort Club in Singapore.

“I really enjoyed playing the ATS Singapore,” she said of her Aramco debut. “There’s not that many opportunities where you get to play in the team format and even though we are counting those individual scores, it’s nice to have that team atmosphere”.

Of the course, Thompson added: “It’s an amazing golf course. It’s so beautiful. It’s probably in the best shape that I’ve ever seen. And I’ve played out here for 10 years at least, and they have it in great shape for us.

“It’s just a very difficult golf course and they have it set up difficult as well, yardage-wise. It’s a ball striker’s golf course, you have to definitely commit to your lines off the tee. It requires a lot of really good tee shots and it’s very scenic; a lot of water, a lot of trees. But you just have to sometimes play more aggressively because you want shorter clubs coming into some of the greens because some of them are elevated and a lot of them have a lot of slope in them as well”.

Ko is making her first appearance at Trump International and is getting used to the set-up. “The golf course is nice, it’s tricky,” she said. “I had zero idea what the golf course was like before seeing the course for the first time yesterday, but there’s some longer holes and some shorter holes. It’s a really good golf course, the greens are quite small so I think when you’re on the green you’ve got a pretty good chance of having a birdie opportunity, but it’s also just as easy to not be on it.”

The Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour is competed across five global destinations throughout the year. After starting the season off in Singapore, the series moves this week to Florida, then on to London and Hong Kong before concluding in Riyadh in October. The Aramco Team Series Florida consists of 36 teams comprising of one amateur and three professionals who compete for a $1million prize fund. Aside from the team event, there is a three-day individual stroke play competition contested amongst the professionals which contributes to both Race to Costa del Sol and Rolex World Ranking points.

Ko is teamed with Tereza Melecka and Marianne Skarpnord, while Thompson will have Lydia Hall and Kelly Whaley for company.

Six-time LPGA Tour winner Jessica Korda and Race to Costa del Sol leader Aditi Ashok will also tee it up in Florida, alongside Sweden’s Linn Grant and Johanna Gustavsson, who was the winning team captain in the US last year 2022.

Also playing will be multiple tour winners Anne van Dam, Marianne Skarpnord, Stephanie Kyriacou, Pia Babnik, Alison Lee, Emily Pedersen, Carlota Ciganda, Lindsey Weaver Wright, Olivia Cowan, Chiara Noja and ATS Singapore champ Pauline Roussin

The post Lexi Thompson eyeing more Aramco Team Series success at ‘home’ in Florida appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matt Smith

Up to Scratch

The 2021-2022 UAE Scratch League concluded with the final matches to crown champions in both the Scratch and Players Divisions.
Dubai Hills overcame Yas Links at home in the Players Division final to capture the inaugural Shield. Both the Yas Links and Dubai Hills teams will be promoted from the Players Division to compete in the Scratch Division for the 2022-2023 season.

Trump International defended their Scratch League title

In the competitive Scratch Division, The Els Club just missed out on the title as favorites Trump International edged them in the final match to successfully defend their 2020-2021 title in the league, which is supported by Emirates Golf Federation.

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The Race is on

The winners at Sharjah

Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club hosted the 12th qualifying round of the Emirates NBD Race to Malaysia over the weekend, with 56 golfers competing over the nine-hole course.

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Oates claims DDF Golf Cup

Oates with Dubai Duty Free’s Colm McLoughlin

Home member Ross Oates won the 28th Dubai Duty Free Golf Cup at Arabian Ranches. The event was an individual stableford format with prizes being awarded to junior, senior, men’s, ladies and gross divisions. Frederic Fleury, Ross Grant, Nick Borkhataria and Anna Iatsuliak were among the other winners.

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McIlroy triumphs

Sheila McIlroy won at JGE

Jumeirah Golf Estates captain Sheila McIlroy won the June edition of the Lounge Spa Ladies ahead of Willemijn Roeterdink and Juliette Castell. Bettina Schrockenfuchs was the winner of the Individual Stableford with a score of 36 points.

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Boot camp

Russell Yeomans won on the Faldo Course at EGC

Emirates Golf Club hosted the Suited and Booted Open on the Faldo Course, with a 6pm shotgun start under the floodlights. The overall winner was Russell Yeomans, ahead of PT Jain and Kangho Rho.

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Winners on Earth Course

Yash Majmudar

The June OMA Emirates Medalford also took place at JGE, with Ravi Khanna crowned the winner on the Earth Course. Nicsha Russouw claimed the Ladies Division. Young star Yash Majmudar claimed the Overall Gross prize.

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Three-in-one

Jumeirah Golf Estates won the Beneple Dubai Golf Junior Team Championship

The three-event Beneple Dubai Golf Junior Team Championship took place at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Emirates Golf Club and Jumeirah Golf Estates. JGE scored 196 points on the final day to win both the final round and the overall tournament.

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Champion finish

Naima Maya won the Ladies Tournament of Champions on the EGC Majlis Course

EGC hosted the Ladies Tournament of Champions on the Majlis Course with 23 ladies competing in a medal format. The overall winner was Naima Maya, from defending champion Kiyono Taniuchi. In third place was Caroline Granger.

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Good cause

Doha Golf Club

Doha Golf Club ladies held a Lupus Awareness Fund Raiser to help member Karen who is fighting the disease. A very generous contribution was made by the Qatar Golf Association (QGA) and the ladies themselves, as they continued their efforts in raising Lupus awareness. All proceeds went to the Lupus UK Foundation. Doha also saw the conclusion of its six-event BICT Series, which began back in December.

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The post The Gulf Club: All the latest golf news from around the UAE and Middle East appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

According to a report by ProPublica and WNYC, Eagle Sign and Design made dozens of the tee markers for a “Trump International” customer. The company, which says it has done work for Trump’s properties in the past, showed a photo of the markers that have 12-inch replicas of the seal on its Facebook page before removing it. But ProPublica received this image of them from a source:

According to ProPublica, “A law governs the manufacture or use of the seal, its likeness, ‘or any facsimile thereof’ for anything other than official U.S. government business. It can be a criminal offence punishable by up to six months in prison.”

The “law is an expression of the idea that the government and government authority should not be used for a private purpose,” Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University specializing in government and legal ethics, told ProPublica. “It would be a misuse of government authority.”

However, the website notes that former presidents have used the seal privately, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who put the seal on their golf balls. And Bloomberg’s Steven L. Carter argues the law, Section 713 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, “actually bars very little.”

According to Carter, the use of the seal is only prohibited if it confuses consumers, something he says is impossible at a golf course that already bears Trump’s name. “We can call the gimmick uncouth or silly or déclassé,” Carter writes, “but none of those things is illegal.”

Regardless, whichever course ordered these might want to keep them in the clubhouse for the time being to make sure.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, one day after the initial report questioning the legality of the tee markers, ABC News reported the Trump Organization said it had ordered their removal, although it did not specify from which golf course.

“The plaques were presented to the club by a small group of members, who are incredible fans of the President, in honour of Presidents Day weekend. They were temporary and have since been removed,” a Trump Organization spokesperson said in a statement.

The post Trump International tee markers with presidential seal may be illegal (UPDATED: Tee markers have been removed) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.