By Ryan Herrington
OAKMONT, Pa. — It’s hard to describe the expression on James Piot’s face when he held the Havemeyer Trophy for the first time behind Oakmont Country Club’s 17th green late Sunday afternoon. Let’s call it something between shock, exhilaration and awe, as the newly minted U.S. Amateur champion, after a 2-and-1 win over Austin Greaser in the 36-hole championship finale, stared for a few moments at the most impressive piece of golf hardware he’d ever laid his hands on.

“I was just trying to see if it was real or not,” Piot said when asked what was running through his mind as he gave the trophy that first long look.

It was definitely real, the hard-earned result of years of trying to prove people wrong. Yes, you can come from up Canton, Mich., with its eight-month golf season, and still be a damn good player. And you can be 5-foot-9 and 153 pounds and still stand tall.

In all likelihood you’d probably never heard of Piot before catching a glimpse of him this week at the 121st edition of the USGA’s oldest championship. The 22-year-old fifth-year senior at Michigan State was ranked No. 86 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, good but not elite. He wasn’t a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team last May at Seminole Golf Club. He qualified for the U.S. Am last year at Bandon Dunes, even earned the No. 2 seed, but didn’t get past the second round of match play.

It’s easy, then, to believe that some unknown wound up walking off with the most prestigious title in amateur golf. And, maybe, technically, you’d be right. But don’t mistake unknown for fluky or undeserving.

“I know what people think, by the way he looks and all. He doesn’t look dynamic or powerful,” said Michigan State men’s coach Casey Lubahn. “But you can’t see his heart.”

It’s the heart that showed on the back nine at Oakmont, when it looked almost certain that Piot had finally met his match in Greaser, a 20-year-old honorable mention All-American at North Carolina. Through 27 holes, Piot shot the equivalent of six over par—four over on the front nine of the afternoon 18 alone—leaving him 3 down with nine holes to play. That’s when he turned to his caddie, Spartans assistant coach Dan Ellis, and uttered his latest audacious prediction: said he was going to shoot four under on the back nine.

And what exactly made him think that he could do that?

“Just self-belief. I feel like that’s one of the things, the golfer I am, I’m that guy who never has an extremely bad round,” Piot said. “In my head on the day, I’m kind of doing a recap and I think I was like six over. I’m like, ‘That’s not me.’ ”

And then it happened. A perfect drive on the par-4 10th, setting up a 9-iron approach from 150 yards and his first birdie of the afternoon session. 2 down.

Another good drive on the par-4 11th, and by good meaning it was safely in the 10th fairway, setting up a par that helped him win the hole when Greaser three-putted. 1 down.

Another par, this time on the 603-yard 12th hole, tied up the match, as Greaser suddenly was struggling to find fairways he’d hit all week and having trouble adjusting to Oakmont’s greens, which were getting faster as the day went on.

When Greaser bogeyed the par-3 13th hole, Piot’s 14-foot birdie try now conceded, Piot had his first lead since standing 1 up after the morning 18.

They exchanged birdies on the 14th hole, but Piot got to 2 up when he won the par-4 15th with another par. Two holes later, he was staring at the Havemeyer.

“I just didn’t execute coming down the stretch,” Greaser said. “I think it’s pretty obvious. He won four holes in a row there and kind of tides changed, and that’s how it goes.”

Chris Keane
Austin Greaser had a 3-up lead with nine holes to play, but struggled to find fairways on the back nine.

Piot’s golf career began at a place unlikely to produce a future U.S. Amateur champion: Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Centre in Plymouth, Mich. The facility had three courses and became Piot’s Disneyland each summer, the place he’d go to hang with his brother and his buddies, gamble for just about anything on the putting greens, and learn how to play golf rather than just golf swing.

While he developed a reputation as a stick within the state, winning the Michigan Junior Am and three high school state titles, it didn’t carry much outside the Wolverine State. So it was that Piot ended up staying home, following in his older brother’s footsteps and playing at MSU for Lubahn.

Since the fall of 2017, Piot has worked methodically on his game in relative anonymity with his Spartan teammates, a very real chip on his shoulder.

“Good golfers have long memories,” Lubahn joked.

Piot had quick results in college and was Big Ten freshman of the year in 2018. He took his biggest leap in the 2020-21 season, earning honourable mention All-American honours with a win and six more top-10s in the spring, including at Big Tens and NCAA Regionals.

“It’s hard to identify any one thing because it’s just gradual improvement,” says Lubahn when asked about what’s the biggest difference in Piot’s game from when he first arrived in East Lansing. “He’s picking up a 10th of a shot every day. And he’s the best driver I’ve ever coached.”

And not a bad putter either. In preparation for the U.S. Amateur, Piot put back into his bag a Ping Piper H putter, a flat stick he’d fallen in and out of love with since the sixth grade, one he affectionately nicknamed “the garbage putter.”

“My dad got that from a golf shop actually just down the road from our house, had to be 10 years ago,” Piot said. “He used it for like two weeks and was like, ‘This thing is not worth it.’ I think he got it for $60 or $70 at the time. I picked it up in probably sixth or seventh grade and started rolling with it. I was like, ‘This thing is actually awesome.’ ”

The putter proved vital this week at Oakmont, Piot holing several clutch putts.

Chris Keane
James Piot celebrates with his caddie/assistant coach Dan Ellis after winning the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

In the glow of victory, Piot could be allowed the chance to gloat. What did this win say about him and where he came from?

“Just it’s kind of nice to show the guys out there that don’t go to the big-time school that you can still do it,” he said. “Coming from Michigan it’s a phenomenal feeling being able to grind from a guy who wasn’t highly sought after to U.S. Am champ.”

It also proved something else: just how deep the amateur game is. All over the country, there are players like Piot, grinding day in and day out, aspiring for greatness with no guarantee that their efforts will be rewarded. Only the hope that the week will come when they get their chance to prove their mettle.

That week happened to be this one for the little man from Canton, the week James Piot finally became somebody you’d heard of.

The post James Piot’s comeback U.S. Amateur win is for all the little guys no one believed in appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
To be sure, Kate Smith is an accomplished golfer. The fifth-year senior at the University of Nebraska has twice won the Minnesota Women’s State Amateur. She is one of the Cornhuskers’ all-time most decorated golfers, including being the first from her program to capture the Big Ten’s Mary Fossum Award for the best stroke average relative to par among conference players in the 2019-20 season.

Yet the 21-year-old probably gets a bit overlooked when it comes to big-time tournaments with a heavy mix of peers who have played all over the world. And there is Smith’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, which currently is 134th.

That’s why the first round that she is putting together in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is a bit of a stunner. In an 82-player field that includes many of the top-ranked women in the world, Smith motored out ahead of all of them in the first round, making four birdies in her first 11 holes to be in the lead at four under par when play was suspended because of weather.

Only five other players were in red figures at Champions Retreat, including two who were comfortably finished in the clubhouse with one-under 71s—reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and World No. 1 Rose Zhang and Spain’s Ana Peleaz Trivino.

Twenty-nine players were unable to finish their rounds and were set to come back on Thursday morning to complete the first round before playing the second round at Champions Retreat. The top 30 players after two rounds will play the third and final round on Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club, following a practice round for all competitors at ANGC on Friday.

Among the golfers who were still on the course and having strong rounds were Linn Grant, the Swede from Arizona State who won three consecutive college tournaments heading into the ANWA. She was joined at one under (through 12) by Denmark’s Karen Fredgaard (through 15) and Finland’s Kiira Riihijarvi (through 13).

Zhang, a 17-year-old from Irvine, Calif., who finished T-17 in the inaugural ANWA in 2019, birdied the second, third and 17th holes in her round. Trivino, 23, opened her first ANWA with two birdies and a bogey.

Smith, a Minnesota native, is playing the ANWA for the first time, and though she is ranked outside the top 100 in the world, she qualified because she was one of the top 30 Americans in the rankings when the invitation list was frozen last year due to the cancellation of the ANWA due to COVID-19. In the current rankings, Smith currently is the 27th American.

She has been on a roll as of late after opting to take a fifth year at Nebraska when the end of the 2019-20 NCAA season wiped out by the coronavirus. In her first four years at Nebraska, Smith had not won a college tournament, but she finally broke through earlier this month, capturing the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at English Turn in New Orleans. The victory followed two other top-6 finishes in the spring portion of the Huskers’ schedule.

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The 54-hole event at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, which offers valuable World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points, has been confirmed for December 14-16 despite the on-going uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year’s champion Josh Hill and leading Emirati Ahmad Skaik earned spots in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. In a media release, the tournament said spots in January’s scheduled Rolex Series event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club were “potentially” available for the 2020 winner and leading local.

Matt Waters, Group Director of Golf for Abu Dhabi’s Troon International-managed cluster encompassing Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi and Yas Links, told Golf Digest Middle East that discussions were ongoing.

Hill capped a memorable 2019 with a thrilling one-stroke triumph over Arjun Gupta to be crowned the second winner of the Championship following Dino Capazario’s triumph in 2018. With the victory, the then 15-year-old became the youngest-ever participant in the Abu Dhabi HSBC event and enjoyed a practice round with then World No.1 Brooks Koepka.

“Winning the amateur championships and securing a spot in one of the largest European Tour events was an incredible way to cap off last year. Having the opportunity, as the youngest ever player, to compete alongside some of the best players in the world is an experience I will never forget,” said the Dubai-based England Boys’ rep.

“It’s exciting to be going back to Saadiyat Beach Golf Club to compete, it’s one of the most challenging courses in the UAE so with the strong competition and course difficulty it’s an honest test of golf, you have to play well to win.”

Regardless of whether HSBC spots are available, Waters is confident of another enthralling amateur battle.

“At Saadiyat Beach Golf Club we pride ourselves in delivering the world-renowned Troon Experience, which largely consists of maintaining exceptional playing surfaces which we believe sets the course up to be the perfect Championship venue for a World Amateur Golf Ranking Tournament.

“We are thoroughly looking forward to welcoming a vast array of elite amateur golfers to Abu Dhabi in December and to witness what we hope to be a thrilling tournament for all.”

For more info on the 2020 Abu Dhabi Amateur Championships, please contact Daniel Richards: golfevents.sbgc@aldargolf.com

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By Matthew Rudy
With COVID-19 throwing a wrench in the college sports competition this fall, hundreds of college golfers will likely be spending their late summer and fall looking for places to compete. One top instructor is hoping to make that quest a little easier by forming the Lone Wolf Tour.

Golf Digest Top Ohio Teacher Kyle Morris is targeting active collegiate male and female players with a series of single-day, 36-hole events at eight sites around the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. The first tournament on the schedule is slated for Sept. 11 at the Golf Club of Dublin in Ohio.

“I coach a ton of high school and college players, and the challenge is always to stay motivated and keep practicing—which is hard when there’s no tournament on the horizon,” says Morris, who runs The Golf Room teaching facility outside Columbus. “Under this format, players can be in and out in a day and test themselves beyond what they would get from playing day after day informally against teammates and friends.”

The $225 entry fee per event covers 36 holes and lunch in between rounds. The events are being being played at top-tier courses like Bulle Rock in Maryland and Turning Stone Resort in New York and will offer qualifying points for the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The fields will be limited to 54 male and 24 female players, with current college players getting entry priority. Safety protocols include players carrying their own bags and standard social distancing practices being used at many courses.

If fields aren’t filled by college golfers, amateurs with an index 2.0 or below can step up and test their skills.

News of the tour comes on the same day that the Pac-12 officially announced it was cancelling all athletic competitions, including college golf, through the rest of the calendar year.

“Every college coach I’ve spoken to is so excited about this, because there’s so much uncertainty in college golf right now,” says Morris, who is organizing the tour in partnership with golf recruiting consultant Rich Brazeau of Charleston, S.C. “Let’s pretend there’s no college golf in 2020 and into early 2021. Do those kids keep their eligibility? Will there be no room for some of those high school kids who will be coming up? This is a scary time that we can hopefully all navigate through together. We want to help all of these players get better and work toward their goals.”

For more information, the complete schedule and to register, go to LoneWolfTour.com.

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Hammer, the former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking has stayed busy by working on his short game. And in recent days he has perfected the art of skipping shots off a swimming pool—and into the hole. Check it out:

How are these shots even possible? ??

(via @cole_hammer6765) pic.twitter.com/5F4b9uwpNk

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 6, 2020

Impressive. Also impressive? That backyard setup.

Here was another trick shot from the UT sophomore:

Trick Shot Saturday with @cole_hammer6765 ?? pic.twitter.com/eEbBCIxeTN

— Texas Men’s Golf (@TexasMGolf) April 4, 2020

And here was his original thread that included the hashtag “bored.” Apparently, everyone is getting tired of being confined—even people confined to really nice practice areas.

Few different ways to get to the same place #bored pic.twitter.com/xerae2iN8D

— Cole Hammer (@cole_hammer6765) April 5, 2020

Again, wow. Even Phil Mickelson would be amazed by that side sauce. If the rules of golf change during this unexpected break to incorporate more swimming pools, this kid is really going places.

The post This future PGA Tour pro has perfected the art of skipping shots off a swimming pool appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
Remember how surprisingly low Suzann Pettersen’s world ranking was when she was selected as a captain’s pick for the 2019 European Solheim Cup Team? She was the No. 620 player in the world. Of course, there was a reason why her ranking had fallen so much: She had been away from golf for more than a year on maternity leave. It’s something all of the new moms on the LPGA Tour have dealt with. Stacy Lewis, for example, started her maternity leave in 2018 ranked No. 33, and when she ready to compete again six months later, she was No. 58.

The USGA has taken action to prevent players’ time away from prohibiting them from competing in their championships. With the governing body’s new policy, formally revealed on Tuesday, female golfers will now have their Rolex Women’s Golf Ranking or World Amateur Golf Ranking “frozen” once they go on maternity leave. If that ranking earns a player an exemption into a USGA event while they’re away, the player will receive the exemption into the following year’s championship.

The USGA’s new policy also helps players navigate participation in USGA championships in other ways. New parents, female or male, who have either qualified for or have been exempt into a USGA championship can defer playing in that event for one year while out on maternity or paternity. There is also an option to apply for an extended deferral for a second year, which the USGA would decide on a situational basis.

USGA officials worked with players to come up with this new policy, notably Lewis, who gave birth to her daughter in 2018. After coming back from maternity leave, Lewis was granted an exemption into the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open when her World Ranking would not have allowed her automatic entry into the championship.

“I was thrilled when the USGA asked me to participate in the process to update the policy,” Lewis said in a release. “Last year, I experienced the challenges that new parents often face and was fortunate that the USGA worked with me for my circumstances surrounding the U.S. Women’s Open. As players, we want a fair and inclusive policy, and that is exactly what this reflects.”

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In addition to WAGR points, two spots in the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA will be on the line. The starts in the European Tour’s opening Rolex Series event of the new season will go to Dino Capazario’s successor as champion and the amateur championship’s leading Emirati player. 

Reigning Open champion Shane Lowry is expected to defend the Falcon Trophy at Abu Dhabi Golf Club from Jan. 16-19. The announcement that Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson will play in the Saudi International later in Jan. also raises the prospect that the world No.1 and No.3 will return to join Lowry at the $7 million Abu Dhabi stop, ensuring an incredible experience for the Abu Dhabi Amateur Championship winners.

“This is another hugely exciting opportunity for upcoming golfers to test their skills against some of the very best players in the world at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA,” said H.E. Aref Hamad Al Awani, General Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.

“Attracting more players and fans to the game of golf is an important part of the continued growth of the tournament and having local talent teeing off alongside some of the biggest names in the sport will create even more interest in the championship.”

The announcement comes as the Troon managed trinity of Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Saadiyat Beach Golf Club and Yas Links Abu Dhabi gear up for a busy season includes major tour and tourism events.

The third edition of the €18,000 Abu Dhabi Pro-Am presented by Troon Golf  is scheduled for February 3-6. 2020. The Abu Dhabi Golf Festival follows from Feb. 7-14.

“There’s always a great buzz in the region when the golfing season officially gets underway. As well as playing three world-class golf courses, off the course there is also so much for visitors to do and celebrate. From the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, to watching the world’s best golfers play Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January, once again Abu Dhabi will prove itself as not only a golfing location, but also a fantastic destination with lots on offer for visitors,” said Francisco de Lancastre David, Cluster General Manager at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Saadiyat Beach Golf Club and Yas Links Abu Dhabi.

“The Abu Dhabi Amateur Championship will certainly kick start a brilliant schedule of golfing events too, and with the added incentive for players to earn spots at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA, it’s bound to add another dimension to the event and further boost the profile of golf in the region. We thank the Abu Dhabi Sports Council for raising the profile of the event.”

Capazario won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Amateur with a three-over-par 219 total last year, a shot ahead of then 14-year-old in Arjun Gupta and UAE National Team player Saif Thabet.

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By John Strege
When you’re a Utah native whose surname is Summerhays, it’s a good bet that you’re not only a golfer but an accomplished one. So it was that Preston Summerhays on Saturday won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.

Summerhays, two days shy of his 17th birthday, made an improbable birdie on the 35th hole of the match to defeat Bo Jin of China, 2 and 1, at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

On the deciding hole, the par-4 17th at Inverness, Summerhays hit his tee shot right and into thick rough, with a tree between his ball and the green.

“I didn’t hit the best tee ball,” he said. “I remember getting to my ball, and I had 145 yards to the very front edge, downwind, over a tree. I was just thinking if I hit this high enough and hard enough I could get it to land on the front edge and have it roll back to the back end. I hit it great and ended up having an eight-footer.”

He holed the putt to win the biggest prize in junior golf. The victory earns him a spot in the U.S. Amateur next month at Pinehurst and the U.S. Open next year at Winged Foot.

Summerhays is the latest in a lineage of Summerhays golfers. His father, Boyd, played one year on the PGA Tour and now is an instructor. His brother Daniel is a veteran PGA Tour player. His uncle Bruce won three times on the PGA Tour Champions. His great-grandfather Pres was a golf coach at the University of Utah. And his sister, Grace, 15, is playing in the U.S. Junior Girls Championship next week at SentryWorld Golf Course in Stevens Point, Wis.

Preston, who is 208th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, was coming off a second Utah State Amateur victory. Before that, he missed the cut by two shots in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship.

En route to the final, he defeated the acclaimed junior amateur Akshay Bhatia, 1 up, in the round of 16. Bhatia is No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Jin, 777th in the amateur ranking, was 3 up through 16 holes, but Summerhays won the 17th and 18th holes and was 1 down after the morning 18. Summerhays never trailed after squaring the match on the 21st hole.

Aside from his family, probably no one was more excited than another Utah native, Tony Finau, who Tweeted this from Northern Ireland, where he is playing in the British Open:

My dude right here ?? get to know the name Preston Summerhays! I been telling the golf world about him for years. #hardworker https://t.co/IhfYhQyfNq

— Tony Finau Golf (@tonyfinaugolf) July 19, 2019

The post Preston Summerhays, from Utah’s first family of golf, wins the U.S. Junior Amateur appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Longevity is a foreign concept in women’s amateur golf, where if you haven’t turned pro before you turn 20, you feel like you’re being left behind. Which makes the news of Leona Maguire’s recent accomplishment all the more historic.

When the latest edition of the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking was released on Wednesday, Maguire ranked No. 1 for the 131st time in her career, breaking the mark for the most number of weeks any player has claimed the top spot since the ranking was introduced in February 2011.

A 23-year-old senior at Duke by way of Ireland, Maguire eclipsed the record of 130 weeks previously held by Lydia Ko from April 2011 to October 2013. Maguire first held the No. 1 ranking May 2015 to May 2016, a span of 52 weeks, until she was overtaken by American Hannah O’Sullivan for 12 weeks that summer. Maguire grabbed the top ranking back in August 2016 and has held it for 79 straight weeks.   

Maguire has previously led a contrarian amateur career. Set to turn professional after winning college player of the year honors as a freshman at Duke, she changed her mind and decided instead that she’d stay all four years with the Blue Devils before going pro. She earned national POY honors for a second time as a junior and won the Ladies British Amateur title last summer.

More intriguingly, Maguire easily advanced to the final stage of LPGA Q school as an amateur in 2016 and 2017. Each time, however, she decided against playing to keep herself from even facing the decision of playing well enough to have earned LPGA status but having to give up her amateur career on the spot in order to redeem it. (By getting through second stage of Q school, Maguire also wrapped up playing privileges on the Symetra Tour, where she intends to play after finishing her college career this spring.) 

Stephen McCarthy
Maguire (second from right with her twin sister Lisa as her caddie), taking a picture with Stephanie Meadow and manager Paul McGinley of Team Ireland, was one of just three amateurs to qualify to compete in the 2016 Olympics.

Maguire’s impressive amateur career has already included three appearances on the GB&I Curtis Cup team (her fourth will come in June, the most by any player from across the pond in the competition since Julie Hall played five straight times from 1988 to 1996). She’s played in five LPGA majors, making the cut in the 2015 Evian Championship (T-34) and in the 2016 Women’s British Open (T-25). She was one of three amateur golfers who qualified for the 2016 Olympics, finishing T-21 in Rio. And she is one of 11 players to ever claim the No. 1 women’s amateur ranking.

The post Ireland’s Leona Maguire just set a women’s amateur record we don’t see being broken any time soon appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The UAE club announced it had won the right to host the 21st Faldo Series Grand Final from November 27-29 on Twitter via club professional Tom Buchanan.

Fantastic news for all here @aesgc we can’t wait to host the grand final. @EGFuaegolf @WorldwideGolf @GolfDigestME https://t.co/A1ige7HHuX

— Tom Buchanan (@tompro66) August 17, 2017

It followed a similar tweet from the Faldo Series PR team:

The 21st Faldo Series Grand Final will take place at @aesgc in UAE on November 27-29 https://t.co/oidD0YcSkf … @NickFaldo006

— Faldo Series (@FaldoSeries) August 17, 2017

More than 70 juniors from Europe, the Middle East and South America, plus five winners from the 2017 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, will contest the three day tournament at AEGSC, 90 minutes east of the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

The event will carry World Amateur Golf Ranking status and Faldo will invite the champion in each age-category (three boys and two girls) to compete in the 2018 Asia Grand Final at his Faldo Design course in Vietnam, Laguna Lang Co, in March. The six-time major champion will also arrange for the overall male and female champion to play in a professional tour event.

‘I’m absolutely delighted the Faldo Series Grand Final will be hosted at Al Ain.,” Faldo said in a statement.

“Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club have proved to be terrific hosts of the Faldo Series Middle East Championship in the past five years with the players enjoying both the hospitality and golf immensely. The Series continues to kick on after 21 years and we expect the Grand Final to be the highest quality yet.

“The region is vital to growing golf globally and I’m certain the Grand Final will be a huge success.”

Faldo created the Faldo Series (open to players aged 12 to 21) in 1996 to pay back to a sport that has given him so much and  help identify and nurture the next generation of champions. The series has grown to 40 tournaments in 30-plus countries.

Past winners include Major champions Rory McIlroy and Yani Tseng, plus tour winners Nick Dougherty, Oliver Fisher, Marc Warren, John Parry, Rashid Khan, Melissa Reid, Florentyna Parker and Carly Booth.

AESGC Chairman and Executive Council Member, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is understandably thrilled by Faldo’s decision to bring the final to Al Ain.

“As the Chairman of the club it is my great pride that Faldo Series Grand Final will form part of AESGC’s milestone. May this competition develop friendship among participants as each strives towards excellence as a golfer and may your passion for golf kindle our younger generation’s desire to engage in sports,” he said.

Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club has undertaken major redevelopment with the redesign of its front nine.

AESGC has undergone a major reconstruction in the past year with the front nine redesigned and modernised.

In a statement, AESGC said it had “placed junior golf at the heart of its vision with spectacular practice facilities and Academy course for all standards”.

It has hosted the Middle East leg of the Faldo Series for five years.

Josh Hill played some terrific golf to win the Faldo Series Middle East Championship by 4 shots @aesgc https://t.co/rntA3PDeln @NickFaldo006

— Faldo Series (@FaldoSeries) March 31, 2017

Shots from the final rd of the 2017 @FaldoSeries Middle East Championship supported by EGF at @aesgc Congrats to the winners! @GChappellPGA pic.twitter.com/ersnvw0fv0

— Emirates Golf Fed. (@EGFuaegolf) March 31, 2017

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