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By Kent Gray
How does a fledgling tour pro celebrate making just his sixth European Tour cut in 21 attempts? If you’re Dominic Foos, it’s with a tasty waffle from a food truck behind the range at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The 21-year-old German’s journey into the weekend at the $7 million Rolex Series event is pretty sweet too after he advanced as the best UAE-based resident with a five-under par total at last week’s 54-hole qualifier at nearby Yas Links.

Foos, who has based himself in Dubai the past four years and takes advantage of his Sports City location to practice at The Els Club, Dubai, admits he had no idea such a spot was available at Yas Links.

The surprises have continued at Abu Dhabi G.C. where he’s posted back-to-back 68s to be -8 for the championship, just four shots of Shane Lowry’s halfway pace.

“It’s a real bonus and something I didn’t expect,” Foos told Golf Digest Middle East as he tried to keep a geyser of melting icecream escaping his celebratory treat from ruining his trousers.

“It’s been very solid. I’ve driven the ball well and if you can keep it in their fairways, it opens up a lot of birdie opportunities. If you start making some putts and get on a roll, the scoring is very good.

“I’ve just got to keep doing the same stuff, fairways and greens has been my motto this week.”

When Foos tweaked his back in a practice round at The Els Club last March, he didn’t think much of the initial pain and played on. It developed into an injury that curtailed his season to just 13 events on the Challenge Tour in 2018. 

He has a medical exemption for this season’s second tier tour and now also a golden chance to add to his main tour story. A top-10 in Abu Dhabi would get him into next week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic which he last played in 2017. Even if he can’t keep up the momentum over the weekend, his week has already been an unqualified success and he’ll go into his Desert Classic backup plan, Sunday’s qualifier at Dubai Hills, oozing confidence.

“A top-10 would get me into Dubai and there’s obviously with the huge amount on money on offer it would help my Race to Dubai ranking,” said Foos who is now coached by regular Golf Digest Middle East instruction contributor and fellow waffle lover Alex Riggs. 

“But I’m not really thinking about that. I’ve just got to keep my head down, play my game and see what happens.”