By Kent Gray
Circumnavigating Earth in a corporate tournament is not exactly textbook prep for a long drive competition but for Dubai scratch-handicapper Ricky Dominguez, it will do just fine.

The 37-year-old South African played in the BMW International Cup qualifier at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Thursday and signed for a not-to-be-sneezed-at 75 on the European Tour venue. Most importantly he smoked a few decent drives ahead of his second crack at the Dubai leg of the Long Drive World Series.

Dominguez will be back at JGE on Friday morning chasing one of four wildcard spots in the main LDWS event which starts at 7pm. He qualified last year via an eGolf Megastore promo but failed to advance beyond the afternoon seeding rounds with a best blow of 318 yards in the breezy conditions.

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Last year was a baptism of fire for the Nike Golf brand manager and after wandering down to the JGE driving range following his BMW round, he admits it’s going to be “daunting again”.

But he’s better prepared this year after turing up with a stock Callaway Epic (12.5 degree) Sub Zero driver head and a 48 inch, 83 gram extra stiff shaft last March – useless in the 25mph winds. The long drive specialists, two-time world champ Joe Miller among them, were wielding two degree, 48 inch weapons by comparison.

“Joe Miller gave me a couple of heads last year so now I’ve got four heads and six or eight shafts…hopefully I can get two out of those that co-operate,” Dominguez said.

“If I hit at my best like today I’m around the 340-350 yard mark, that’s kinda of where I should be. The last two weeks I’ve been getting it going so hopefully I can qualify.”

One advantage Dominguez has over any other game UAE amateurs is experience.

“I’ve got a better understanding of what I have to do. Speaking to the guys last year, they say get four or so drives in the grid, line them up and get them in, and then go crazy and see what you can do. Last year I tried to hit as many balls as I could in the five minutes which is kind of not going to work.”

Miller might advise better time management, but clearly not swinging smoothly as this video stresses:

The open qualifier begins at 10am.