Alison Muirhead is just four shots off the pace heading into Thursday’s second round. 

By Kent Gray
Alison Muirhead emerged from her own wild game of snakes and ladders on The Faldo to be among the early contenders at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic. Olivia Jackson’s scorecard, meanwhile, was more turvy than topsy but she didn’t finish too far adrift of Muirhead on the unofficial happiness leaderboard.

Together the Dubai-domiciled pros, South African-born Scot Muirhead in just the seventh start of a stop-start rookie season on the LET, and new Emirates Golf Club intern pro Jackson in her bigtime debut, produced a hometown narrative of note on Wednesday.

Muirhead overcame a watery triple-bogey to sign for a 69 to sit four adrift of Swedish pole-sitter Caroline Hedwall’s seven-under lead. Englishwoman Jackson, offered an 11th hour spot in the 56–strong pro draw after three positive COVID-19 tests reshaped the field, battled bravely after four successive bogeys to start her round to finish with no further damage in a four-over 76.

Starting the morning shotgun on the 16th, Muirhead overcame an opening bogey with a great birdie on the 18th before three successive gains from the 2nd to get to -3. She then fell off the front page of the leaderboard with a bogey on the 5th and a triple bogey seven after reportedly finding water twice on the 7th. Muirhead mounted an immediate recovery with birdie on the par-3 8th, added another on 12 and then drove the green and holed an eight-footer for eagle on the 278-yard 13th to get back to -3.

“Yeah, I am pretty pleased with the 69 considering I had a triple bogey as well,” Muirhead said. “I am happy with how I brought it back and gave myself loads of chances on the course… just a sloppy decision on the 7th hole cost me a couple of shots.”

Muirhead reportedly lives near the 11th fairway on the Majlis, the Faldo’s sister course at Emirates Golf Club, and is determined to make the most of her local knowledge this week. She’s banked just €1,890 in her six previous LET starts, highlighted by a best finish of T-57 at the SA Women’s Open in March. Wednesday’s 69 bettered her best round on tour by two strokes.

“Growing up in Dubai definitely has been an advantage this week but you are playing against the best players in the world, which makes it an even playing field, particularly as anything can happen on this course. There are some tough holes and tough pin positions. I feel like it will equal itself out over the three days but I do have a little bit of an advantage having grown up here.

“Obviously tomorrow is another day and that will be under the floodlights this time. I have prepared for the different format so I am pretty confident but at the same time anything can happen and I am just looking forward to playing tomorrow.”

Emirates Golf Club intern pro Olivia Jackson.

Jackson, meantime, finds herself in the midst of a giddy golfing whirlwind. After creating history by becoming the first female winner of a UAE PGA Tour event recently, on The Faldo no less, Jackson was invited to play for the Am prizes in the Motivate Media Group II team to be captained by LET winner Meghan MacLaren. But she quickly found herself promoted to captain of the EGA 1 team when European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew was among the three  to test positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the $285,000 event.

Jackson was teaching kids on the range Tuesday when she took a call from the Emirates G.C. Golf Academy to say Dubai Golf CEO Chris May wanted to talk.

“My phone was in my pocket and it kept ringing and ringing. I could see it was the Golf Academy so I thought something must be wrong. It was Chris May on the phone and he said he was coming over to take me to the hotel. I thought what hotel?

“It was all a bit of a shock, as I had to rush over to the [players] hotel before 5pm in order to get my COVID test done. Obviously, I am just so excited to be now playing this week.

“I struggled a bit at the start of today, not shaky but I was more reserved in my play than I normally am. As I warmed up, I became more comfortable and actually my score today doesn’t reflect how I struck the ball in the end. I just now want to get as much experience as possible from the rest of the tournament. I know I can play this golf course well. So I’ll just enjoy it as moments like this don’t often come around.”

German-born England amateur Chiara Noja, who has just moved to Dubai and earned a late invite into the main draw, signed for a five over 77.

Chiara Noja.