Your guide to the very best golf, on the course and across social media, in the Middle East

By Kent Gray
Welcome to another edition of the Sand Trap where we really should be beavering away on resolutions for the New Year, not to mention myriad deadlines that give ‘silly season’ a whole new meaning. You know the drill – more golf, fewer three-putts and even less whinging about the work that pays for the “pleasure” of the inevitable three-stab blobs. That kind of thing.

We’re also itching to reveal the Dubai link to Louis Oosthuizen’s emotional South African Open win, share a very tall (trophy) tale of amateur success for a MENA Tour star in Saudi Arabia, not to mention a heart-warming story of Open Championship ambition and some of best (read savage) tweets of the year.

But first, we have a guilty admission to make, wrapped up in a lingering obsession.

ARISE SIR NICK

The Sand Trap’s boyhood hero worship, turned middle-aged man crush on Sir Nick Faldo will come as little surprise to regular visitors of this irregular Middle East-themed array of social media/golfing goodness. I mean, those wind-piercing long irons bounced into inaccessible pins to grind out pars and three Open Championship wins; the mastery of Augusta National that delivered a wardrobe of green jackets and a dagger to the heart of the Great White Shark (it’s a Kiwi-Aussie thing even though The Sand Trap secretly admires Greg Norman too); the thanking of the British tabloid press from the “Heart of my bottom…” Classic stuff.

Now the six-time major champion is a class act behind the microphone, merging the deep knowledge of his maddening craft with that trademark British humour to bring the predictable pitch and putt of the PGA Tour to life on the little screen. The Sand Trap might never flush a three-iron like Sir Nick, but we get how tough it is not to sound/read like a complete numpty as a media analyst. In fact, we reckon that Kiwi Frank Nobilo is the only ex-player who comes close to Sir Nick as a TV analyst, all parochialism aside.

We also get Faldo isn’t everyone’s cup of English Breakfast but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the beholder is typing this, so we’ll press on with our confession.

There’s no place for fairway fanboys in the media centre and you certainly don’t go asking stars for their autograph. But hey, given that the Sand Trap still owns several Faldo highlights tapes and Faldo-Leadbetter instruction cassettes (with no way of playing them) from the early 80s, it has become a bucket-list mission to meet said hero and get his scribble on something for the home office wall.  The thing is, I’m 0-3 when it comes to chances to meet Sir Nick in a private setting (e.g. where no other hack will see the giddy fanboy behaviour) and it’s gnawing away at me. Is it truly meant to be?

There was a club manufacturers’ meet and greet during the 1997 Open at Royal Troon (won by Justin Leonard), an opportunity a young Kiwi living off a high street golf shop assistants wage in East London could ill afford. Then, last year, those blessed (they really aren’t very funny) silly season deadlines prevented a trip out to Al Ain where our man was hosting his Faldo Series Middle East final. Then last month at the Faldo Series European Final back at the same Abu Dhabi satellite course – agghh!!!!…

One can’t grumble too loudly given the latest excuse was research for an upcoming stay and play feature at Oman Open venue Al Mouj Golf (above). To prove our press room impartiality, let it be known that the Sand Trap are unashamed fans of Norman designed courses, Al Mouj, Ayla in Jordan, Danang in Vietnam and Earth and Fire in Dubai among the Shark’s creations we’ve also savoured. Seriously, do yourself a favour if you haven’t played Al Mouj already and book a long weekend – the Shark’s contribution to Muscat golf is arguably the most under-rated ( even at No.3 in our biennial top-10 course rankings), and definitely the most under-visited gem, in the region.

But we digress. Back to Sir Nick who is to be applauded for what he’s giving back to the game with his global junior series, not only providing international competition and imparting priceless tips to the game’s elite young amateurs as captured by Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club legend Tom Buchanan…

…but also encouraging newcomers to consider the sport as this Emirates Golf Federation tweet shows :

Hearty congrats to Dubai-based, Welsh junior international Toby Bishop for his victory in the U-16 division of the European final at Al Ain. Look out for our feature on the Jumeirah Golf Estates junior in the January ’19 issue of Golf Digest Middle East where he talks about his long-term goals.

SIR NICK CRITIQUES ‘THE FALDO’… LOVERS OF TIGHT DOGLEGS BEWARE
Faldo was a busy man during his latest UAE stop-over, also calling in at Emirates Golf Club to review the club’s Faldo layout which will host the new-look Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic next May.

Faldo surveyed the floodlit layout with Emirates G.C.’s head agronomist Matt Perry and the Sand Trap has it on good authority they spent extra time musing the design merits of the 7th and 13th holes, both tricky par-4s where our admiration for Sir Nick has briefly wavered more than a few times in the past. We await any changes with anticipation – and with any half-new ball swapped out for an old-Dunga on those card-wreckers in the meantime.

WEE WOOSIE DROPS BY
Faldo wasn’t the only Masters winner/Ryder Cup hero of yesteryear to visit Emirates G.C. recently, nor the only big-name colleague of the Dubai club’s popular teaching pro James Williams.

Wee Woosie was en-route to the Staysure Tour’s MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius where he placed T-13 to finish the European senior circuit season 29th overall with €68,014. Not bad retirement money for the Welshman who will turn 61 in March.

CRICKETERS WHO GOLF, GOLF THE UAE
Hollywood celebrities and stars of other sports are regularly spotted golfing in the UAE and recently the Sand Trap spied former New Zealand cricket captains Brendon McCullum, Dan Vettori and all-rounder Kyle Mills heading to the 10th tee at Trump Dubai with smiles on their dials.

Seems McCullum and Mills also teed it up on the Majlis a few days before big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman McCullum got the shock of his life with what turned out to be a hoax tweet about the death of his brother Nathan, also a former Black Caps international.

https://twitter.com/Bazmccullum/status/1068854050106601472

We’ve long marvelled at the power with which Brendon smashes a cricket ball so wish the social media perpetrators/cowards all the best if they are unearthed. Anyway, enough of the fanboy stuff. Back to Faldo.

DUBAI’S NEW TOPGOLF FACILITY BREAKS GROUND

We’re strangely delighted to report that the driving range attached to Faldo’s aforementioned course at Emirates G.C. is now officially closed. Thankfully the decommissioning is for a very worthy cause as the Middle East’s first TopGolf facility takes shape.

Dubai Golf’s Abdulwahed Al Qasim and Troy Warfield, Top Golf’s head of international development, posed for pictures at the official ground-breaking ceremony recently. Construction on the 97-bay, three-tier building began last month with the venue due to open in the first quarter of 2020. This is later than originally anticipated but having played TopGolf in Tampa, The Sand Trap cannot wait for this perfect intro to golf/pals night out magnet to open. Here’s hoping they keep it reasonably priced to entice newcomers to the game and ample summer patronage from already-hooked amateurs.

GETTING INTO THE DESERT SWING OF THINGS
Talking of giddy anticipation, we cannot wait for the Desert Swing to begin in Abu Dhabi next month. Can Tommy Fleetwood pull off an Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship three-peat?  How long before Mr. Major, Brooks Koepka, is reminded he missed the cut the last time he played The National in 2014 (oops, sorry Brooks)? Will Dustin Johnson’s pre-tourney press conference garner a single, useful quote this year?

All these mysteries and more will be answered before the golf sorcerer Bryson DeChambeau shows up to confound us all again on the Majlis the following week. The Mad Scientists’ Omega Dubai Desert Classic presser is guaranteed to do exactly what DJ’s won’t, and there will also be plenty of entertainment and interest on course from spectators and peers alike, the former from beyond the ropes and the latter at arms-length as this recent Kevin Na tale relates.

ERNIE’S NEPHEW v DUBAI’S FAVOURITE SON
How about Dubai Creek prodigy Rayhan Thomas winning his second professional title at the King Hamad Trophy aged just 19? It wasn’t that long ago that the MENA Tour trailblazer looked like this, as posted by the Indian Golf Federation’s defacto PR officer Joy Chakravarty:

The Indian No.1s next big test will be the Desert Classic where he’ll line up against Jovan Rebula in the most anticipated amateur showdown at a Desert Swing event since DeChambeau won low amateur honours from Englishman Allan James in 2016.

Rebula has already played the Open at Carnoustie and will tee it up at the Masters at Augusta and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2019. If Thomas needed any further motivation, how about the fact the 21-year-old South African is the nephew of three-times Desert Classic winner Ernie Els? He even played with uncle Ernie at last week’s SA Open.

GLORIOUS MAJLIS
One thing for certain is that Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Emirates G.C. will put their collective best feet forward as golf tourism magnets, as Desert Classic tournament director David Spencer’s recent tweets lavishly illustrate.

We’re actually 45 days from the Desert Classic now, and just 37 until the Wednesday start of the AD HSBC Championship which has been brought forward a day to accommodate football’s Asia Cup across the UAE. Bring it on.

The hard work is already well underway at Emirates G.C. as Donal Mulvey, right-hand man to superintendent Matt Perry, recently tweeted:

THE ‘HOW AM I GOING TO PASS THIS OFF AS HAND-LUGGAGE TROPHY’ TROPHY
Least we forget Saudi Arabia will make its European Tour debut after Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The Saudi International might have been shunned by Tiger Woods for what is believed to be golf’s highest appearance fee but has fellow U.S. Ryder Cuppers Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed as headline acts and is set to generate much media interest, from golf and non-sports media alike.

Judging by the trophy reigning MENA Tour amateur order-of-merit champion Todd Clements just won in the kingdom at the 4th Saudi Open, we’re picking the trophy handed out to the inaugural champion come Feb. 3 might overshadow Abu Dhabi’s Falcon and Dubai’s fabled Dallah too, at least in size.

We’re still waiting to hear if Clements managed to get the behemoth past customs and into the overhead lockers on his flight back to England.

JP’S PARTING GIFT, VIA JO’BURG
Continuing the theme of hugely popular winners, congrats to Louis Oosthuizen on his runaway six stroke victory in the SA Open, his eighth European Tour title but first in his homeland’s oldest event.

A closing 67 at Randpark G.C. in Johannesburg got the job done and Justin Parsons straight onto social media. The former Butch Harmon School of Golf, Dubai chief instructor is off to the U.S. and is rightly chuffed with his role in helping Oosthuizen end a three-year winless streak.

JP was understandably a little emotional himself as he handed the reigns of the BHSG Dubai over to long-time deputy Jamie McConnell – coincidently Toby Bishop’s coach.

With former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (who qualified for July’s Open at Royal Portrush with a share of third place in Joburg), PGA Tour star in waiting for Peter Uihlein and Rayhan Thomas on his books, we wonder if a major championship victory is on the horizon for Parsons.

OPEN ENDED DREAMS
Oosthuizen captured the claret jug at St. Andrews in 2010, of course, the stuff of boyhood dreams.

Joshua Marshall was just three years old at the time and until his mum Laura posted a picture of the bedroom shrine he created to golf’s oldest major after attending the 147th Open at Carnoustie last summer, his love of the royal and ancient game was known only by friends and family.

Now? Well, the 11-year-old from Dundee is a viral sensation after the R&A and Carnoustie picked up on the story and ran with it.

Young Joshua is reportedly a 27-handicapper but with that sort of inspiration, don’t be surprised if the real claret jug returns to the Marshall household one day in the future. Well played the R&A, well played.

KHALID YOUSUF AND THE GCC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Want more amateur inspiration? How about this video piece starring UAE amateur representative Khalid Yousuf shared during the recent DP World Tour Championship.

Researching Yousuf’s Eisenhower Trophy record takes plenty of perseverance and a dash of detective work, as this piece we did on the Emirati before October’s world amateur teams championship in Ireland unveils.

There are clearly no grey areas when it comes to his commitment to developing the local game, however. We wish Khalid and his UAE team-mates Ahmed Skaik (the defending individual champion), Saif Thabet and debutant Daood Jaffal the best of luck in the 22nd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Championship starting at Ghala G.C. in Oman today. We’ll also be keeping close tabs on the other UAE teams – including the women’s team seeking a title three-peat – and the fortune of all six GCC countries at the event which runs from Dec. 10-13.

11th SGSC AMATEUR CHAMPION A NAME TO WATCH
A closing 69 saw youngster William Ang win the 11th Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club Men’s Open at the weekend, his first Emirates Golf Federation OOM title. Ang mixed two bogeys with five birdies for his three-under finish to pip Nathan Fisher and SGSC team-mate by a shot in the 36-hole event while Trump Dubai +2-handicapper Steven Kelbrick was third, a shot further back.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK
How about fan favourite Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnson with news of impending wedding bells?

Or golf’s latest social media hit Jack Bartlett. The American impressionist has just given Bubba Watson the full treatment but our favourites are DJ (hold the pose) and Lefty.

Remember when you watch this dandy Phil Mickelson swing that Bartlett is…right-handed.

Wow, the kid has talent. But frankly, the tweet/s of the week and possibly the year go to U.S. Ryder Cup nemesis Ian Poulter.

Savage, Poults, savage.

The Englishman’s epic tweets are a reminder to share your best pro impersonations, or your playing partner’s latest epic fail, using the usual GolfDigestme social media channels and let’s see if the Sand Trap can’t get a video or two to go viral too.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS RULES

Finally, don’t forget to make learning golf’s revised rules, which come into play on Jan.1, a 2019 resolution. Here’s a handy guide from the R&A and USGA to get you up to speed if you’re not already.

Or this more detailed piece from our colleagues at Golf Digest HQ in New York.

Anyway, we’re off. Fortunately we’ve got more than three minutes to search for a ball for Faldo to sign during his next visit to the UAE. Just don’t tell any of our colleagues…