AS THE LONGEST RUNNING EUROPEAN TOUR EVENT
THERE’S A REASON THEY CALL IT THE ‘ MAJOR OF THE MIDDLE EAST’. JUST ASK ERNIE ELS, RAFA CABRERA BELLO AND A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO HAS CAPTURED EVERY EDITION OF THE OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC THUS FAR.
outside of continental Europe, the Omega Dubai Desert Classic’s legacy is beyond reproach. ▶ With an honours board graced by 10 major champions, a penchant for respectfully pushing the boundaries of the game’s noble traditions and a venue that first brought grass to golf in the Middle East and is currently ranked the region’s No.1 course by Golf Digest, the event has everything going for it.
After last year’s rebranding, galleries and global television audiences will notice a tweak to the infrastructure at Emirates Golf Club for this month’s 30th anniversary, most notably the clever parting of the hospitality suites beyond the 9th and 18th greens to finally bring the club’s iconic Majlis clubhouse back into focus, along with a little more of that fabulously futuristic Marina skyline.
While this month’s milestone is worthy of the inevitable hullabaloo, David Spencer and his team at Falcon Golf have focused on continued refinement rather than an overthe-top birthday bash.
“Whilst this year is big, it is unmistakably the same tournament,” Spencer, the outgoing Tournament Director, says.
Don’t misconstrue the Australian administrator’s comment. The Desert Classic might be the same, but it has never been ordinary thanks to the emirate’s ability to lure the game’s biggest names year-afteryear to test themselves beneath an ever-changing cityscape.
“It’s like playing in Manhattan now,” Spencer says, referencing the iconic aerial photograph taken by David Cannon during the inaugural event in 1989, American designer Karl Litten’s green oasis peeping through an otherwise barren desert landscape.
“We’re in the heart of one of the most dynamic cities in the world, surrounded by incredibly iconic buildings wherever you look. When you look at the photos from 1989 to now, is there anything that better encapsulates the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum?”
Dubai has grown up around Emirates G.C. and golf around a remarkable metropolis. A constant through the rapid transformation has been the venerable Desert Classic.
“Everything about this tournament is top class,” says Ernie Els, the only threetime champion.
“A wonderful venue and sponsor, the course is always in nice shape, lovely weather, and we get well looked after as players. Basically, the organisers just get everything right. “
Including novel ways to gain global attention for a city where grassed golf is only a year older than the Desert Classic itself.
For Spencer, the eureka moment came when Tiger Woods belted balls from the helipad jutting out from the Burj Al Arab in 2004. Woods had been teed up to play the previous year but withdrew and offered to send back the already deposited appearance fee.
“We said we’d rather he hold onto the money and come and do something special for us when you can,” Spencer revealed.
“There is the shot heard round the world at Augusta [when Gene Sarazen holed out for an albatross from 235 yards with a 4-wood on the 15th hole in the second Masters tournament in 1935]. For European golf, the European Tour and ‘golf in Dubai’, this was almost that.
“A lot of work had gone into ‘golf in Dubai’ beforehand but it was basically the starting point for ‘golf in Dubai’. I don’t know anyone that hasn’t seen that image.”
As Managing Director at Emirates G.C. since 2008, Chris May has had more than a few ‘Classic’ moments burned into his memory as well. Indeed, he was at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club when the Desert Classic detoured up Sheik Zayed Road to put Dubai Golf sister property Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club on the map in 1999 and 2000.
“My favourite memories? There are many…Peter Downie in 1999, the Director of Golf at Dubai Creek was leading the tournament after 36 holes. This has never happened since and will never happen again,” May said. “He went on to finish in 46th place, still an amazing achievement. He did know the golf course rather well I suppose.”
May was only just warming to his task too. How about Thomas Bjorn’s win in 2001 when the Dane played all four rounds with Woods and beat the then world No.1 on the 72nd hole?; Tiger’s second win in 2008 with “an amazing back nine of 32 including an amazing Tiger fist pump birdie on 18… what an atmosphere that day!”; Els’ historic third victory in 2002 sealed with a eagle on 18 from a blind shot in the desert.
“The sold out sign at the club entrance for Tigers first visit to the Dubai Desert Classic in 2001,” May continued. “What an impact he has had on golf. We are all lucky to have him play in our era.”
From Seve to Els to a teenaged Rory, through the up and down tales of Tiger and many world-beaters (including many still in training) in between, the fields at the Majlis course have always oozed quality. In more recent years Spencer has looked left field for pulling-power, last year with Pat Perez inside the ropes and social media queen Paige Spiranac on the starter’s microphone.
This year it’s arguably the most interesting man in golf, the inform Bryson DeChambeau, set to bring his sorcery to the Majlis.
“We do peek in the rear view mirror from time to time to see what other tournaments are doing to copy or better us but we’ve never been afraid to do something that is completely new,” Spencer says.
“The most important thing is we have a love and deep respect for the game and would never do anything that would put that at risk.”
The respect for the now $3.25 million event is clearly mutual as Rafa Cabrera Bello, who opened with 63 en-route to victory in 2012 to add his name to a notable list of Spanish champions including Ballesteros, Olazabal, Garcia, Jiménez and Quiros, explains.
“It wasn’t my first win, I won the 2009 Austrian Open [including a closing 12-under 60]. But winning in Dubai catapulted me [into the game’s top echelon],” said Cabera Bello who has made Dubai his adopted home. “It’s been a springboard for me to win future tournaments and also to make the Ryder Cup team and I hope that I can perform very well in the 30th edition.
“I love the Majlis, I think its an amazing golf course. I love the condition, I love the setting, the iconic clubhouse, I just feel at home here. Also the event has been extremely well organised and established by Mohamed Juma Buamaim and recently David Spencer following on in the past couple of years. I want to reach out to both of them to congratulate them both on preparing and organising such a wonderful tournament.”
Course record holder Els is another with an unsurprising fondness for the Majlis layout, the prerequisite of any good tour event.
“It’s always been one of those events you look forward to,” the Big Easy said. “I love playing in Dubai and have a great fondness for the Majlis layout; the lines off the tees seem to suit my eye and the greens are quite soft so if you get your ball up, you can shoot some good scores. And you always love going back to a course where you’ve won before.”
So which of your three Dallah triumphs is the most memorable?
“To be honest, it’s hard to pick one above any of the others. The first one in ’94 was very special, though. A course record [61] in the first round, one of the best rounds of my career, and my first win on the European Tour. Kind of feels like that’s where it all began in some ways. It really got the ball rolling on a wonderful season for me with six tour wins plus a major,” Els said.
The major link brings Spencer back into the conversation. “Can I have another favourite moment?” Sure, crack on.
“Willett and Garcia, back to back years, and they both go on to win the Masters. Both their caddies wore No.89, the number of our first year. That’s something that I’ll always look back on fondly.”
The Desert Classic has produced countless iconic moments and Cannon, the world-renowned English photographer, has been there to see them all.
He still marvels at how the pictures of Tiger atop the world’s first seven star hotel whisked around the world and appeared beneath so many of the most prestigious newspaper mastheads the next morning. But it is another Tiger moment, when he finally and literally captured Tiger in the woods in 2001, that is his favourite (see Classic Collection from p45).
“A close second in this utterly impossible task [of selecting his favourite images from the first 29 years] would be the past champions picture for the 25th anniversary because that alone brings back so many memories,” said Cannon who has shot more than 750 tournaments in 115 countries.
“The joy of still pictures is that they capture split seconds of life forever. Thank you Dubai and the Dubai Desert Classic for being such a huge part of my life.”
A lifetime of memories and the OODC is still only 30 years old. The magical journey continues.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THE OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC IS TOP CLASS. - THREE-TIME CHAMPION ERNIE ELS