Giant Leap

Former Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall will be a major threat at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic.

Ggeorgia hall has quietly gone about turning herself into Britain’s most successful female golfer since her last start in the UAE, a selftitled “tired” T-21 finish at Dubai’s Ladies European Tour stop in 2017. It was a performance camouflaged by the fact Hall had already wrapped up that season’s LET Order of Merit title. ▶ Fast-forward to the present and what isn’t cloaked his her new-found standing even if countrywoman Charley Hull, at 30th, was a place above Hall in the world rankings at press time. There’s a major edge on Hall’s CV and now the 2019 Women’s Open champion has a LPGA Tour title to rival Hull as well. The Cambia Portland Classic victory in mid-September mightn’t have matched the statue of Hull’s Tour Championship win in 2017 but was just as satisfying after a couple of years of close calls in the U.S. ▶ Forget not the perfect 4-0-0 record either as Europe upset the U.S. at the 2019 Solheim Cup, including a memorable 2&1 singles victory over Lexi Thompson on the final day at Gleneagles. ▶ Hall has since collected an MBE for services to golf, an ambassadorial role with the Royal & Ancient and two Rose Series victories en-route to her return to the Middle East for next month’s US$285,000 OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic. ▶ The 24-year-old Dorset-based Englishwoman won’t be the highest ranked player and wasn’t part of the new Pro-Am, floodlit format last year. She’s never teed it up on the Faldo course at Emirates Golf Club, nor under lights. But it’s just another trial the two-time LET Order of Merit champion is happy to accept in a year full of unexpected challenges. ▶ Indeed Hall will surely be one of the toughest players to beat if she can quickly adjust to the bright LEDs and testing greens on a course designed by another tenacious compatriot, Sir Nick Faldo. Given her recent form and endless determination, it will come as no surprise if that exact narrative plays out at the November 4-6 event. – kent gray

I WILL CERTAINLY COME TO DUBAI FULL OF CONFIDENCE. I’VE NOT YET WON A REGULAR LET EVENT, SO THAT WOULD BE NICE TO DO.