Gallacher hoping to add to his Dubai success story in big year for UAE
Think about the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and one of the most spectacular settings in golf with soaring skyscrapers as a backdrop is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Think again and there’s a good chance that Stephen Gallacher could be next in the memory bank.
The Scot has become synonymous with the ‘Major of the Middle East’, having secured a place in the record books as the only player in the event’s history to win it back-to-back in 2013 and 2014.
The second of those successes came in the tournament’s 25th anniversary, with Gallacher, pictured inset, coming out on top in a field that included Tiger Woods, Rory Mcilroy, Brooks Koepka, Ernie Els, Fred Couples and Colin Montgomerie.
Eight years on, the Lothians man is back at Emirates Golf Club to make his 21st appearance in the event, which helped put Dubai on the golfing map and is being held on this occasion as the United Arab Emirates celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“It’s unrecognisable from when I came here for the first time, which was in the late 90s,” Gallacher told The Scotsman in an exclusive interview. “It was basically three or four hotels, a Hard Rock Cafe and that was it.
“Now, every year you come back there is something new and, on this occasion, it’s a new Topgolf facility next to the Emirates Golf Club, which is a brilliant addition as it opens up golf to a different group of people entirely.
“I love coming here, as do my family. I’m quite lucky as I’ve got membership at the
Emirates, so I am up there a lotandwhataplacetobeable to go and play whenever you want.”
Els holds the record with three Desert Classic wins, with Woods and Mcilroy both landing the title on two occasions, but Gallacher is the only player to have made a successful defence of the event’s iconic coffee pot trophy.
“I was just reminiscing the other day about when they had the 25th anniversary of this event,” said the 46-yearold, who used his victory in that event as a springboard to play in a Ryder Cup on home soil at Gleneagles later that year. “We had every single winner there apart from Seve Ballesteros, God rest his soul.
“To get that and think of the fact the group included Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Ernie Els etc, that shows you what a special event and place this is. I played with Tiger and Fred in that tournament and that was a great memory along, of course, with my two wins as well as a couple of holes-in-one. I’ve had the full range of joy here.
“When I first came out here, this event alternated between Dubai Creek and the Emirates. I think when you get an event that has a fixed abode and you go back there year after year, you get some familiarity.
“I think there is only Wentworth and a couple other places that don’t change year after year. I think it is special when you get places like that and this event is certainly special.”
For this edition, Gallacher is among eight Scots in the field, with Bob Macintyre, David Law, Scott Jamieson, Richie Ramsay, David Drysdale, Grant Forrest and Connor Syme the others setting out today on the Majlis Course.