It was another cloudless day in the desert surrounding the stunning city of Dubai, ideal scoring conditions for the finale of the Race to Dubai.
Four players are tied for the lead at -6 66. Aussie Marcus Fraser, Englishmen Ian Poulter and Andy Sullivan along the Germany's Martin Kaymer and none of them are amongst the seven who have a chance to win the whole thing.
Of the seven Branden Grace, Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett had the best score -4 68, Byeong Hun An -2 70, Justin Rose -1 71, Louis Oosthuizen +1 73 and Shane Lowry +3 75
Rory did not have his 'A" game, drove inconsistently, had some sloppy irons but finished in style by holing out from the bunker at 18. Willett his playing partner also birdied the 18th. Justin Rose will be disappointed with a bogey, bogey finish.
Of note the guy who has won twice here, Henrik Stenson is dead last in this 60 man field at +5 77 and I won't be surprised if he withdraws due to injury.
As for the four leaders at -6, Andy Sullivan who has a load of friends and family here, has had a career year with three wins so far, Poulter had dropped out of the world top 50 resulting in his well documented last minute rush to the Hong Kong Open to ensure he would keep his European Tour Membership.
Meanwhile Martin Kaymer who you'll remember won the Race to Dubai back in 2010 when he was world #1, is without a win since last year's US Open while Marcus Fraser who has only missed 4 cuts this season is just happy to be healthy after missing most of last year due to a hand injury
I have never been to Dubai or the Middle East for that matter but in all my years have been watching the city and the game of golf grow at an alarming rate. Nowhere in the world do they put up sky scrapers faster than Dubai and with the oil supplies running out it has become a must visit tourist attraction, some 20 million visitors a year expected, within the next 5 years.
A report published by Deloitte yesterday has revealed that the direct and indirect economic impact of golf in Dubai is a staggering $131m per annum.
The comprehensive study also reveals the total gross expenditure on golf in the emirate is $270m, a quarter of total sports expenditure, while the estimated economic impact of golf tourism in Dubai is $38m – proving that golf can be considered as a major growth catalyst for Dubai’s sports industry as a whole.
Bryan Angus
(notes from europeantour.com)
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