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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
A victory at the Dubai Desert Classic won't count toward Tiger Woods' streak of seven straight wins on the U.S. PGA Tour.
That doesn't mean Woods came halfway around the world to finish second.
"It's very simple," he said Wednesday. "Whatever tournament I enter I'm going to try and win it, plain and simple."
The Dubai tournament, which starts Thursday with a field that includes Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Paul Casey, won't affect the streak because it's a PGA European Tour event.
Woods needs five more U.S. tour wins to beat Byron Nelson's record of 11 straight.
"I feel good about where I'm headed, the understanding I have of my game and my swing," Woods said, three days after winning the Buick Invitational. "It's always good to get another 'W' under the belt."
Despite the tough competition in Dubai, Woods said he worries only about his own game.
"I see where I stack up going into Sunday and then you start looking around at what's going on," he said. "But there's 72 holes, and I have a lot of things I need to take care of before I start thinking about anybody else."
Woods, who gets a huge appearance fee for playing in Dubai, praised the course at the Emirates Golf Club.
"They have the golf course in perfect shape," he said. "It's going to be I'm sure some pretty low scores out there considering how good the greens are."
Els, who won in Dubai in 1994, 2002 and '05, knows Woods is his main competition.
"The way he's playing now, every week, he's the one to beat," Els said. "You can't go head to head against him. You've got to have your own goals. But I'd like to win some more tournaments with him in them."
The Dubai Desert Classic is the last of three straight tournaments in the Gulf region, after the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Qatar Masters. Goosen won in Qatar last week and Casey took the title in Abu Dhabi.
Former Dubai champions Mark O'Meara, David Howell and Colin Montgomerie are also in the field, as well as Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Thomas Bjorn.
Still, everyone expects the final round to come down to Woods and Els, who first won in Dubai as a 23-year-old unknown.
"I didn't know who I was. And nobody else did, for that matter," said Els, who finished two strokes behind Goosen last week in Qatar.
"I felt the juices flowing there last week," Els added. "I've always felt confident around here. I'm at the start of my season. I'm fresh. I want to play."
Besides playing golf, some players, like Garcia and Montgomerie, plan to visit the sites of courses they are designing.
Woods said he's got a few other "business meetings" in Dubai, but declined to elaborate. Els spent Tuesday evening at a South African steakhouse promoting his Ernie Els label of South African wines.
Norman, who is also designing a Dubai course on the side, said he hasn't touched a golf club in more than a month.
"I don't have the motivation that I used to, to go out and practice 10 hours a day," Norman said. "Hitting golf balls isn't good for me. It beats me up pretty good."
Dubai is considered the world's fastest growing city, and many golfers don't recognize it on their return. When Els first won the 1993 Classic, the Emirates Golf Club sat alongside a two-lane road that drifted off into the empty desert dunes.
Now the course is surrounded by million-dollar mansions and shimmering skyscrapers. The sound of jackhammers drifts across the course, as does the roar of trucks on the road, now 12 lanes across.
"It's looking like the New York skyline a bit now," Woods said, mentioning the row of half-built skyscrapers rising behind the eighth hole.
That doesn't mean Woods came halfway around the world to finish second.
"It's very simple," he said Wednesday. "Whatever tournament I enter I'm going to try and win it, plain and simple."
The Dubai tournament, which starts Thursday with a field that includes Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Paul Casey, won't affect the streak because it's a PGA European Tour event.
Woods needs five more U.S. tour wins to beat Byron Nelson's record of 11 straight.
"I feel good about where I'm headed, the understanding I have of my game and my swing," Woods said, three days after winning the Buick Invitational. "It's always good to get another 'W' under the belt."
Despite the tough competition in Dubai, Woods said he worries only about his own game.
"I see where I stack up going into Sunday and then you start looking around at what's going on," he said. "But there's 72 holes, and I have a lot of things I need to take care of before I start thinking about anybody else."
Woods, who gets a huge appearance fee for playing in Dubai, praised the course at the Emirates Golf Club.
"They have the golf course in perfect shape," he said. "It's going to be I'm sure some pretty low scores out there considering how good the greens are."
Els, who won in Dubai in 1994, 2002 and '05, knows Woods is his main competition.
"The way he's playing now, every week, he's the one to beat," Els said. "You can't go head to head against him. You've got to have your own goals. But I'd like to win some more tournaments with him in them."
The Dubai Desert Classic is the last of three straight tournaments in the Gulf region, after the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Qatar Masters. Goosen won in Qatar last week and Casey took the title in Abu Dhabi.
Former Dubai champions Mark O'Meara, David Howell and Colin Montgomerie are also in the field, as well as Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Thomas Bjorn.
Still, everyone expects the final round to come down to Woods and Els, who first won in Dubai as a 23-year-old unknown.
"I didn't know who I was. And nobody else did, for that matter," said Els, who finished two strokes behind Goosen last week in Qatar.
"I felt the juices flowing there last week," Els added. "I've always felt confident around here. I'm at the start of my season. I'm fresh. I want to play."
Besides playing golf, some players, like Garcia and Montgomerie, plan to visit the sites of courses they are designing.
Woods said he's got a few other "business meetings" in Dubai, but declined to elaborate. Els spent Tuesday evening at a South African steakhouse promoting his Ernie Els label of South African wines.
Norman, who is also designing a Dubai course on the side, said he hasn't touched a golf club in more than a month.
"I don't have the motivation that I used to, to go out and practice 10 hours a day," Norman said. "Hitting golf balls isn't good for me. It beats me up pretty good."
Dubai is considered the world's fastest growing city, and many golfers don't recognize it on their return. When Els first won the 1993 Classic, the Emirates Golf Club sat alongside a two-lane road that drifted off into the empty desert dunes.
Now the course is surrounded by million-dollar mansions and shimmering skyscrapers. The sound of jackhammers drifts across the course, as does the roar of trucks on the road, now 12 lanes across.
"It's looking like the New York skyline a bit now," Woods said, mentioning the row of half-built skyscrapers rising behind the eighth hole.
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Greg Norman can empathise with Nick O'Hern.
After all Norman, who'll line up on Thursday in his first tournament since November alongside the likes of fellow Australian O'Hern at the Dubai Desert Classic, has been pipped for a tournament victory by a brilliant shot or two in his time as well.
After more than 150 starts O'Hern had looked set to grab his breakthrough European Tour win at the Qatar Masters earlier last week when Retief Goosen sank a stunning 18-metre eagle putt to snatch the title.
But Norman, famously denied the 1986 US PGA and 1987 US Masters titles by miracle shots, believes O'Hern will grow from the disappointment of last Sunday.
"What happened to Nick is golf and that happens in this game and I've seen it happen to me and I'm sure I have holed similar putts in my career to come from behind and win," said Norman.
"You can't control what other people do on the golf course and all you can do is finish the best way you can.
"We know Nick's a world class player and he will be stronger for what happened last week in Qatar and I'm sure it can't be long before Nick finally breaks through either on the European Tour or the US Tour."
Former world No.1 Ernie Els was actually surprised to learn O'Hern had never actually won a European Tour event.
"I can't believe Nick hasn't won on Europe and I find that hard to believe and it's something I can honestly say I didn't know," said Els, also playing the Classic.
"I knew that he won the Australian PGA last year and I just assumed he had won out here on the European Tour, so that comes a real surprise.
"I thought he'd won more than that and it just seems he is in contention a lot as was the case last week.
"Nick just seems to be up there every week.
"But you have to remember it was not Nick who lost the tournament last week.
"Retief won it with that putt and it's happened to me and I know I've won tournaments that way so I've done it to other guys.
"Nick's a great player and he took it on the chin just like you'd expect and I'm sure it can't be long before we see him winning out here on the European Tour."
O'Hern's seventh second place finish in Europe saw him jump five spots to a career high of 16th on the rankings while he now holds the dubious European Tour record of the most second place finishes without a win.
Stuart Appleby, Marcus Fraser, Brett Rumford, Richard Green and Peter O'Malley are the other Australians in the field.
It is only ironical that Jeev Milkha Singh will be looking to set his putting right at a tournament where he once set the record of least number of putts in a European Tour event.
Back in 2001, Jeev finished sixth at the Dubai Desert Classic his best so far. Jeev needed just 94 putts for four rounds, a record that he still owns.
After a fairytale last season which saw Jeev achieve rare milestones for Indian golf, currently it is putting that is troubling him.
The Asia No. 1 wants to make a significant improvement this week at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Apart from Jeev, the other two Indians in the field are Jyoti Randhawa, tied 13th last year, and Harmeet Kahlon, who is making his debut here.
Randhawa too has happy memories, having finished in top-10 once and inside top-15 on three occasions here in the past.
Jeev, who finished tied 22nd in Commercial bank Masters in Qatar last week, sounded a little concerned about his game.
"I was not too happy with my putting. On one of the days, I needed 34 putts for the third round. I gave myself chances but did not convert them and that was frustrating," said Jeev, who plays his first round with Simon Dyson and Paul Broadhurst.
"I have been hitting the ball, both of the tee and also the irons. I created chances by getting to the greens but it is when I am on the greens that I have missed," Jeev said.
"The putts have been sliding past or just missing slightly. That is the difference right now."
In the past, putting has often been the strong point in Jeev's game, but the four-week break and lack of practise has led to rustiness.
"Hopefully this week I will be able to work things out."
Randhawa has had very consistent results in Dubai. He was tied 13th last year, tied 11th in 2005, tied 13th in 2003 and tied eighth in 1999.
"I have always liked this event. Hopefully I can do even better this year," said Randhawa, who has missed the cut last two weeks in Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
"Dubai will probably change my run," he added.
Kahlon is hoping the experience of playing in a field with some of the best names in golf, will put him in good stead in the future.
Kahlon win in Emaar-PGTI event earned him a sponsor's invite to Dubai. He also met his coach, Jonathan Yarwood, and had a few sessions with him in Doha last week.
BMW Group Middle East and AGMC, the exclusive importer for BMW cars and motorcycles in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates, will be co-sponsoring the richest-ever Dubai Desert Classic for the seventh year running.
As the Official Car of the US $2.4 million Dubai Desert Classic 2007 - which takes place from February 1-4 at the Emirates Golf Club - AGMC will provide transportation for this year’s field of the world’s top players, including; defending Classic champion Tiger Woods, three-time Classic winner Ernie Els, Ryder Cup talisman Colin Montgomerie, Australian legend Greg Norman, and American Mark O’Meara.
“Our sponsorship of this prestigious European PGA Tour event, for the seventh consecutive year, speaks volumes of our regional and international commitment to the sport of golf. We look forward to evolving and moving from strength to strength in line with this showcase tournament’s growth,” said Guenther Seemann, Managing Director, BMW Group Middle East. With a glittering field of over 150 of the game’s top players lining up for what should be the Dubai Desert Classic’s most compelling 72 holes to date, forty five vehicles – from the dynamic BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series and BMW’s flagship model, the 7 Series - will transport the superstar field to and from the Emirates Golf Club.
Additionally, the player who manages to shoot a round of eighteen holes lower than Ernie Els’ 1994 course record of 61 will be presented with a BMW 650 Convertible.
The premium marque’s sporting ethos has resonated down the years by AGMC’s sponsorship of a range of sporting events in the community which demonstrate the inherent principles of the brand – success and ambition.
“The company’s association with golf in Dubai demonstrates its support of the sporting community in the UAE, and AGMC is proud to be associated with some of the premier events in the Dubai sporting calendar,” said Stathis I Stathis, General Manager, AGMC.
BMW also sponsors the prestigious BMW Golf Cup International, the world’s leading amateur golf tournament. Every year BMW importers and dealers from around the world sponsor a series of local, regional and national golf tournaments that culminate with the BMW Golf Cup International finals.
“The company sets high standards in its golfing activities, both as a tournament organiser and with its stylish range of clothing and accessories,” said Stathis. “AGMC has also been pro-actively involved in developing and promoting the local golfing scene for many years.”
When the curtains were drawn, Roger Federer, Thierry Henry and Tiger Woods were unveiled to the waiting public.
They all lathered up with shaving foam and posed for the cameras despite Woods admitting that his friends poke fun at his inability to grow a beard.
Once the 'shaving' was done with, the trio spoke on several subjects.
Federer and Woods have been seen in each other's company on a few occasions now and the tennis' top player has the utmost respect for his golfing equivalent.