ROUND 2
THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 5, 2020
ISSUE 2
Ace Start
A spectacular hole-in-one helped propel Caroline Hedwall to the top of a quality leaderboard after a dramatic opening round at Emirates Golf Club. By Kent Gray – Editor, Golf Digest Middle East
eight of a possible nine 2020 cuts leading into the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic, not even Caroline Hedwall gave Caroline Hedwall much chance of featuring on The Faldo this week. There is no cut at the 54-hole Ladies European Tour Pro-Am, mercifully, but after her opening 10 holes on Wednesday evening the 31-year-old Swede must still have feared another ho-hum week was in the offing. There was nothing overly alarming about her bogey-free start but Hedwall was chugging along relative to German Laura Fuenfstueck, the clubhouse leader at -5, and others out in the evening wave. But if this crazy old year has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. So it proved as the duel LET and LPGA Tour member produced a slam dunk hole-in-one on the 17th amid a late Faldo birdie fest to rocket to the first round lead.
having missed
Hot on Hedwall’s Heels
Local Knowledge
Caught on Camera
Round 2 Tee Times
Laura Fuenfstueck cashes in on extended Dubai build-up to the Moonlight. PAGE 2
A snap-shot of the best images from the opening round on The Faldo. PAGE 3
A stunning seven-under-par 65 – after picking up all seven shots to par in her final eight holes – will see Hedwall start Thursday’s second round with a two-stroke lead over Celine Boutier after the French Solheim Cupper returned a floodlit 67 to match Fuenfstueck’s daylight equivalent. Former world No.1 Lydia Ko mixed six birdies and an eagle with four bogeys in a 68 and lurks ominously in solo 4th, a shot ahead of four players on -3 including defending champion Nuria Iturrioz and Dubaiadopted Scot Alison Muirhead. Just 13 of the 56 players bettered par. Starting the evening shotgun on the 6th, Hedwall went unnoticed by the TV cameras until she backed up a birdie on 16 with her pin-breaking ace on the 17th (her 12th hole) with a sweet six iron struck exactly 162 yards. Indeed, it was so flush, Hedwall feared the worse. Turn to page 2
Alison Muirhead and Olivia Jackson produce a noteworthy Dubai narrative. PAGES 4-5
Plan your TV viewing pleasure with all the groups and tee times for Thursday. PAGE 6
E M I R AT E S G O L F C LU B D U BA I
SPEEDMASTER 38 MM
4 – 6 N OV E M B E R , 2020
PATRON & OFFICIAL PUBLISHER
@OmegaGolfDubai #TimeToShine #MadeForGreatness
More information available at OMEGA Middle East, Emirates Towers, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 3300455
NEWS
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laura fuenfstueck
I am really pleased with my day.”
OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic November 4-6, 2020 Faldo course, Emirates Golf Club
56 168
- Laura Fuenfstueck
Players
“Night golf is hard, particularly with my vision. I have to trust my caddy to see the ball for me. So it is tricky and hard to read the greens and [you must] be particularly careful seeing all the slopes and walk around the hole because it doesn’t come naturally when you stand behind it like you usually do.” Fuenfstueck has played every event of this interrupted 2020 LET season and has eight top-10s in 32 career starts. A breakthrough win begs. “I came out to Dubai a bit early to practice on a few of the golf courses around here…there’s just so many nice ones so I just tried to prepare as well as I could. I’ve played as much golf as I could this year and although I still missed a few putts out there, I am really pleased with my day.”
Amateurs
Format: 54-hole Pro-Am (No cut) Each pro will be grouped with three amateurs for a 36-hole “tour scramble” competition. The 56-players will then play Friday's final round on their own.
Wednesday, November 4:
Pro-Am – 10am and 4.30pm shotguns
Thursday, November 5:
Pro-Am – 10am and 4.30pm shotguns
Friday, November 6: 5pm shotgun
lydia ko
Continued from cover page... “I heard how it hit the pin and then I thought it came off [the green] because something white flew off the flag stick. I thought my ball was in the bunker. I walked up and saw a ball in the bunker and remarked 'there it is' but my ProAm partner said that it was his ball. So I walked up to the hole to double check and it was there,” said Hedwall. “I realised just after the hole-in-one that I’d won a [OMEGA] watch, which is cool.” Hedwall went on to birdie the tricky 18th, added a birdie two on the 2nd and further gains on the 3rd and 5th. She has pedigree – six LET wins – if not recent form – she was 161st in the Race to Costa Del Sol standings and 159th in the world rankings heading into Dubai – to believe she can kick on this week even if the conditions are unusual. “I made quite a nice few par putts on the front nine, which gave me momentum with my putting. Eventually the longer ones fell in as well. It was a nice solid round of golf, I am really happy,” she said.
Editor-in-Chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer
Chief Commercial Officer Anthony Milne
Group Editor and Managing Partner Ian Fairservice
Publisher David Burke
Editor Kent Gray Art Director Clarkwin Cruz Images Tristan Jones/LET, Getty Images, Supplied by Falcon Associates
General Manager – Production S. Sunil Kumar Assistant Production Manager Binu Purandaran
The 25-year-old, like Kiwi Ko, will have to negotiate The Faldo’s LED lights in the second round but rather spookily predicted Hedwall’s pace-setting round and sees no reason why something similar can’t be achieved on Thursday. “Perhaps there will be less wind and I think there is a low number out there so I am anticipating someone shooting as low as seven-under-par this afternoon,” said after her daylight round. “The greens are easier to read in the sun because you can tell the grain a bit more but maybe I will find out what it will be like tomorrow.” Roll on the second round. ◼
Head Office: Media One Tower, PO Box 2331, Dubai, UAE; Tel +971 4 427 3000; Fax +971 4 428 2270 Dubai Media City: Office 508, 5th Floor, Building 8, Dubai, UAE; Tel +971 4 390 3550; Fax +971 4 390 4845 Abu Dhabi: PO Box 43072, UAE; Tel +971 2 657 3493 London: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, UK; E-mail: motivateuk@motivate.ae
PICTURE ROUND-UP ( l to r ) muni he , lydia ko, cÊline boutier , minjee lee and georgia hall assembled under the floodlights to officially launch this year’ s omega dubai moonlight classic
3 abdulrahman rahmani
muni he
astha madan
julia engstrom
amy boulden
HOMETOWN HEROES
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Dubai-domiciled pros happy at opposite ends of leaderboard A
emerged from her own wild game of snakes and ladders on The Faldo to be among the early contenders at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic. Olivia Jackson’s scorecard, meanwhile, was more turvy than topsy but she didn’t finish too far adrift of Muirhead on the unofficial happiness leaderboard. Together the Dubai-domiciled pros, South Africanborn Scot Muirhead in just the seventh start of a stopstart rookie season on the LET, and new Emirates Golf Club intern pro Jackson in her bigtime debut, produced a hometown narrative of note on Wednesday. Muirhead overcame a watery triple-bogey to sign for a 69 to sit four adrift of Swedish pole-sitter Caroline Hedwall’s seven-under lead. Englishwoman Jackson, offered an 11th hour spot in the 56–strong pro draw, battled bravely after four successive bogeys to start her round to finish with no further damage in a four-over 76. Starting the morning shotgun on the 16th, Muirhead overcame an opening bogey with a great birdie on the 18th before three successive gains from the 2nd to get to -3. She then fell off the front page of the leaderboard with a bogey on the 5th and a triple bogey seven after reportedly finding water twice on the 7th. Muirhead mounted an immediate recovery with birdie on the par-3
olivia jackson
l i s on mu i r h e a d
8th, added another on 12 and then drove the green and holed an eight-footer for eagle on the 278-yard 13th to get back to -3. “Yeah, I am pretty pleased with the 69 considering I had a triple bogey as well,” Muirhead said. “I am happy with how I brought it back and gave myself loads of chances on the course… just a sloppy decision on the 7th hole cost me a couple of shots.” Muirhead reportedly lives near the 11th fairway on the Majlis, the Faldo’s sister course at Emirates Golf Club, and is determined to make the most of her local knowledge this week. She’s banked just €1,890 in her six previous LET starts, highlighted by a best finish of T-57 at the SA Women’s Open in March. Wednesday’s 69 bettered her best round on tour by two strokes.
I am happy with how I brought it back and gave myself loads of chances...” - Alison Muirhead
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“Growing up in Dubai definitely has been an advantage this week but you are playing against the best players in the world, which makes it an even playing field, particularly as anything can happen on this course. There are some tough holes and tough pin positions. I feel like it will equal itself out over the three days but I do have a little bit of an advantage having grown up here. “Obviously tomorrow is another day and that will be under the floodlights this time. I have prepared for the different format so I am pretty confident but at the same time anything can happen and I am just looking forward to playing tomorrow.” Jackson, meantime, finds herself in the midst of a giddy golfing whirlwind. After creating history by becoming the first female winner of a UAE PGA Tour event recently, on The Faldo no less, Jackson was invited to play for the Am prizes in the Motivate Media Group II team to be captained by LET winner Meghan MacLaren. But she quickly found herself promoted to captain of the EGA 1 team on the eve of the $285,000 event. Jackson was teaching kids on the range Tuesday when she took a call from the Emirates G.C. Golf Academy to say Dubai Golf CEO Chris May wanted to talk. “My phone was in my pocket and it kept ringing and ringing. I could see it was the Golf Academy so I thought something must be wrong. It was Chris May on the phone and he said he was coming over to take me to the hotel. I thought what hotel? “It was all a bit of a shock, as I had to rush over to the [players] hotel before 5pm in order to get my COVID test done. Obviously I am just so excited to be now playing this week. “I struggled a bit at the start of today, not shaky but I was more reserved in my play than I normally am. As I warmed up, I became more comfortable and actually my score today doesn’t reflect how I struck the ball in the end. I just now want to get as much experience as possible from the rest of the tournament. I know I can play this golf course well. So I’ll just enjoy it as moments like this don’t often come around.” German-born England amateur Chiara Noja, who has just moved to Dubai and earned a late invite into the main draw, signed for a five over 77. ◼ chiara noja
alison muirhead
ROUND 2 TEE TIMES – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5
6
MORNING SHOTGUN – 10AM
AFTERNOON SHOTGUN – 4.30PM
HOLE
PRO
TEAM
AMATEURS
HOLE
PRO
TEAM
AMATEURS
1A
Gabriella Cowley
JA Resorts & Hotels IV
Natalii Gupta, Scott Flewellen, Peter Englund
1A
Lydia Ko
EGA II
Greg Sproule, Maurizio La Noce, Walid Al Attar
1B
Karolin Lampert
ODMC IX
Lee Lawrence, Mark Chapleski, Campbell Steedman
1B
Beth Allen
Emirates NBD II
Neeraj Varyani, Vikas Sachar, Srinivas Chivukula
2A
Whitney Hillier
Motivate Media Group III
Claudine Foong, Alex Riggs, Dean Cheesley
2A
Olivia Jackson
EGA I
Christer Sjodoff, Abdulla Alkaram, Mohammed Darwish
2B
Tvesa Malik
Byrne Equipment Rental I
James Scullion, James Dodgson, Ashley Woolhouse
2B
Trish Johnson
Byrne Equipment Rental II
Steve Caygill, Carl Lindsay, Jim Smith
3
Sanna Nuutinen
Emirates Golf Federation
Rabab Al Haj, Alia Al Emadi, Hamda Alsuwaudi
3
Eleanor Givens
EGA VIII
Ivan Fornazaric, Peter Jamieson, Victoria Anikina
4
Hannah Burke
Emirates Golf Club
Pascal Bartette, Najla Bartette, Frank Duggan
4
Nuria Iturrioz
CNN I
Carlotta Pretti, Edoardo Riccio, Abbas Virji
5A
Lydia Hall
Neo Casa Interiors
Masoud Sobati, Shahriar Khodjasteh, Mansour Khodjasteh
5A
Becky Morgan
EGC Captains Team
Monica Palao, Amarjeet Radia, Josie Tracey
5B
Esther Henseleit
Dubai Duty Free I
Colm McLoughlin, Niall McLoughlin, James Finnigan
5B
Chiara Noja (Am)
wasl II
Rohitash Gupta, Bayhan Lakdawala, Shehzad Lakdawala
6A
Stephanie Kyriacou
ODMC IV
Abdulwahed Al Qasem, Eric Milne, Boyd Edmondson
6A
Alice Hewson
Byrne Equipment Rental III
Richard Taylor, Simon Hickson, Brian Marshall
6B
Meghan MacLaren
Motivate Media Group II
Ken Owiti, Jackson Bell, Adina Cameron
6B
Celine Herbin
The Entertainer
Chris Shaw, Tapan Vaidya, Ryan Coffey
7
Manon De Roey
Emirates NBD I
Wang Xuhong, Nicolas Wright, Ashley Anderson
7
Alison Muirhead
wasl III
Sanjay Dhandsa, Raj Janardhan, Ross Barlow
8A
Emily Kristine Pedersen
EGA VI
Naresh Handa, Andrew Wood, Graham Pascal
8A
Magdalena Simmermacher
ODMC VI
Jazzy Golfer, Aliya Al Qubaisi, Khalid Al Qubaisi
8B
Amy Boulden
JA Resorts & Hotels I
Mrs Irem Aksay, Khalid Al Halyan, Thomas Grundner
8B
Kim Metraux
OMEGA IV
Anthony Fernando-pulle, Andre Grove, Stamen Stantchev Abdulrahman Rahmani, Noel Luzares, Alan Cedeno
9
Charley Hull
EGA V
Khalid Yousuf, Abdalla Al Musharrekh, Robert Fiala
9
Inci Mehmet
EGA III
10A
Minjee Lee
OMEGA V
Naima Maya, Martha Wong, Yana Jamieson
10A
Emilie Paltrinieri (Am)
OMEGA III
Iswar Jodha, Darren King, Martin Mcdonagh
10B
Celine Boutier
OMEGA VI
Shiba Wahid Khan, Liang Liu, Roma Khanna
10B
Laura Fuenfstueck
AGMC/BMW I
Gurbax Singh, Sophia Hasnaoui, Ricky Dominguez
11A
Laura Davies
OMEGA VII
Paul Byrne, Rakesh Shah, Alex Rodriguex
11A
Lina Boqvist
AGMC/BMW III
Anil Shivanna Hosour, Steen Jakobsen, Kristnan Subramaniam
11B
Alison Lee
ODMC VII
Peter Finch, Victoria Johnson, Nicsha Russouw
11B
Astha Madan
wasl IV
Lianne Scattery, Willemijn Roeterdink, Genie Owiti
12
Muni He
OMEGA VIII
Marco Saviozzi, Frederic Gastaldo, Jennifer Adorsa Cruz
12
Tonje Daffinrud
ODMC VIII
James Carter, Ashley Phipps, Olivia Cooke
13
Carly Booth
EGA VII
Alexander Tivi, Irfan Nasir, Sylvain Dery
13
Emma Nilsson
Motivate Media Group I
Tom Rourke, Stuart Deeson, Ashley Morgan
14A
Jenny Haglund
ODMC V
Stuart Laurie, Peter Menelaou, Chris May
14A
Liz Young
ODMC III
David Stockton, Tim Burnell, James Burgess
14B
Diksha Dagar
AGMC/BMW II
David Garland, Stephen Punch, Jugwinder Singh Brar
14B
Aditi Ashok
Ladies European Tour
Champika Sayal, Nonita Chand, Kanchka Sayal
15A
Christine Wolf
Emirates NBD III
Azad Virji, Aditya Ganti, Predrag Lucic
15A
Maha Haddioui
ODMC I
Adel Zarouni, Christiane Sprunck, Sami Nasser
15B
Caroline Hedwall
Dubai Duty Free II
George Horan, Michael McGinley, Bharat Godkhindi
15B
Marianne Skarpnord
OMEGA I
Beatrice Galeppini Salani, Edoardo Galeppini, Max Burrow
16
Kylie Henry
wasl I
Maura Duggan, Sulafa Hamdan, Helen Srivastava
16
Bronte Law
OMEGA IX
Dhruv Gupta, Priyanka Gupta, Yves Buchard
17A
Johanna Gustavsson
EGA IV
Ashok Kumar, Dalip Tripati, Vishal Tikku
17A
Julia Engstrom
Emirates NBD IV
S.G. Nair, Ghanshayam Ram Manghnani, Arjun Manghnani
17B
Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso
JA Resorts & Hotels III
Samir Tabbah, Murdo Gordon, Wayne Jones
17B
Olivia Cowan
JA Resorts & Hotels II
Werner Rooseboom, John Houston, Paul Nightingale
18
Kelsey Macdonald
ODMC II
Tom Morgans, Shane Malone, Gary Chapman
18
Georgia Hall
OMEGA II
Achal Ghai, Tom Luig, Rahul Yadav
7 7
OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic winner to be presented with the Speedmaster 38mm timepiece
F
or the Swiss watchmaker OMEGA, golf is a passion that stretches across the globe. In the Middle East, the brand has a particularly esteemed standing as the title sponsor of two popular tournaments: The OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic and the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. Both tournaments attract some of the game’s most talented golfers and are a notable highlight on the annual sporting calendar. This November, all eyes are on the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic once again, as the 2nd edition of the LET event plays out. At its dramatic conclusion, OMEGA will present the winner with the exclusive Speedmaster 38mm timepiece, to go along with the championship cheque and trophy. The beautiful watch features a full 18K Sedna™ gold case with a “cappuccino” dial and a taupe-brown leather strap. The watch’s bezel features the Speedmaster’s famous tachymeter scale as well as a circle of sparkling diamonds. Just like the winner of the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic 2020, this captivating wristwatch performs with ultimate precision and flair.
E M I R AT E S G O L F C LU B D U BA I
SPEEDMASTER 38 MM
4 – 6 N OV E M B E R , 2020
More information available at OMEGA Middle East, Emirates Towers, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 3300455