Straka

I got into golf through my Mum running the pro shop at Fontana Golf Club in Austria when my twin brother Sam and I were growing up. That’s where we learned the game and when we were 11 we did a summer camp at the course and got the bug. My Dad still plays a lot and loves it, and my Mum did a little bit. We grew up playing with them and they showed us how the game worked.

We moved to the United States when we were 14 and we knew we wanted to keep playing, we even knew then that we wanted to play in college, that was the goal. I never really ever thought that it would end up being my career but that was the dream.

It was a little bit difficult changing countries at 14. We visited my Mum’s family in Georgia so I kind of knew what we were getting into, but it was very different. The school was completely different in the States to Austria, and it was a change in routine, but we got to go back to Austria almost every year and we still try to do that.

Tiger Woods was definitely the number one influence on me growing up. Sam and I both just loved watching him play, and José María Olazábal too, we loved his style and his flair.

I weirdly got into a Moe Norman phase for a while, I was a big fan and still am - the guy was a pretty remarkable golfer and one of the best ball-strikers ever.

There’ll be no split loyalties if I get to play in the Ryder Cup, it’ll be pretty easy to tap into the Austrian side. I’ve played a lot of team golf for Austria and played for Continental Europe last month in the Hero Cup. It was a great time. I didn’t know some of the guys on the Continental Europe team but after that week, I feel like I made a lot of new friends, and it was great hanging out with them and getting to know them. Every golfer grows up watching the Ryder Cup and gearing up for it. It doesn’t happen all that often, so it was always a dream to play in that.

It was amazing to play at the Olympics with Sam caddying and getting to share that experience with him. We didn’t get the full experience with there being no fans due to Covid but everywhere we went everybody was just excited to see Olympic athletes walking around, even as golfers. It was our first time in Japan and I absolutely fell in love with the place, I’ve been back twice since, it’s an amazing country and we had a great time. I can’t wait to play at the Olympics again with fans.

The win at the Honda Classic was amazing, it was a cool day. We were five back going into the final round but I knew I had a chance on that course because it’s mayhem everywhere, water on every hole and there’s not an easy shot on the golf course. We got back into it pretty early and the thing I’ll remember the most is my caddie on the ninth tee telling me he wanted the best ten holes of the week and all of a sudden I started hitting the ball well and getting myself some birdie looks. Things just started happening and at the end, I was lucky to hit the green in two on 18 and twoputt for the win there.

I grew up watching these Desert Swing events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and always wanted to make the trip. I remember seeing events in Dubai 20-something years ago and there was nothing in the background and now you look at it and there’s a huge skyline. It’s kind of fun to see the places I grew up watching on TV. It’s nice to experience a new part of the world, it’s amazing and absolutely beautiful.

Ihere in the UAE, we seldom get a chance to slow down, take stock and catch our breath.

Which is one of the reasons is why golf is booming in the region, providing a perfect escape from the hectic metropolis, surrounded by lush greenery with fresh air in our lungs.

The Nathan Group, headquartered out of the DIFC, in Dubai, is using golf as an tomers and to promote their products and services. marketing and offline activations.

The group, which has interests across Technology, Enterprise Software, BPO services, HR, Manufacturing and Trade operates across eight countries and employs over 5000 staff, has rapidly grown in the last decade.

“Post Covid we felt that our customers were experiencing Digital Fatigue and once again started to value in-person contact and relationships,” said Rohan Nathan- Group CEO Nathan & Nathan. “This shift has caused us to rebalance our efforts in marketing and advertising to reflect a larger presence and ad- vertising spend in offline and more traditional marketing channels.”

The Nathan Group’s Annual Golf Day is an event that brings together employees, clients, and friends of the company for a day of networking, relaxation and friendly competition on the greens. This year’s first event will be held at the beautiful Els Club, Dubai where participants will enjoy a picturesque 18-hole course along with various on course activations and prizes sponsored by different businesses in the group.

Participating group entities include, Nathan HR, Nathan Digital and 3D Hub among others. Playing an individual Stableford format, the day will be welcoming both male and female players of all skill levels to battle out for the top scores.

The group has recently entered Saudi Arabia through a Joint Venture partnership between the retail behemoth Fawaz Al Hokair holdings. Their regional marketing ambition is to use golf as a key element to promote their businesses and bring visibility across their business operations.

Nathan Digital, which is the newest business in the group’s stable, has rapidly grown and acquired customers for their enterprise software suite that range from multinationals, large local corporates and some government entities. Nathan Digital has developed systems in CRM, Accounting, HR, Logistics and Warehousing along with an industry leading Business Intelligence suite.

The software arm of the group has expanded to serve customers across the MENA region, and it has recently opened its newest customer experience centers in Riyadh and Kenya.

Outside of software, the group’s investment holding company, which is located in the DIFC, has been actively making investments into startups in the region. They have funded and taken majority position into the UAE’s largest 3D printing facility, 3D HUB and a fitness mobile application, Challenge.FIT amongst other investments.

As golf continues to grow in popularity, the Nathan Group plans more involvement in the golfing community in the UAE and beyond.