Desert Swing: Week 2

27 Jan

Huge congratulations to Branden Grace, a former member of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation [EEFF] on his win in Qatar, a really great performance from a great guy, which continued South Africa’s fine record in this event.

That’s four South African winners here in the last 13 years, following Darren Fichardt (2003), myself (2005) and Retief Goosen (2007), and over the years it’s clear that the Middle East tends to bring out the best in many of our nation’s golfers. We’ll be trying our utmost to make sure that trend continues this week in Dubai.

As many people will know, Branden was a member of the EEFF in 2006 so it’s been gratifying for us to watch his career develop. He was an outstanding amateur who showed an intense love and commitment for the game. We had a feeling he’d do well, although winning four times in his first season on Tour (2012) probably exceeded even our high expectations of him. Last week’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters was his sixth European Tour win and it was interesting that Branden watched videos of his previous wins before the final round – what better way to try to ensure you start your round with a positive mindset. He now has a 100 per cent record of winning events when leading or sharing the lead going into the final round, so maybe plenty more players will be watching those kind of videos on a Sunday morning now!

One thing’s for sure, our class of 2015 at the EEFF are all working incredibly hard in the classroom and out on the golf course, many of them looking to follow in the footsteps of Branden and another of our former members Louis Oosthuizen (click here for all their latest news). Indeed, one of our best young players, Jovan Rebula, is representing South Africa in a six-man junior team against France this week at St Francis Links. I send the whole team my best wishes. I remember from my junior days, these type of matches were so exciting and really fired me up to want to achieve more in the game. I’m sure all 12 players on both sides will be feeling the same way.

Okay, back to events in the Middle East. For me, despite not really pushing on from a strong opening round in Qatar (a 67 which was my third consecutive bogey-free round) it was nonetheless an enjoyable week. Playing conditions were perfect and the golf course, which is always fun to play, was in the best shape that I’ve ever seen it. Hats off to the greenkeeping staff for doing such a wonderful job with the set-up and to the sponsors, tournament staff and European Tour for putting on a great event.

Copperleaf main image

Finishing in Qatar on Saturday afternoon allowed me to make a quick trip back to South Africa at the weekend for an Investec golf day at The Els Club Copperleaf (pictured above) an Ernie Els Design golf course in Gauteng, which hosted the European Tour’s Tshwane Open in 2013 and 2014. It was great to spend time with homeowners and the developer partners, Investec, led by Sam Hackner and Robin Magid. Special thanks to Dave Usendorff who organized the outing and, of course, Peter Rimbault for his continued support. It’s wonderful to see the big success that Copperleaf Estates and The Els Club have become. Property sales are at 85 per cent and projected to sell out by the years’ end. Everyone at Ernie Els Design and at Investec is understandably proud of what we’ve been able to achieve here together.

Anyway, we’re now back in the Middle East for this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic and I’m looking forward to the challenge of trying to win my fourth title here. I love playing in Dubai and have a great fondness for the Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis layout; the lines off the tees seem to suit my eye and the greens are quite soft so if you get your ball up, you can shoot some good scores. In actual fact, someone told me this week that I’m 169-under par for the 48 rounds that I’ve played here in my career and obviously this was the scene of one of the best rounds of my life, an 11-under par 61 (pictured below). Amazingly, that’s 21 years ago this week.

Dubai 61 in 1994 main

Yes, it’s been a while since I last won in Dubai – it was 2005 in case you’re wondering – but I’m excited about my game. I love the start of a new season and I’m making some putts and getting the ball up-and-down with more regularity, so we can start competing again now! Let’s see how we go this week.

Finally, we’ll have an exciting announcement this Wednesday about my involvement with First & Foremost Family Hotels, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.

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