Two golf tournaments will take place this weekend, each on a desert golf course bordered by date groves and landscaped with exotic gardens.
That the two oasis courses are located on opposite ends of the earth isn't obvious from photos, but one will take place in Abu Dhabi and the other in Palm Springs so geographically, they couldn't be much further apart.
The fortunes of the two tournaments are setting up to be quite disparate as well, and the situation has been discussed, dissected and mused about quite a bit... with some suggesting that PGA players should not be allowed to use "conflicting event releases" that allow PGA players to play overseas. At least not on weeks like this one.
In its fifth year, The Abu Dubai Championship has it's strongest field ever, with 8 of the world's top 15... while the top player in Palm Springs for The Bob Hope Classic's 50th Anniversary is Canada's Mike Weir ranked 37th. Even Mother Nature seems to be taking sides; The PGA Tour is bracing for predicted periods of wind-swept, wintery rain and looking at coningency plans in California while endless clear sunny skies are predicted at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on both tournaments over the coming days, because both are interesting events and in golf, one never really knows who's going to do what, and in this case, where.
For very selfish reasons I'd like to see the top players competing together.
ReplyDeleteFor very selfish reasons I wish I were playing golf in a desert this weekend even more!
It is an interesting dilemma for the PGA to be sure, but one for which I have little sympathy. The PGA certainly has no problem with the European Tour golfers when they choose to join "our" tour for "conflicting events", and how about the weeks on which we get to watch The Open Championship across the pond while the Tour's least fine chew it up at the BC Open?
ReplyDeleteThe one group I would feel bad for are the amateurs that pay big money to be in the Hope's celebrated Pro-Am, but then I realize that those are mostly a bunch of overpaid and ego heavy men who have the means and time to play golf with the pros for four days.
Boo-hoo Bob Hope. Perhaps Dubai just has the better event now.
I think both places are beautiful and both events compelling in their own ways. For Abu Dhabi it's the newness... after all a couple of decades ago Abu Dhabi was but an ill equipped desert outpost with nary a three star hotel (according to my Uncle who spent time there. Every thing is big, bright and new and I hope they can keep it going though that'll probably mean scaling down considerably. The Bob Hope Classic has history. Major stars and the world's best golfers once clamored to get into it. The current crop of PGA Pros particularly the younger ones... the Anthony Kims for example... have been raised to be focused on themselves and to be much more pragmatic about what they choose to do. It may be sad for us old timers, but I think we've got to accept it.
ReplyDeleteIt going to be Lee Westwood all the way in the Arabian Desert.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... and California has a huge storm getting ready to change things up again. Then, it's headed our way. I am sick of cold weather in a place where it isn't normally cold. It should certainly level the playing field, yes? In Dubai, I doubt there is much else (aside from ninny nerves) to level the playing field.
ReplyDelete;-)
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