The diverting emirate of Dubai was once a locale where pearl divers liaised with seafaring fishermen. In modern times, it has also ushered in a surplus of monied celebrities. Donald Trump, Robert De Niro, Kylie Minogue and Wesley Snipes, have all recently held Dubai close to their bosom, all well remunerated, one imagines, for endorsing such a sprawling hub.
They may or may not be sincere in extolling the benefits of Dubai, but it should be noted that it was the golfing fraternity that came first. It feels like the Dubai Desert Classic has always been around. The players may boast Callaways rather than fishing rods, but the Emirates Golf Club is still a delectable spot to fish for treasure just off the waters of the Palm Jumeirah. Tiger Woods is glorious in his golf shoes, but the world's most decorated player could last year have been sporting waders after ending his excursion to the UAE up to his knees in greenbacks. This year's tournament has an overall prize fund of US$2.5million (Dh9.5m).
One can tell a lot about a competition by the company it keeps. Woods, Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson, Colin Montgomerie, Fred Couples, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara and Severiano Ballesteros are noble champions in the desert. Eamonn Darcy's most poignant memory in golf was holing a shortish putt on the final green that downed a US Masters champion in Ben Crenshaw in 1987. Europe's first Ryder Cup win in the US depended on Darcy. The Irishman was equally busy in 1990 striding to the second Desert Classic.
The winner tends to be a thoroughbred, carrying with it as much class as the winner of the Dubai World Cup. Curlin and Big Brown are similar to Els and Sergio Garcia, the leading figures this year. Only fine steeds carry off a trophy that resembles a giant water jug. This is a tournament that justifies its billing within a bloated European Tour that has grown over the past 20 years with as much haste as Dubai.
The tour's marriage to the UAE is so strong that the good old Order of Merit has been renamed the Race to Dubai. A competition going by the name of a world championship will see the season end in Dubai in November. The Desert Classic, like Dubai, was selling its wares to a wider world long before the Abu Dhabi championship and Qatar Masters got into the swing of things in the desert swing. It was the first golf tournament to be staged in the Middle East.
As Dubai has grown, snaking and winding beyond the origins of the Sheikh Zayed Road that was there at the city's embryonic stage, so has the tournament that carries its name. The high cranes may stain Dubai's appearance, but its tournament has always been watchable. A short distance from the day-long rush-hour traffic and cars slugging it out in the main thoroughfare of Dubai, slices of tranquility can be unearthed at the Emirates Golf Club. It was farmed out to Dubai Creek in 1999 and 2000.
Amid the unfinished sky scrapers that define the skyline, it is an event that has been lifted by players who tend to be the complete article. The Englishman Mark James was not a bad winner in its first staging in 1989. Woods will be missed, but Dubai remains a place where golfers can discover sea, sand and buckets of silver. dkane@thenational.ae
