Golf

Thomas Bjorn hopes to redeem himself in this year's British Open

The Dane returns to Royal St George's, where he blew a three-shot lead eight years ago.

Press Association

February 08, 2011

Thomas Bjorn hopes his victory at the Qatar Masters can be a springboard to bigger things - and this year in particular there is nothing bigger to him than the British Open.

In July, golf's oldest major will return to Royal St George's in Kent, the course where Bjorn self-destructed eight years ago.

Three shots ahead with only four holes to play, Bjorn bogeyed the 15th, double-bogeyed the 16th after needing three attempts to get out of a bunker, and then dropped another shot on the 17th.

The former Ryder Cup player from Denmark has not come anywhere remotely near the British Open title since. He did not even qualify for the event in 2008 and 2009.

Now his goal is to be everywhere that matters for the rest of the season.

"It's a big win and hopefully it can push me on to bigger things," Bjorn said after his four-stroke success over Spain's Alvaro Quiros in Doha. "When I play like this I know I can play against the best."

He will play at this week's Dubai Desert Classic, the scene of perhaps his best ever win a decade ago.

On that occasion Bjorn played all four rounds with Tiger Woods and beat him by two shots. At the time Woods held three of the four majors and was about to complete the set with the US Masters.

Now Woods returns without a recent major championship and with Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer ahead of him in the world rankings.

Westwood missed the cut in Qatar, but Kaymer came only 28th when he needed a top-two finish to dethrone his Ryder Cup teammate. Both are also in this week's field.

Bjorn was the one celebrating, but David Howell and Sergio Garcia, two other former top 10 players, also breathed new life into their careers. Howell, who came into the week ranked only 352nd, was fifth and Garcia joint ninth, his best performance for almost a year.

* Press Association

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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