ABU DHABI // The golf legend Gary Player unveiled Saadiyat Beach Golf Club yesterday before warning the field competing at the inaugural Beach Classic today that they should expect a rough ride. Player has designed more than 300 courses around the world yet is adamant the 7,800-yard par 72 - which sits 700 metres off the coast of the UAE capital - is one of his best.
"This is such an important part of the world and it would have been a tragedy to make a golf course here that was not of the highest quality to match all the other projects that are going on," he said of Saadiyat, which will eventually share a horizon with the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Museum. "The people involved in this project have proved to me they are very enthusiastic and proud of their country so I put a special effort in here and it's paid off. I don't like to say it too much, but this course really is something special. "It's undoubtedly one of my best. I've never designed anything like this and I've never seen anything like it. It's very different. In time, this golf course will be known all over the world."
Some of golf's most popular players - including Race to Dubai runner-up Rory McIlroy - will get their first chance to experience Saadiyat's charms and challenges today when they compete in the Beach Classic, a charity raising pro-am. Player admitted that the course at times looks more daunting than it actually is, but warned the field that they should not expect an easy ride. "It looks like a bear and plays like a puppy," is how Player describes his latest creation, which opens to the public officially later this year. "It looks fearsome off the tees, but when you actually get out and play it, you can hit straight at the pin."
"But this is a championship course and will provide a great challenge, a very difficult test, from the back tees. It will play almost 7,800 yards because with all the new technology allowing the ball to go further it is the only way to stop them." The National was yesterday given a preview of what players such as McIlroy and his compatriot Darren Clarke will face today and it soon became clear that not only was the course designer being sincere in his assessment, he forgot to mention one key element that is sure to pose the biggest obstacle to those who challenge it: the wind. With a swirling gale blowing in from the Arabian Gulf, you could easily forget your surroundings and look out at the water expecting to see the deep dark blue of the North Sea.
Instead what you are met with as you tee off from the par-4 fifth is an azure beachfront that takes the breath away. The cold storm is unlike anything you will experience elsewhere in the Emirates, while your ball, if at all airborne, will probably act in a way you have never seen before on these shores. One player yesterday likened Saadiyat to Scotland and you can be sure such comparison is no coincidence - the home of golf also happens to be home to Player's favourite golf courses. Now he has a new one to add to his list.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
