DUBAI // For Henrik Stenson, there is simply no taking his foot off the gas. The giant Swede had a paw planted firmly to the floor around the Earth Course on Friday, speeding to the top of the leaderboard at the DP World Tour Championship and maintaining his grip on the Race of Dubai title, too.
Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, two of the three immediate rivals for the season-long crown, still constitute fairly larges presences in his rearview mirror, but much like he has done for most of 2013, Stenson continues to blaze a trail.
He refuses to slip into cruise control just yet.
“I saw Rosey and Ian are seven-under. They’re chasing me as good as they can,” Stenson said. “And I know neither of those guys are going to back down. So I better keep my foot down and my head down.”
It is hard to catch a guy when he matches the low round of the day.
At flawless 64 played to a receptive crowd at Jumeirah Golf Estates, with Stenson enjoying the vociferous support that underlined this week’s rock-star status.
Two more encores and he will become the first golfer to seal both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai in the same season.
That the latter could still arrive without a win this week, and a triumph on the European Tour this term, would not mute the victory music.
“I’m greedy. I’ll take it any way,” Stenson said. “I wouldn’t think twice about that.”
Rose would love to make him think twice this weekend. The Englishman, second in the Race, struggled to find the birdies to crank up the pressure on Stenson, yet a 67 keeps him in the chase.
Six players sit between him and the leader, though, a group that includes Poulter.
Yet Rose remains unconvinced any of the pack can trouble Stenson here.
“This course seems tailor-made for Henrik,” he said. “He seems to be able to take advantage of all the par-fives, and is playing really, really well. Tough to catch, but I’ll give myself a chance.”
Likewise Poulter. Perhaps the most tenacious player on tour, he reinforced his reputation by birdieing three of the final six holes to maintain the heat on Stenson.
They would certainly provide him a little shudder.
“They could be pretty big,” said Poulter following his 68. “We’ll find out on Sunday. Henrik is obviously playing great golf, but I just need to stay there or thereabouts.
“As long as I’m within striking distance come Sunday afternoon, then we might see some fireworks.”
Pyrotechnics would be required, most probably, if Graeme McDowell is to keep alive fading hopes of the Race title. The Northern Irishman, the fourth of that group who entered the week with genuine aspirations of seizing the European No1, emulated Poulter’s 68, but at four-under his threat is burning low. He conceded as much, saying: “I’m going to have to play two great rounds from here to have a chance.”
Stenson could prove too big to budge. His end of season seemed set to be hampered by a persistent wrist injury, but bar a gentle reminder on the sixth tee when he snagged his club, it seems to be holding up well.
“I want to win this one,” he said. “Every time you tee it up that’s the kind of feeling you have. And this is no different.”
Poulter mirrored the resolve, taking to Twitter to fire a late reminder to his good friend.
“Hunt the Swede,” read his post. “Hahaha, loving it.”
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Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
Oct 8: Malaysia (h)
Oct 13: Indonesia (a)
Nov 12: Thailand (h)
Nov 17: Vietnam (h)
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
FIXTURES
Saturday, November 3
Japan v New Zealand
Wales v Scotland
England v South Africa
Ireland v Italy
Saturday, November 10
Italy v Georgia
Scotland v Fiji
England v New Zealand
Wales v Australia
Ireland v Argentina
France v South Africa
Saturday, November 17
Italy v Australia
Wales v Tonga
England v Japan
Scotland v South Africa
Ireland v New Zealand
Saturday, November 24
|Italy v New Zealand
Scotland v Argentina
England v Australia
Wales v South Africa
Ireland v United States
France v Fiji
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
