Khalid Yousuf, Abdulla al Musharrekh and Faris al Mazruy have earned the right to fly to Australia next month and represent the UAE in the prestigious Eisenhower Trophy which goes to the winners of the world amateur team championship. A total of 150 nations are likely to be competing in the three-day event which will take place in Adelaide from Oct 16-18 and the Emirati trio would regard it as a successful venture if they finish in the top 50.
Yousuf, 18, a scratch golfer who played against the world's top professionals in the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year, headed the qualifiers. His total score of 143 from the best two of three rounds at the Jebel Ali Resort Course included a course record of 69. His aggregate was eight strokes better than Musharrekh could manage over the same course and was 14 shots better than the score posted by Mazruy on the alternative course at the Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club.
The strokeplay tournament, held every two years and was won in 2006 by the Netherlands, has in the past attracted players who have gone on to become household names. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, world No1s of different generations, were both supporters of the competition named after their former president and the three Emiratis are looking forward to following suit. Musharrekh, 20, who is a member of the Dubai Creek and Sharjah courses, is excited by the prospect. "When you look at the quality of some of the players who have been involved then it is a privilege to take part," he said. "I'm playing some of the best golf of my life at the moment, so I can't wait."
He added that he would like UAE to finish among the top 50 nations, but pointed out: "We don't want to put pressure on ourselves before we get there by setting our expectations too high. Yousuf believed a top-50 spot is attainable in a format where the best two gross scores from the three-man teams are added together over four rounds. "You can afford the odd bad round in a competition like this," said the teenager who is based at the Dubai Creek and Yacht Club.
"So it would be nice to be among the top 50 at the end." Yousuf and Musharrekh booked their places in the team three weeks before Mazruy got his chance and the 22-year-old economics student knew that there was room for only one of the six hopefuls who participated in the Sharjah qualifier. "It was very pleasing to cope with that situation at a time when my game was rusty," he said as he savoured the prospect of a second Eisenhower appearance. "I had only the weekend to prepare and didn't have much time to practise."
Muzruy almost paid a high price for a quadruple bogey on the 11th hole as he fought hard to deny Nabil Sharif the final place in the team. He will travel to Australia independently from England, interrupting his studies for a Masters degree at the London School of Economics to take part. Congratulating the three qualifiers, Saeed Albudoor, the general manager of the UAE Golf Association, said: "It's a great honour for them to represent the country in a prestigious tournament like the Eisenhower Trophy. I am sure they will return home from Australia richer in experience."
Elsewhere, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy missed a five-foot par putt on the last and had to go into a play-off with France's Jean-Francois Lucquin - who went on to become champion - at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland yesterday. McIlroy, 19, trying to become the third youngest winner in European Tour history, had gone from four ahead to one behind early in the final round, then battled back to be one in front on the final tee.
However, he went just over the green and failed to get up and down. He and Lucquin both finished on the 13-under-par total of 271, one ahead of Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Frenchman Christian Cevaer, Scotland's Gary Orr and Swiss player Julien Clement. Also put on hold was Camilo Villegas, who established a one-stroke lead over Jim Furyk when the third round was completed at the BMW Championship.
Villegas, who had five holes left when competition was halted in fading light on Saturday night, was among 23 players who had to resume on a damp, gloomy morning at Bellerive in St Louis. The Colombian gathered three successive pars before making a 10-foot birdie at the par-five eighth, his 17th hole. @Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
