Born from the desert, the Majlis golf course

Gulf News

Chris May, CEO Dubai Golf Interview on the history of the Majlis at Emirates Golf Club and the Dubai Desert Classic

Transcript

00:00Emirates Golf Club holds a very special place in the history of Dubai.

00:06It was the first grass golf course in the Middle East, the first professional golf tournament

00:11in the Middle East as well, and that really set the tone for what Dubai has become.

00:17It's become a very important golf tourism destination, and that was largely driven by

00:22the Dubai Desert Classic, which was first held in 1989.

00:26Seve Ballesteros won it in 1992, followed on by many of the best players in the world

00:31who participated.

00:33Many of them won it, from Fred Couples, Colin Montgomery, and then of course Tiger Woods.

00:37Participation in 2001 really took the event to a different level.

00:43Rory McIlroy's first win as a professional as well in 2009 is a big thing.

00:51Tiger's win in 2008, he was in the middle of a really rich vein of form, and he'd won

00:57several times in the States in a row, and then he shot five under on the back nine and

01:02hold an amazing putt, and you saw the Tiger fist pump, and that was also very, very special.

01:09It's three times been won by Ernie Els twice, by Rory McIlroy twice, by Tiger Woods, so

01:14it really is an amazing role of honor, and this tournament has done a huge amount for

01:19driving the interest of golf in the region, and really it was the pioneer of golf.

01:27Emirates Golf Club is an ideal destination to host the event.

01:30The golf course itself is very special, it's one of the best in the world.

01:35The players love it, the conditions are always immaculate.

01:39The players get welcomed in a very special way, and always have done, so it's always

01:43been a really special stop on the DP World Tour.

01:47The club itself lends itself very well for the tournament, it's a great host venue.

01:52The clubhouse is an iconic building, that's really the centerpiece of the tournament during

01:58tournament week, and it's the place that everyone wants to be, and the course itself is a great

02:02course not only for the players, but spectators as well.

02:05Very easy to walk around, to flip between front nine and back nine, so fantastic tournament

02:11golf course, but also a great course to watch on as well.

02:15We've seen lots of amazing moments, the back nine of the Majolis is always very, very interesting,

02:20and so the tournament's never won until the 18th hole.

02:23Obviously water has an influence on the last hole, but there's lots of birdie opportunities

02:27on the back nine of Majolis, and makes the back nine very, very interesting on the final

02:31day.

02:32The Majolis course is probably the most popular golf course in the region, largely because

02:37of the tournament.

02:38Last year we had 46,000 rounds of golf played on the Majolis, many of those are member rounds,

02:43The Majolis itself is very important, because it brings tourists from all over the world

02:47to play the golf course, and the great thing about the course is that whilst this week

02:52is set up for the professionals, and it's quite tough for us amateurs, when you're out

02:57at Desert Classic Week, it's a very enjoyable golf course for golfers of all levels, and

03:01I think that's one of the really special things about the Majolis golf course.

03:05In addition to Majolis, we've got the Faldo, which is flood lit, so you can play golf until

03:09midnight, and then behind us you've got also Topgolf as well, which we added two years

03:13ago, and we had over a million guests in the first two years at Topgolf, so the golf club

03:19has become a very busy part of Dubai, and brings a lot of people into Dubai from overseas,

03:25which is really important for all of us.

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