Dubai: With golfing superstars Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Colin Montgomerie already confirmed, Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) will again increase its standing in the global sporting spotlight when the 2006 Dubai Desert Classic tees off in February.
As well as four of the world's top ten players, the 17th Desert Classic - to be held over the Emirates Golf Club's Majlis Course from February 2-5 will also have a unprecedented prize fund of $2.4 million (Dh 8.8 million) as Dubal marks its 16th consecutive year of support for the tournament in record style. Dubal Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Kalban said the company's sponsorship of the PGA European Tour event helps promote the name of Dubai Aluminium to a world-wide audience as well as the company's key target and market audiences.
"Initially, the Dubai Desert Classic was seen as an odd event to feature on the European Tour," he added. "But over the years, it has firmly established itself as one of the key dates on the calendar, so much so that we and the tournament's organisers Golf In DUBAI (GiD) were asked to bring the date forward to accommodate the top stars who all want to play in Dubai.
"To us, that is a positive statement that we are backing a sporting event as good as anything in the world."
But while Dubal is delighted with the quality of the field taking shape for the 2006 event, the company firmly believes in supporting the sport at grass roots level and will again provide sponsor invites to two Gulf players, one amateur and one professional.
Besides Dubal as the main sponsor of the Desert Classic, CNN International, Arabian Ranches by Emaar, Nakheel, and Samsung as co-sponsors, other sponsors include: Emirates as official airline and Hole In One Sponsor; official caterer, hotel and challenge match sponsor Jebel Ali Golf Resort and Spa; Official Bank National Bank of Dubai; official courtesy car BMW; and event newspaper Gulf News.
