The Emirates Golf Club has once again done a fantastic job of setting up the Majlis course for this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic. One of the big reasons for the success of the tournament is the quality of the golf course, and it really is in mint condition right now.
I love the layout, which forces you to think on most shots. The combination of dogleg holes, wind and strategically placed bunkers and hazards gives you so many options. And the presence of two drivable par-4s — the second and 17th — adds to the excitement. It really is a fantastic risk and reward course, and if your game is on, it can yield very low scores.
You have to take great care of avoiding the rough. It has been overseeded recently and it will be very difficult to get your next shot out of there. The premium is on finding the fairways, and if you can do that, it opens up a lot of scoring opportunities.
And then there are the famous greens of Majlis. Obviously, I have great memories from 2001 when I set a European Tour record of completing the four rounds in 94 putts. I did miss a few greens in regulation, but my putter was red hot that week.
The best thing about the greens is that most of them are relatively flat, but they are going to be firm and fast. The roll will be true and the ball is not going to leave the hole if the line is correct.
The golf course, because of more right-to-left dogleg holes, is going to favour someone who hits a draw and hits it long. That makes world number two Rory McIlroy the obvious favourite to defend his title. We all know about his driving abilities — he can overpower any golf course with that club. And if his putting is even half decent, he will be tough to beat.
I would not count out Henrik Stenson from the equation, even though he took the last week off to rest his leg, which underwent surgery recently. I thought the Swede was outstanding at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in finishing tied third, and given his intimate knowledge of the golf course, he will always be a threat with his deadly three-wood and those laser-guided irons.
I haven’t had the best of pre-season practice. It was hampered by stitches that took time to heal for a sebaceous cyst in my shoulder. And then, I lost almost 10 days with the EurAsia Cup, which took a lot out of me. I have now put on some good work in the range, and given the happy memories I have at Dubai Desert Classic, I am hoping to make some noise this week.
(Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour)
