Dubai: Defending Omega Dubai Desert Classic champion Stephen Gallacher and the seasoned Fred Couples have been drawn to play alongside world number one and pre-tournament favourite Tiger Woods in the last group of the Champions’ Challenge at Emirates Golf Club on January 28.
The 18-hole stroke-play showpiece will give fans a taste of the top stars as former winners of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic contest a $600,000 (Dh2.20 million) prize fund as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the oldest European Tour event outside Europe. The main event takes place from January 30 to February 2.
The only former winner missing from the illustrious line-up will be Seve Ballesteros, who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 54 in May 2011, but the presence of his son, Javier, will keep his spirit alive and invoke memories of the golfing legend’s victory in 1992.
Javier, who made his debut on the Challenge Tour in April last year, is paired with fellow Spaniards Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jose Maria Olazabal, with the trio going out at 11.20am.
“With so many big names in the field it will be fun to play in the Champions’ Challenge. I am really grateful to Golf in Dubai for remembering my father and giving me the chance to play,” said Javier, who won the amateur Madrid Open in 2012.
“I really appreciate their gesture and congratulate them on behalf of my family on the 25th anniversary of the event.”
Ernie Els, the winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic a record three times, will join Mark O’Meara and Colin Montgomerie in the second to last grouping that tees off at 11.50am, while European number one Henrik Stenson will play alongside Mark James, the winner of the inaugural event in 1989, and Thomas Bjorn.
Rory McIlroy, who at 19 years and 273 days became the youngest winner of the event in 2009, is paired with 1990 winner Eamonn Darcy and Australian Richard Green.
As always, though, most of the attention will be focused on Woods — a two-time winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic — who is looking forward to his seventh appearance at the tournament.
“I appreciate the support I have received from the people in Dubai and I always enjoy playing in their tournament,” said Woods, who won the 2006 and 2008 Classics. “They have an outstanding field all the time and the golf course [Majlis] is really in great shape,” he said ahead of the tournament.
The Champions’ Challenge, the winner of which will pocket $300,000, will allow the former champions to have a good look at the course before the main action begins two days later.
Golf in Dubai is backed by Omega as the title sponsor and Dubal (Dubai Aluminium) as the sponsor. The co-sponsors are: CNN, Drydocks World and Maritime World, Emirates NBD, Gulf News, Mercedes-Benz and Wasl, while Dubai Duty Free, Carpetland and Motivate are the patrons in Golf in Dubai’s drive to showcase the emirate’s golfing scene to a worldwide audience.