Charting a new course for fans

Dubai: The picture alongside shows that the road conditions outside the Emirates Golf Club could be a source of embarrassment for the organisers of the Dubai Desert Classic, which commences tomorrow.

The best golfers in the world, including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez, will compete in the $2.4 million PGA European Tour event and organisers were hoping to attract more than 10,000 spectators a day.

But with the huge road works around Interchange Five, getting to the event will not be as smooth as some organisers would have liked.

A staff member at the Emirates Golf Club, who wished to be unnamed, confirmed that the road conditions outside the club had been one of the most difficult things to organise prior to the Classic.

"The hardest part with an event like this is a lot of things are going on outside your control: Interchange Five for example," he said.

"We can't control the traffic and that whole area outside the course gets turned up every year and every year we have to liaise with the contractors to try and make it look presentable because this is an internationally televised event."

Vice-Chairman of Golf in Dubai Mohammad Bu Amim said that the road conditions were something the event organisers, police, Dubai Tourism and several levels of government had been working to resolve.

"The problem here is mainly when they start checking cars coming off Shaikh Zayed road into Internet City? otherwise it won't be a problem," said Bu Amim. "It won't take people any longer to get here [Emirates Club] than it does to get to work."

To further alleviate traffic problems getting to the event Bu Amim said the club had changed the location of the public parking lot.

"We've done one thing this year and it will make it easier for the public to park.

"We've put the lot at the first roundabout so the public do not have to drive around to the front of the club."

The first phases of a Dh240 million development called the Jumeirah Palm Island Road Corridor and Access Project have also made the area easier to negotiate.

On January 28 the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) opened the first interchange in the project, which was designed to help drivers get in and out of Media and Internet Cities.

The Interchange Five area of Shaikh Zayed Road is still under heavy construction, however, as several other interchanges and a tunnel are yet to be built.