Par For The Course: Yousuf's victory augurs well for UAE
Young Khalid Yousuf's win at last weekend's UAE national golf championship proved not only a great step towards his personal goals, but also showed the strongest sign of a young national golfing talent emerging.
Young Khalid Yousuf's win at last weekend's UAE national golf championship proved not only a great step towards his personal goals, but also showed the strongest sign of a young national golfing talent emerging.
With the likes of Rashid Al Abbar and Faris Al Mazroui now studying in the United States, there was potentially a gap of next generation of golfers coming through.
However, with the fast improvement from the likes of Khalid Yousuf, Abdulla Al Mosharrekh, Mohammad Al Thani, Ahmad Al Mosharrekh and the most impressive Hassan Al Mosharrekh who turned many of the elders' attention after the first day with an impressive 64 net the future looks bright and strong.
The young UAE team that played at last year's Eisenhower Team Trophy in Puerto Rico, Khalid Yousuf, Rashid Al Abbar and Faris Al Mazroui, are very much the prospects for the future, along with Abdulla Al Mosharrekh.
The experience gained from this tournament and other Arab Championships is now starting to show in terms of results. For the first time, the 'B' team is also growing with the Al Mosharrekh and Al Thani sons in close pursuit.
Like all other sports, juniors finding time to fit in their golfing activities amongst their studies is difficult, but the most important factor is the drive and enthusiasm to keep practising and working hard at a game that demands so much.
The UAE Junior Development Programme is certainly bringing juniors from all walks of life together and seeing juniors appear in the club's weekly prize-giving can only be beneficial.
Hopefully, with the likes of Khalid Yousuf becoming the first junior to win the national championship, a UAE national junior competing in the Desert Classic is not far away.
As corporate golf days are back in full flow, the issue of players staying behind for the prize presentations is once again a talking point.
There is no way of enforcing players to stay behind, but with the prospect of green fees going through the roof, support should be for the entire day.
