Dubai: The dust is settling on another entertaining DP World Tour Championship (DPWTC) at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, with Danny Willett taking home the title and Francesco Molinari claiming the European Tour season-long Race To Dubai.
Behind the scenes however, chief sponsors DP World are still working as hard as ever as they look to continue to grow the game of golf in the region and open up the sport to more young people.
Central to that vision is unearthing UAE stars of the future through their partnership with the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF), through which they have introduced more than 10,000 children to the sport. Nearly 5,000 have been engaged through the Arabic Schools Initiative or developed through the National Junior Development Programme.
“We’ve been here for 10 years and we are always looking for ways to take things forward,” Daniel van Otterdijk, DP World’s senior vice-president — communications said on the sidelines of the DPWTC. “Central to this has always been Dubai. We are seeking to get more and more benefits for Dubai out of these tournaments and our association with them. Dubai is our home, our hub and port of origin. To that end we are constantly looking at the development of the game in this country. We have a desire to see an Emirati in the European Tour top 60 and, who knows, an Emirati as a winner in the future.
“I think that is a genuine possibility if we build the grassroots of the game.
“We know the quality is here and now we need to get that support around them, to help with the mental side of the game, the physical side, nutrition, recovery — the whole package.
“Most of the golfers here will tell you it is about 20-30 per cent technique on the course, 60-70 per cent is done in the gym, what they eat, how they live, to support that. And that is the bit that needs to be matured here in our own market here at home as we look to produce a top-10 or a Major-winning golfer.
Van Otterdijk knows this will take time, however, and there is a long road ahead if EGF and DP World are to achieve this goal.
“The Arabic Schools Initiative and National Junior Development Programme are helping to expose youngsters to the sport and helping nurture that talent. An Emirati winner would be fantastic. The scale of the task is huge, but the grassroots are there, the federation is that and we have the best facilities in the world — I would say. So all the key components are there, it’s now a case of pulling that together structurally to ensure that happens. It doesn’t happen overnight but we can get there. We are also working with (Dubai fitness specialists) Michael Johnson Performance to get these promising youngsters to understand what it means to be a top golfer away from the golf course. We get the right facilities and the right experiences and the rest is up to those youngsters to pick up that mantle and run with it.”
