They did
I know this is the men's tour thread, but don't think there'll be much interaction for a women's tour version (unless I've forgotten one exists), but women's Irish open returning in September. No course confirmed just yet. Imagine this will get decent crowds
About time
A big $$$ event for European tour this week and even having a few golf clinics by the top pros and pga tour pro am event has higher world ranking points
Mcilroy morikawa struggling after day one .
Scoring much more difficult than yesterday
Looks like Morikawa will just make the cut on the mark at 3 over. Rory 2 over with 3 to play and should also make it though to the weekend.
Mcilroy needs a birdie on 18! Currently outside cut
74 players under par for their rounds yesterday, only 9 today (including Harrington)
Looks like an interesting course from what I've seen
I had to stop following McIlroy's group after the 9th. I was absolutely wrecked from walking against the wind in really bumpy terrain. I have never been so cold in all my time here. There was many a spectator chasing caps around the place, including myself.
Hatton looked like he wanted to murder someone he was frustrated.
It's rare you'd utter the word "cold" in the UAE I'd say!
Out of interest what are the crowds like? Mostly expats? How would it compare to an Irish Open? Many bars on the course? What are ticket prices like?
When you are used to 24-28 degrees for weeks on end then a 17 in the afternoon feels cold! The wind was something else.
The crowds weren't great today but that's due to lots of confusion over PCR at the Dubai/Abu Dhabi border and then loads of peoples Al Hosn app going grey (needs to be green to gain entry, it's basically like your EU Covid cert) because the Abu Dhabi government decided people with just two Pfizer doses wouldn't be allowed entry to anywhere without a booster! The weather also didn't help.
Mostly expats? Go one deeper and say mostly Irish! I expected there to be a big British following for McIlroy's group but it was 90% Irish. I recognised a lot of faces and mostly heard Irish accents. I could have mistaken myself for being at an Irish Open today!
General admission is free for the entire weekend. I have never, ever had to pay for entry to any golf tournament here. It's really phenomenal.
There's quite a few hospitality places. I blagged myself a Lounge band so free buffet food and alcoholic beverages for the weekend.
Stolen from Twitter:
Viktor Hovland age: 8,900 days
Richard Bland age: 17,893 days
Almost exactly double
Hovland wasn't born when Bland turned Pro.
Nice to see Pavan have a few good results after having a horror few years.
Ya I've been keeping an eye out for his results the last year or so, last summer he seemed to be bottom of every leaderboard, fair dues to him for carrying on.
Similar story for Haotong Li
Watching Richard Bland on the practice ground in the UAE this morning. Looks like a Gaelic pitch at the end of the range.
Looks like a second win on tour for nico hojgaard and he’s only 20!
Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen and Bernd Wiesberger, who are currently playing in the LIV golf series event in Centurion today are on the entry list (as things stand at present) for the BMW International Open at Germany in two weeks time. Only a matter of time before Keith Pelley and the DP World Tour, tow the PGA Tour line and suspend players for their tournaments. Entry list that also includes Billy Horschel too, see link below.
https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/bmw-international-open-2022/entry-list
Can European Tour afford to suspend them though? They need every name they can get
Or could they team up with liv golf? They could be the tour the guys go back to when not on liv golf.
only weisberger and kaymer be regular. So no real lost.
That’s a potential
Or do a proper amalgamation with the PGA Tour at this stage - Better yet, LET, ET, PGA, LPGA by right should all be in contact right now to see what they can do
This could've been a great opportunity if they hadn't have hitched their wagon quite so tightly to Dubai and more recently the PGA Tour. Pelley was behind that tie-up, so can't see him going back on it and upsetting the PGA Tour. Although doubt the Saudis want to be on the Dubai Tour anyway!
This was a chance to restore the European Tour parity and maybe even above the PGA Tour once more.
They are in a bind as they have a couple of co-sanctioned events with the PGA tour this year. Scottish Open is one, Barracuda is another. I think there's one more but can't think what it is.
So I see Kaymer is in the BMW. I didn't check for anybody else, just seen his name well up there after the first round.
Obviously the European tour aren't banning any golfers, at least not yet.
It'll be interesting to see what happens at the Scottish Open as it's co-sanctioned by the European tour and the PGA tour.
Some win for Haotong Li and a great celebration too, dropped a couple of F bombs in the sky interview aswell, great stuff
Garcia was there also
https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/news/articles/detail/dp-world-tour-pga-tour-expand-and-strengthen-alliance/
I read that as PGA digging in against LIV and turning what was the European Tour into yet another feeding tube into the PGA, all geared towards moving the cream into the PGA tour
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