Born in 1989, Desert Classic gets stronger, bigger

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Born in 1989, Desert Classic gets stronger, bigger

Since 1989 the tournament has seen 21 different winners from 12 different nations.

By Staff Report

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Published: Thu 21 Jan 2016, 12:48 PM

Last updated: Thu 21 Jan 2016, 2:49 PM

The Omega Dubai Desert Classic was born in 1989 when the European Tour visited the Middle East for the first time. The roll of honour includes seven different Major Champions. They are: Seve Ballesteros (1992), Ernie Els (1994, 02, 05), Fred Couples (1995), José Maria Olazábal (1998), Mark O'Meara (2004) , Tiger Woods (2006, 08) and Rory McIlroy (2009,2015). Between them they have won 32 Major Championships.

Promoted and organized by golf in DUBAI, the tournament is fondly referred to as the 'Major of the Middle East,' because of its longevity and a world-class field that it attracts every year.

Since 1989 the tournament has seen 21 different winners from 12 different nations. The tournament witnessed the first time a player had made a successful defence in Stephen Gallacher in 2014.

The 26th edition of the tournament in 2015, won by world number one Rory McIlroy, boasted truly a 'Classic field' that comprised nine Major champions with a total of 17 Major victories, six of the seven top-ranked European Tour players in the top-20, and 83 European Tour winners with 358 titles between them, it was no surprise to see attendance touch a new peak.

The tournament week recorded a healthy attendance of 38,165, which was well over the last year's figure. As many as 11,077 fans were on hand on Sunday, beating the previous best figure of 9,508 recorded in 2011 when Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Tiger Woods, the top three players in the world at the time, featured in the tournament which eventually was won by Spain's Alvaro Quiros.

McIlroy is now 81 under par for his last six appearances on the Majlis course that have yielded a first in 2009, sixth in 2010, tenth in 2011, fifth in 2012, ninth in 2014 and first in 2015.

En route to his emphatic three-shot win -- his 10th in his 145th European Tour events -- McIlroy produced 24 birdies against just two bogeys - the first on the ninth in the first round and the second, after 51 holes, on the seventh on the final day. He birdied the par-5, third on all four days and played the par-5, 10th in three-under par.

With this success, McIlroy has also joined Ernie Els (1994, 2002, 05), Tiger Woods (2006, 2008) and Stephen Gallacher (2013, 2014), as only players to record multiple victories in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

South African great Els, who has won the tournament a record three times, has played 14 times on the Majlis course. In that time he has recorded three victories, nine top threes. Of his 52 rounds on the Majlis course he is a total of 172 under par. Els set the current course record of 61 (-11) on the opening day in 1994, which contained a European Tour record of 12 birdies in a single round. He has broken par in 44 of his 52 rounds.

Since making his first visit to Dubai in 2001, Woods has won the tournament twice. He is 94-under-par for the 28 rounds that he has played on the Majlis course.

Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy, at 19 years and 273 days, became the youngest winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2009, beating the previous record of England's David Howell, who had won the 1999 edition when he was 23 years and 236 days old.

Mark O'Meara is the oldest winner of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, a feat he achieved in 2004, aged 47 and 54 days.

In 2009, Matthew Turner created history, becoming the first amateur from the UAE to make the cut. The teenager posted rounds of 70-72-71-75 for a level-par score of 288 to finish tied 51st. If he were a professional, he would have won euro 8,152.71.

In 2011, Spain's Alvaro Quiros, who was tied 65th after an opening round of 73, staged one of the biggest comebacks in the history of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, to win the tournament at 11 under. He was eight shots behind the leader after 36 holes.

The 2011 edition also witnessed a hole-in-hole in every round. It was only the second time in the history of the European Tour that such a feat was recorded. David Howell of England, Keith Horne of South Africa, France's Raphael Jacquelin and 2011 champion Alvaro Quiros of Spain aced the 7th, 4th, 7th and 11th in that order.

The 2012 winner Rafael Cabrera-Bello represented the first time a Spaniard has won the same European Tour event for three consecutive years since the Mallorca Classic, when Miguel Angel Jimenez won in 2003, Sergio Garcia in 2004 and Jose Maria Olazabal in 2005. With this win, Cabrera-Bello also became the fifth Spanish player to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, following Seve Ballesteroes (1992), Jose Maria Olazabal (1998), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2010) and Alvaro Quiros (2011).

Two holes-in-one were recorded during the 2012 edition of the event. Scotland's Gallacher aced the par-3, 15th in the first round. He was presented with a gleaming Mercedes-Benz S-Class car for his perfect tee shot. Incidentally, it was Gallacher's second hole in one on the Majlis course, having recorded the same score on the fourth hole in 2005. Germany's Martin Kaymer also scored a hole-in-one (in the second round) on the par-3, seventh - and with it, won a special watch from title sponsors Omega.

In 2015, Quiros aced the par-3, fourth to record his second ace on the Majlis course.


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