Golf in Dubai: One of the best scoring days, says Peter Cowen

Dubai - Danny was happy with his play, but Romain again wanted some work with his driving

What a great start to the tournament with exceptional scoring in Round 1!

For my four players I am delighted with Jazz Janewattananond’s performance of 6 under Par 66 with Danny Willett and Thomas Pieters both a shot behind and Romain Wattel on 71, all looking good.

After their rounds I worked with three of my players.

We adjusted Jazz’s ball flight with his driver to give him a lower and more running flight to add some yardage.

With Thomas this week he has put in a new driver in the bag which did not work well today. He had to hit a provisional ball off two tees, but thankfully he found both first balls thanks to the more generous fairways and rough corridors from the tee than most other weeks. Thomas will persevere with the new driver as he is looking for long term rewards.

Danny was happy with his play, but Romain again wanted some work with his driving.

I expected a birdie fest on the Fire course, but I did not expect that 73 players, out of a total of 108 in the field, would break par on the first day.

It has been one of the best scoring days I have seen in my career.

It will certainly be a low cut after tomorrow’s (Thursday) round.

We must acknowledge that the Fire course is in immaculate condition, the Dubai weather never lets you down, and the putting surfaces are amongst the finest on Tour this year. No complaints from any of the players.

Pats on the back must go to Golf Course Agronomy gurus, Matt Perry and Marinus Koekemoer along with Graeme MacNiven’s support from the European Tour, for all their hard work.

They still have another 12 days before they maybe able to take a breather!

I hear from a few of my friends locally and around the world with messages that the course is perhaps set up too easy.

I would disagree with these comments.

Is that not the beauty of golf that every week there are different challenges, such as the length of the course, the style, layout and topography of the course, the varying weather conditions, whether the fairways are wet or dry, running or not, is the rough up or not, is it rain or shine, hot or cold?

All other sports in the world, that I can think of, use more or less the same sized pitch or the same sized court whether the tournament is being held in Tokyo, New York, London, Dubai or Rotherham.

If someone this week shoots 58 or even beats, coincidentally, Andy Sullivan’s 27 under Par score at the 2020 English Championship at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & CC, should we not all be applauding him and them? Is it not correct that the person at the end of the week with the lowest score wins?

I believe low scoring shows to the world of golf, how good these players really are.

As I have said before length is no defence to any course these days.

As I leave on the 5.30 pm coach tonight I will eat on my own again, go to bed early and book my seat for the 5.30 am seat in the coach back to the golf course.

That is the life of the golf coach, 12 hours every day.

I admit this week is somewhat easier with just four players to coach. My usual week will be around 10 players, it was 10 players we had at The Masters.

See you all tomorrow and good luck to all my players and the rest of the field!

Peter Cowen is one of the world’s leading golf coaches with Peter Cowen Academies in Dubai and Rotherham (UK).