Lee Westwood
Rory McIlroy heads an Irish field of seven players – Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley - entered for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic this week at the Emirates Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates.
Peter Lawrie arrives to Dubai after missing the cut last week at the Qatar Masters with Damien McGrane uncharacteristically missing the cut at the last two events, including last Friday at Doha Golf Club.
For the first time, the World Numbers One, Two and Three will line up for honours at The European Tour event in Dubai and never before in the history of golf in the Middle East have the top three golfers in the Official Golf World Ranking entered a tournament. A new chapter may well be written this week.
Having missed the cut at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters World Number One Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods will first spearhead the six-man line-up for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic Challenge Match on Tuesday.
The duo will be joined by defending champion Miguel Angel Jiménez and three golf in DUBAi ambassadors - Mark O'Meara, Jeev Milkha Singh and Noh Seul-yul -- over the at the Emirates Golf Club's Par-3 course, starting at 6.00pm, when fans will get a rare opportunity to watch the marquee players up close and personal as they deliver a 'clinic' in wedge play.
The Challenge Match, one of the highlights of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic tournament week, will be followed an official dinner reception hosted by golf in DUBAi.
The six players will be split into three teams of two to play the nine-holes in the greensomes format in which both players hit their tee shots and then select the best-positioned ball. Thereafter, they hit alternate shots with the same ball until the hole is completed.
The pairings for the Challenge Match are: Team -1 (Woods and O'Meara), Team-2 (Jiménez and Westwood) and Team-3 (Singh and Noh).
The par-27 course, measuring 1,239 yards from blue tees, has been designed such a way that it tests the skills of all. The longest hole on the course is the 194-yard third hole while the shortest hole (the fourth) measures 96 yards.
"The six players have been selected for the challenge match on the basis of their rankings and, of course, for their star value on the Tour," said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, vice-chairman and CEO of 'golf in DUBAi,' the promoters and organisers of the event.
"We would like to encourage more and more golf fans to come to the Emirates Golf Club and cheer top professional golfers.”
The Challenge Match will be followed by a Pro-Am, the traditional curtain-raiser to the event, on Wednesday.
