Sheikhing up the start of the year

The start of the golf season has evolved over the years, especially on the European Tour. But a series of three tournaments in the Middle East are not just changing the start of the European Tour season but the shape of the worldwide schedule in the game. Nothing else can illustrate this better than the former World Number One Tiger Woods deciding to begin his 2012 and 2013 seasons in Abu Dhabi, rather than his traditional year-opener at Torrey Pines outside of San Diego which he has won 6 times. Woods made his debut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship last January, finishing in a tie for third, adding to his five appearances in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic (including 2 wins). His second successive appearance in the UAE capital provides the sponsors and European Tour with another head-to-head between the former and current World Number Ones, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Aside from the perfect weather and manicured golf courses one of the big things that attracts the world's best to the Middle East in January is, controversially, money. And lots of it.

Not as far as prize money goes, each of the three tournaments offer under $3m, but many of the world's best receive appearance fees or fees to hold clinics for local youngsters during the week of the tournaments, these fees can be anywhere from $500,000 to $3m and the likes of Woods and McIlroy can command the upper bracket of appearance fee. The money also contributes to building the world's best conditioned courses in an area which should never have any chance of attracting top class golfers because it is in the middle of a desert. But there can be no accusations of money creating a situation comparable to the instant rise of Manchester City in the Premier League, this is a project that has gradually evolved over the last 25 years with the region now staging three championships comparable to any of the World Golf Championships, if not surpassing their richer colleagues.

The Dubai Desert Classic was first played in 1989, with the Qatar Masters starting in 1998 and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship launching in 2006 and together as a series the events have brought golfers from all over the world to the region and provided the European Tour with a strong start to the season and consequently have given the European Tour's top players great preparation for the first World Golf Championship of the year and the Florida Swing.

Since 2006 when the first Abu Dhabi Golf Championship was played there have been 6 wins for European golfers in the Florida Swing / events leading up to the Masters and 3 European wins in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in contrast to just 2 wins in the same set of American based events in the years between 2001 and 2005 for European golfers. The Middle East Swing has made a discernible difference in the way the leading European golfers start the season and gain preparation for the first WGC of the year, the Florida Swing and the tournaments leading up to golf's first major of the year. The level of competition has been much higher and the start of the European Tour season since 2006 than it ever was before, for three weeks our players get to compete on perfectly manicured courses in tournaments which attract many of the best golfers from across the world. The Middle East Swing really is the Florida Swing on vacation.

Although the Abu Dhabi and Dubai events garner most of the headlines and are renowned for great champions, Qatar more than holds its own in the series, with a stellar roll of honour including European Ryder Cup players Andrew Coltart, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson and Thomas Bjorn; young stars Adam Scott and Alvaro Quiros, and Major Champions Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Paul Lawrie. The 2013 edition of the CommercialBank Qatar Masters will see Justin Rose, Jason Dufner, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Peter Hanson, Ernie Els, Branden Grace, Matteo Manassero, Retief Goosen and Paul Casey challenge Paul Lawrie for his title in Doha. So far Tiger Woods has yet to play in Qatar, surely the tour will do everything they can to secure his services in the coming years as they look to increase the prestige of the Middle East Swing.

The 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship saw the European Tour assemble its strongest ever field for a regular event outside the Major Championships and World Golf Championships, but it will probably be put into the shadow this year with the unveiling of Rory McIlroy as Nike Golf's most lucrative recruit since Tiger Woods in 1996. A major announcement is scheduled to take place today (Monday 14 January) at the Fairmont Hotel in Abu Dhabi featuring Cindy Davis, president of Nike Golf, and McIlroy. The deal is rumoured to be worth nearly $250m over 10 years. The acquisition of McIlroy for Nike is huge and the rivalry between the World Number One and Tiger Woods will be more high profile than ever before, this enhances the spotlight on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship to a level not seen before.

This year's championship has not attracted a field as strong as 2012 but it will still have Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Jason Dufner, Matteo Manassero, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Francesco Molinari, Peter Hanson, Branden Grace, Paul Lawrie, defending champion Robert Rock along with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. But Lee Westwood has decided to skip an event he has played poorly at throughout his career, Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell have decided to start their seasons at Riviera in the Northern Trust Open.

Although there have been three previous events in the 2013 European Tour season the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship feels very much like the first week of the season. It has elevated itself to being the number one event in the Middle East Swing, along with the Qatar Masters which has seen its field increase in strength over the last five years, so much so that the Dubai Desert Classic could now be considered the least important of the prestigious trio.

Despite this apparent slide to being the third most important of the three events in the desert, the Dubai Desert Classic still has the greatest history of any event in the Middle East and is played on by far the best course in the region in my opinion. It comes across as a really mature course and has the most exciting finishing hole of the series. Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara, Thomas Bjorn, Henrik Stenson, Tiger Woods, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Rory McIlroy are the stars among others to have won in Dubai. In 2013 Lee Westwood will launch his season on the Majlis Course, he will be joined by past champion Mark O'Meara but as this blog was written a further list of participants was unavailable. Perhaps an indication of how the tournament has slipped in recent years behind the Abu Dhabi and Qatar tournaments, who announced their star players weeks, in some cases months ahead of the event.

The Dubai Desert Classic used to be the event that attracted the world's best to play before any other at the start of our season, with the likes of Fred Couples, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods all being recruited for what was the most prestigious event in the region, but Abu Dhabi's emergence and the season-ending Dubai World Championship has put the Desert Classic in the shade.

It could be possible in the future that the Dubai Desert Classic moves to the end of the season as part of the Final Series of the Race to Dubai, and is replaced by the Volvo Golf Champions in Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait or Jordan as the tour looks to expand its presence in the region. For now the tournament that started the European Tour's desert safari in 1989 will continue to provide a fascinating conclusion to a series of tournaments that compare with any in the world and prepare the best on our tour for the challenges ahead in Arizona, Florida and at Augusta. I am looking forward to another exciting three weeks as the European Tour takes the global spotlight at the start of a year which could go down in history as the best ever. 

Six of the world's top ten in three of the world's most cosmopolitan and fastest developing destinations on three perfectly manicured golf courses, it is a series of tournaments to compare with any in the world. The 2012 Florida Swing averaged 54 Official World Golf Ranking Points per event for the winner in comparison to 51 for the winners in the three Middle East tournaments in the same year. In 2011 the Arabian events had an average of 52. It is certain to be yet another strong start to the year for 3 of the premier tournaments on the European Tour and 3 of the fastest growing events on the global stage.

It all starts this Thursday at the Abu Dhabi National Golf Club with the 8^th Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Starting in Abu Dhabi GolfinMag will be in the Middle East taking in the sights and the sounds of the European Tour as they embark on the Tour's Desert Swing. Coaxing caddies and chatting up players we will provide an in depth review of all that's going down as the season starts gearing up again. www.golfinmag.com