The field for the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic includes players from the United States, New Zealand, plus most places in between. And yet the halfway lead is held by a player who can see the course from his apartment.
Ewen Ferguson lives on the 51st floor of a tower block in Dubai Marina. For the tee-shot on the spectacular eighth hole at the Majlis Course, the target line is basically his bedroom.
A bit of local knowledge is serving him well at present. After two rounds, the Scotsman is on 12-under, giving him a one-stroke lead.
That was brought about by an eagle at the last hole of his second round that was unconventional, unless you know the intricacies of the Emirates.
Club members who have played the Classic in the past have suggested the hospitality areas that horseshoe around the shared ninth/18th green are one of the few things that make tournament week more manageable than the rest of the year.
Over the rest of the layout, the rough is up, the pins are moodily placed, but the pop up stands at the last at least provide a back board for shots that go long.
That is precisely what happened with Ferguson’s approach into the storied par-5. It flew the green, whacked into the boards, and rolled back to less than five feet.
If that was a slice of fortune, it was well earned. For the previous 35 holes, he had yet to drop a shot. His immaculate second round 7-under 65 followed a neat 67 on Day 1.
“On 18 I had a little bit of luck but I felt as though I would have made birdie anyway. To make eagle was even better,” Ferguson said.
“I have a 7-wood and a 3-wood. A 7-wood goes so high and it was a bit into the wind. It was later in the day, cooling down, and I thought, I’m not finishing like that after how well I’ve played.
“I thought if I just go over the green and if I go into the drop zone I can splash out to 15 feet. I felt like I would have made birdie anyway.
“It was a little bit of luck but the game kicks you enough so we will take it.”
When he wakes up on Friday morning, Ferguson will not just be looking down on Emirates Golf Club from his high-rise apartment. From his perch at the top of the leaderboard, he will be looking down on some of the most gilded names in his sport, too.
Daniel Hillier is closest to him, on 11-under. Beyond that, Tyrrell Hatton has a share of third place on 8-under, Patrick Reed and Tommy Fleetwood are in a group on 5-under, while Rory McIlroy is tied for 33rd on 3-under. European Ryder Cup stars Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland, meanwhile, did not make it to the weekend.
“It is my first event of 2025 so I can’t complain too much,” Ferguson said. “I have worked hard on a lot of things off the course, trying to stay as healthy as possible, and stay as happy as possible.
“There is way more to life than playing golf. I have not really had that mindset in the past three or four years, but I am just trying to enjoy it, realise how good I can be when I’m good, and make the most of that.
“I’m going to go and try and win, as I have three times before. You need a little bit of luck to win, but ultimately the goal will be to stay in the mix going into Sunday.
“If I can do that, it would be incredible. That is all you can do and if not I will come back next year and try and do the same.”
Tickets for the weekend are now sold out, and the biggest crowd favourite – McIlroy – has his work cut out if he has to retain his title.
After his 1-under-par 71 on Friday he is nine shots back. A recovery from there might seem fanciful were it not for the fact it’s McIlroy, and he did similar last year.
Halfway through that event he was 10 shots back, only to tear up the Majlis on the Saturday on his way to the title. He has not given up hope of doing similar this time around.
“I’d say the winning score isn't going to be much above what the leader is right now, especially the way the course is going to play over the weekend, and the especially [given the way] this golf course has played over the weekend the last couple years,” McIlroy said.
“The greens will continue to get a little bit firmer. It will put such a premium on putting it in the fairway and hitting a lot of greens. If I can focus on that over the weekend, get a couple of putts to drop, I think I've still got a decent chance.”
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The five pillars of Islam
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
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RESULTS
5pm: Watha Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
Winner: Dalil De Carrere, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Mohamed Daggash (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Pharitz Al Denari, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mahmood Hussain
6.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Oss, Jesus Rosales, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: ES Nahawand, Fernando Jara, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: AF Almajhaz, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: AF Lewaa, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Gulf rugby
Who’s won what so far in 2018/19
Western Clubs Champions League: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Dubai Hurricanes
West Asia Premiership: Bahrain
What’s left
UAE Conference
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Hurricanes II v Al Ain Amblers, Jebel Ali Dragons II v Dubai Tigers
March 29, final
UAE Premiership
March 22, play-offs:
Dubai Exiles v Jebel Ali Dragons, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Hurricanes
March 29, final
The years Ramadan fell in May
Fight card
- Aliu Bamidele Lasisi (Nigeria) beat Artid Vamrungauea (Thailand) POINTS
- Julaidah Abdulfatah (Saudi Arabia) beat Martin Kabrhel (Czech Rep) POINTS
- Kem Ljungquist (Denmark) beat Mourad Omar (Egypt) TKO
- Michael Lawal (UK) beat Tamas Kozma (Hungary) KO
- Zuhayr Al Qahtani (Saudi Arabia) beat Mohammed Mahmoud (UK) POINTS
- Darren Surtees (UK) beat Kane Baker (UK) KO
- Chris Eubank Jr (UK) beat JJ McDonagh (Ireland) TKO
- Callum Smith (UK) beat George Groves (UK) KO
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The five pillars of Islam
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Afro%20salons
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
