Seeing as she was just a shot or two clear of the projected cut line at the time, Chloe Williams might have been expected to be all business late in her second round at the PIF London Championship.
Instead, she was chatting with her partner over the ropes, asking to be kept updated on the football scores.
Being from Wrexham, it was rather a special day, after all. Williams’ back nine coincided with the first match of the season since their promotion to the Championship.
As the 30-year-old’s round was reaching crunch point, so was the match. The club who have shot to world fame thanks to their takeover by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and the subsequent docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, were holding a 1-0 lead away at Southampton.
Scalping a side who were playing Premier League football last season perfectly fitted the Hollywood script. Then it suddenly turned into a horror show, as Southampton grabbed two goals in injury time to win it.
But at least Williams made the cut in the golf. Some you win, some you lose.
“I am Wrexham born and bred, but have always followed the Premier League,” Williams said, straight after signing for an even-par 73 in Round 2 at Centurion Club.
“My dad is a Liverpool fan and Wrexham fan, and I have been watching Wrexham since I was eight years old. I am obviously super proud of the fact they are doing amazingly.
“Not a great start today. My partner was walking the course and I was asking what the score was. We were flying, then there were an extra seven minutes, and they scored two in seven.
“That wasn’t ideal, but it is going to be like that in this league.”
Williams is planning to go to the Racecourse Ground for Wrexham’s next match, against Hull City in the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening.
She has a red club-head cover for her driver bearing the name of the club’s home ground. Which must make things a little challenging for her caddie this week.
With her regular bag man, her father Paul, away while coaching a Wales junior team this week, she enlisted the services of Mike Dean, the former Premier League referee.
Dean had to be impartial during his top-tier refereeing career. But he is also a noted supporter of Tranmere Rovers, a lower division side who might have looked on enviously at the change of fortunes Wrexham have had in recent times.
“Little old Wrexham had never been heard of before,” Williams said.
“It is just a small town in Wales, albeit with a big population, and now everybody seems to know about it. International people, European people, they have all heard of this team.
“It has put us on the map and I am super proud of that. To say that I am from there is great. There are lots of players on tour who enjoy their football, and I have Mike Dean, Premier League ref on my bag this week.
“He is a Tranmere fan, which is awful. We have great banter, and they won today, so he is happy with that. I am proud to be from Wrexham and Welsh, and I am looking forward to seeing them hopefully do all right this year.”
Despite the differing allegiances, Williams says her temporary arrangement with Dean is a very enjoyable one.
“He’s a great guy and I’d have him again to step in, definitely,” Williams said.
“He is super relaxed. We are both quite similar in terms of having a dry sense of humour. We have a laugh, which I like because it keeps it relaxed, and he is positive at the same time.”
The first two days of the PIF London Championship, which is organised by Golf Saudi, had a team tournament running simultaneously with the conventional singles.
Each four-ball were a team, with their combined score counting towards the competition. Although Williams’ quartet finished among the also-rans, she appeared to thrive in the situation.
Along with Diksha Dagar’s caddie, her father Narinder, Williams was the most voluble cheerleader in the group over the two days.
“I love being part of a team,” she said. “I play football still at home and am very much a team player. We don’t get this opportunity very often, so having the team aspect within an event is fun.
“You can really spur each other on, especially if a player might have had a bit of a bad hole. You can just encourage each other, and you would never usually do that.
“It is nice to have that format and enjoy playing with fellow competitors, and not always be serious individuals. The football side of me comes out.”
Match info
Uefa Nations League A Group 4
England 2 (Lingard 78', Kane 85')
Croatia 1 (Kramaric 57')
Man of the match: Harry Kane (England)
Everton 1 Stoke City 0
Everton (Rooney 45 1')
Man of the Match Phil Jagielka (Everton)
MANDOOB
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Ali%20Kalthami%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Mohammed%20Dokhei%2C%20Sarah%20Taibah%2C%20Hajar%20Alshammari%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Brief scores
Day 1
Toss England, chose to bat
England, 1st innings 357-5 (87 overs): Root 184 not out, Moeen 61 not out, Stokes 56; Philander 3-46
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
