Masters and Open entry has UAE amateur golfers dreaming about mixing with world’s best

Most sports-mad kids born in Karachi would dream of a future spent wearing green. For the overwhelming majority, that would be in the uniform of the Pakistan national cricket team.

Rayan Ahmed is a different case. Maybe even unique. Having left Karachi when he was six when his family moved to Dubai, he has instead daydreamed about wearing another famous outfit of the same colour. For him, it is the green jacket awarded to the winner of The Masters.

The 18-year-old student is planning for a future as a golf professional. He graduated from Raffles World Academy earlier this year, and his as-yet-undecided destination for further education at college in the United States will be driven by his pursuit of a pro career.

He has plenty of long-term goals – such as playing on tour, and representing the UAE in the Olympics – but there is another that feels tantalisingly close.

Rayan is one of six UAE players who will be competing at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) at Emirates Golf Club this week.

The winner of the competition will qualify to play at The Masters and the Open Championship next year. It involves the leading amateur players in the Asia-Pacific region, which has included the likes of 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith in the past.

As such, competition for the ultimate prize will be fierce, but Rayan says there is no harm in thinking big.

“It would be a dream,” Rayan said of the idea of winning the tournament and playing at Augusta. “Sometimes if I have dreams when I am sleeping, or if my mind wanders when I am in the shower, I think about it happening.

“I handle myself well under pressure. I have played so many events in the UAE, including ones with crowds, and I think I play well under pressure as it gets me to focus.”

He is right to feel confident. Rayan is not technically on home turf at the Majlis Course, as he is a member at Dubai Hills. But, like his UAE teammates, he knows the track well, and he is in fine form, having won consecutive tournaments in the lead up to it.

“I have been working very hard this year,” he said. “My game was worse last year [when he played at the AAC when it was held in Japan], for sure, but I made the cut.

“I was very happy, and my game has definitely improved. It is in the best place right now. So my aim will be to win. If I have this mindset going in, I will perform well. That is my aspiration.”

There are five players in the field for the AAC representing Pakistan, but Rayan’s affiliation is firmly with the country where he was brought up rather than the one where he was born.

Although his grandad played golf in the army cantonment in Pakistan where the family lived, and his dad did similar, it is on the fairways of the UAE where Rayan learnt the game.

He says he started taking the sport serious aged 11, when he got a junior membership at Dubai Hills. “I was a 36 handicap, off the red tees, hitting it 180 yards, and from then on I just really liked it,” he said. “I enjoyed it so much I was playing almost every day.”

The Masters and Open invitations are available to the winner of the AAC, so long as he remains an amateur.

One of Ahmed’s UAE teammates is all set to go pro once he has made his sixth appearance in the AAC. Ahmad Skaik, 28, is making his final outing before turning professional.

“Tournaments like the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship have been pivotal in my journey as an amateur and have played a huge role in preparing me to turn professional after this event,” said Skaik, who become the first Emirati to make the cut in a European Tour-organised event earlier this year.

“I’ve had plenty of fantastic memories at the championship, including becoming only the second Emirati to make the cut when it was last staged in the UAE [in 2021], as well as hitting the opening tee shot that year.

“It feels like a fitting farewell to my amateur career to be joined by a record [number of] participants representing the UAE at Emirates Golf Club for my final appearance in the championship.”