Full stories on the major players of Sunday's Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship final round will be on the way, but we wanted to use this space just to highlight a couple of guys – Rafa Cabrera-Bello and George Coetzee, who tied for fourth – who were there throughout the weekend, but wound up coming up just a tick short of Mickleson, McIlroy and champion Pablo Larrazabal.
Cabrera-Bello, of Spain, led after two rounds at 9-under 135. He improved on that in the final two rounds, finishing with a 12-under 276 to finish fourth, but didn't improve enough to keep up with the pace-setters. His 1-over 73 third round proved his undoing. Here is some of what he had to say on Sunday:
On the last three holes on Sunday:
"I know I needed a very, very strong finish. That birdie on 15 after a pretty good iron shot, put me still going for it but from far behind. Sixteen, I was a bit disappointed I didn't get – I got a really, really bad lie from the rough, and couldn't get it to the green but still managed to make a good up-and-down for par and 17, it was a great birdie, long putt. It's just disappointing not being able to get birdie at the 18th after a good tee shot."
On the 18th hole:
"It's a bit tricky because it's playing crosswind off the tree, and for me, driver would have been a little too much, and I had to hit 3-wood but just it beautifully right down the middle and gave myself a good chance. Just didn't hit that perfect second shot. I hit a decent one, just came a little bit over the top with it and didn't cut, which is what I was looking for, just laid down the left-hand side and let the wind take it. Then I got a pretty bad lie at the rough and tried to make a guess of how it was going to come out. I guessed wrong, and too long of a putt, still tried to make it but it was a very, very tough gamble."
On his play and start to the year in general:
"I mean, overall, pretty happy. It's been a great week, great start of the year. My game is in really good shape looking forward to the next few weeks. I take any year I start like this, especially playing the way I felt I played – and I don't know, I just hopefully next week I can be one or two shots (better)."
Coetzee charged ahead on Sunday with a 6-under final round, picking up six birdies by 13 before stalling out and parring the rest of the course.
On finishing 6-under On Sunday:
"At the beginning of the day, I would have taken it definitely. I didn't really play that well, but I think I had 22 putts again today. I remember reading that Mickelson shot 63 with 22 putts after 12, and I think I had nine or 10 through 10 holes."
On the round overall:
"Quite happy, the way I played this week, surprising to see my name up there. I just putted really well and luckily that's one of the parts that mattered most."
On the start to his year:
"Yeah, we are all busy trying to make a living, so it's always nice to get off to a good start."
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
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
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
