Desert Swing golf courses offer exclamation points on final holes

These are litigious times, so it is hardly unusual for a laundry list of liability notices to be printed on the back of sports tickets.

Fans are warned to beware of batted balls, wayward shots and flying vehicle parts, depending on the event in view.

The type tends to be so tiny that few would attempt, let alone bother, to squint through a reading of the legalese.

Yet here is a key caveat for spectators attending one of the Desert Swing tournaments: Do not leave early.

As underscored by the final moments in Abu Dhabi and Qatar last year, not to mention 25 years of fantastic finishes in Dubai, the closing holes at the three Middle East courses have provided dramatic denouements like no other serial stretch.

Surrounded by hospitality boxes and thousands of seats, the 18th hole at each venue is theatrical by design, but that sentiment goes far beyond scaffolds, corporate banners and staging.

In a scheduling quirk, all three tournaments end on water-strewn par-5 holes where almost anything can happen – and nearly everything has.

For viewers, it is best to wait until the final curtain, and the final putt, drops. Triumphs and train wrecks have become constants.

“Any course that finishes with a par-5, there’s always a chance,” said Englishman Chris Wood.

He knows better than most. Last year in Qatar, Wood faced a second shot of 188 metres from the middle of the final fairway, knowing he needed a birdie to force a play-off. He hit a perfect 6-iron approach to within 3m and made the clutch putt for an eagle, earning his first European Tour title in memorable fashion.

Interestingly, the previous time a European Tour player eagled the 72nd hole to win by a shot was six years earlier at the same Doha Golf Club venue, when Retief Goosen won. Indeed, in four of the past 10 years, the Qatar winner has birdied or eagled the last hole to win by a single stroke.

“I’m a fan of par-5 finishing holes,” said former world No 1 Luke Donald, who is part of the Abu Dhabi field this week.

“It’s exciting for the fans, exciting for the players. It adds a little something.”

Wood’s triumphant finish is only the philosophical half of it. The trio of closing holes, while presenting the opportunity for career-defining shots, feature the potential for ugly postmortems, too. Wood required no prompting to find the alternate ending.

“Disaster,” he said.

In Dubai, celebrating its 25th anniversary later this month, the 516m, 18th hole has been crucially decisive.

Two of the tournament’s most-vivid mental snapshots centre on the diametric fates of Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie, players atop their respective tours when they tangled with the Emirates Golf Club’s final, fateful hole.

Woods, making his first appearance in the UAE in 2001, was paired on the final day with veteran Thomas Bjorn.

After starting the round with a one-shot lead, Woods dumped his approach into the green-side pond on the 18th, a flabbergasting development given the context of the period.

Woods had won nine times in 2000 and, five weeks later, he would complete a wraparound grand slam by winning the US Masters.

In his global career, Woods has won 57 of the 66 tournaments in which he has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead. But 13 years ago, the 18th at Emirates finished him off.

Montgomerie’s final round five years earlier was so indelible, the club placed a plaque in the 18th fairway to commemorate the decisive shot.

From that spot in 1996, Montgomerie hit a driver off the fairway from 220m for his second shot, carved it around a greenside pond and made an easy birdie to win by a stroke, one of the gutsiest shots of his hall-of-fame career.

After several dramatic moments of weighing the possibilities, “Monty” elected not to lay up short of the water hazard and opted for the hero shot. No question, par-5 holes can test a player’s mental mettle like no other, especially under extreme duress.

“There are obviously more options, more shots, more ways to play it,” Donald said.

The stirring finish gave Monty a one-shot win over Ernie Els, who in 2005 would eagle the 18th at Emirates to win by a shot.

At eight years old, the Abu Dhabi event is the youngest of the Desert Swing trio by far, but last year it showed the potential for throat-constricting, last-minute moments.

Leading as he played the last, eventual winner Jamie Donaldson three-putted for a bogey on the 18th green, allowing the two players in the final group behind him a chance to tie.

Thorbjorn Olesen and Justin Rose – who would win the US Open five months later – each faced birdie putts from inside 4.5m that would have forced Donaldson into a play-off. In the scorer’s hut Donaldson was seething.

“I was ready to punch something,” he said. “I wasn’t happy with myself at that point. I had to compose myself, because you know, the chances were that one of them, if not both of the guys, would hole the putts.”

Both missed, creating an oddly anxious moment for spectators, who were poised to explode if one of the putts had dropped. When the pair both missed, fans did not know whether to cheer for Donaldson, or remain respectfully subdued for Rose and Olesen.

There is no such mixed reaction when it comes to the sensibilities of finishing a tournament with an entertaining par-5 hole. It has become de rigueur for course architects, including tour professionals dabbling in design, such as Phil Mickelson, who this week will play in Abu Dhabi for the second time.

“I’m a fan of making hard holes harder and easy holes easier, so a finishing hole, such as the 18th at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, appeals to me,” the five-time major winner said.

“My design philosophy is about providing a playing experience that is fun for golfers of all abilities, so while I like the risk-reward, I wouldn’t have a do-or-die or crazily punishing finishing hole on my courses.”

Pressure endings like those produced on the Desert Swing over a series of weeks are rare. The 2013 European Tour schedule featured two instances when three or more consecutive events ended on par-5 holes. The majority of courses end on par 4s.

“If I were to design a course, I’d finish with a par 5, too,” Wood said. “Because the theatrics, the chance of somebody jumping someone, or the potential for disaster, whatever. It’s better than a 490-yard [450m] par 4 that we seem to play a lot these days.”

In an era of power players, when golfers bash away by mindless instinct, par-5 closing holes force them to mull their options. Where tactics are concerned, the Desert Swing finishing holes are akin to fans thinking about when to head to the car park. Whether it is playing or spectating, the final moments of the next three weeks require a wise exit strategy.

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