All golfers have been there. You have hit your shot offline. It has dribbled into a precarious position, the odds of escaping which are slim.
You want to have a crack at it – what’s the worst that could happen? But then your mind wanders back to the last time this happened, and the disaster that ensued.
For weekend hackers, it repeats itself every couple of rounds, if not every few holes.
Even Rory McIlroy can empathise. His tee-shot at the 17th hole of the third round of the DP World Tour Championship erred from the planned route to the hole, and ended up settling on a stone slab inches from the water surrounding the island green.
He scarcely had a stance. Flip it forward, and it would likely catch the lip of turf in front of him. Attempting anything other than returning to the drop zone would be fraught with jeopardy.
All of which reminded him of that time last season when he was playing with arguably the greatest player in the game’s history. A certain Tiger Woods.
“It was reminiscent of when I missed the second hole in [TPC] Boston to the right when I was playing with Tiger [last year],” McIlroy said cheerily, after his latest adventure at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“I tried to hit it out of the hazard and it went straight back behind me into the water.”
Happily, the result was different this time. McIlroy took the shot on again this time. His chip went through the green, but safely enough that he required just the two shots back.
He gratefully moved on with a bogey four, then birdied the last to sign for a 5-under par 67. That moved him to a tournament aggregate of 14-under, and a one-stroke lead before the start of the final day.
The 32-year-old Northern Irishman has form on the 17th at Earth Course. Back in 2015, he said he had “the best bogey of my career” to thank as he sealed a DP World and Race to Dubai double – having found the water that time in his final round.
Where this one ranks will probably be dependent on how the final day pans out. He goes in the final round with Sam Horsfield, the 25-year-old Englishman who starts a shot back on 13-under, at 12.05pm.
It might be assumed McIlroy will hope the final 18 of the season pass without any such drama as happened at the penultimate hole on Saturday. But he clearly enjoyed the escapade.
“Harry [Diamond, his caddie] was pleading with me not to hit it,” McIlroy said.
“He was saying, ‘No, we can make four, then make four at the last’.
“I could have looked very silly, but it didn’t feel as if it was quite as risky as the one in Boston.
“I thought I’d take it on and it would be an easier four if I could get it to where I wanted to get it to.
“The chip nearly went in for three, but I wasn’t going to be greedy.”
McIlroy will start Sunday with a one-shot advantage over Horsfield, and two ahead of Alexander Bjork and Robert McIntyre, who are tied for third.
Collin Morikawa, who now appears assured of being the first American to win the Race to Dubai, is in the third-last match out. He is in a group of four players on 11-under par.
“You want to take stuff on,” McIlroy said of his gameplan to close out a third DP World Tour Championship win.
“I’ve never enjoyed hitting it to 40ft and try to two putt. I’d rather take shots on. It is about the enjoyment I get out of pulling stuff like that off.
“I’d rather lose trying to win than lose defensively. I’ve learnt that the hard way over the years. I can live with myself if I take shots on and they don’t come off because at least I’m giving myself the best chance.”
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
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
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The biog
Birthday: February 22, 1956
Born: Madahha near Chittagong, Bangladesh
Arrived in UAE: 1978
Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
THE BIG MATCH
Arsenal v Manchester City,
Sunday, Emirates Stadium, 6.30pm
The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
