Latin is supposedly a dead language, though Sergio Garcia is doing his best to single-handedly keep it alive.
In everyday parlance, mea culpa is a Latin term that means, "my fault."
After uttering yet another dunderheaded statement in a career lowlighted by plenty of them, Sergio Garcia had to re-tee his tongue again yesterday.
Hours after he made a racially tinged comment about Tiger Woods that generated global headlines, Garcia called a press conference yesterday at the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, to mop up his Transatlantic mess.
In an attempt to make a joke about his terse relationship with the world No 1 during a black-tie awards banquet on Tuesday, Garcia joked that he might invite Woods over for dinner and serve him "fried chicken," a red-flag stereotype and pejorative term to those of black heritage in the United States.
For two weeks, Woods and Garcia have been lobbing mostly entertaining insults at each other, but this remark reached a new level. As in, the basement floor.
"My answer was totally stupid and out of place. I feel sick about it," Garcia said yesterday, claiming that he contacted Woods's agent and did not sleep the night before. "I am truly, truly sorry."
Given his extensive body of work in the theatre of public apology, this episode might be too much to explain away after the fact. In a game of well-placed verbal darts, Garcia used thermonuclear weapons and went way over the line.
The carping flashpoint dates to their third-round pairing three weeks ago at the Players Championship.
It has created a stream of thinly veiled accusations of deception and whinging from both sides of the Atlantic. The Spaniard on Monday sarcastically noted that Woods was probably correct when he characterised Garcia as a whiner, then unloaded a world-class zinger in response.
"That's probably the first thing he's told you guys that's true in 15 years," Garcia said. "I speak the truth, and the truth usually wins."
With stupidity, everybody loses, and if the fried-chicken comment reflects how Garcia honestly feels in his heart, then all the contrition in the world will not suffice.
To his credit, Woods took the high road and said he believes Garcia is genuinely sorry, though he hardly absolved him of wrongdoing.
"The comment that was made wasn't silly," Woods said on his Twitter account. "It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate."
It's not easy to make Woods into a sympathetic figure, an innocent victim. Garcia somehow managed.
Sadly, this particular topic is all too familiar for Woods.
Fuzzy Zoeller made a racist crack in 1997 and lost two lucrative endorsement deals as a result. Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman made a comment in jest on the air that resulted in a suspension. Two years ago, Woods' former caddie Steve Williams, made an off-colour, racist comment at a banquet in China.
Remarkably, Garcia said he would not be fined by the European Tour for his remarks, which is not exactly the response many expected.
In a game that remains lily white in most quarters, especially administratively, it sends a signal that's nearly as alarming as the original comment.
His primary sponsor, TaylorMade-Adidas, hardly rushed to his defence. In a statement, the company said: "We discussed with Sergio that his comments are clearly out of bounds and we are continuing to review the matter."
In a career filled with golfing gaffes, nobody knows how an Adidas shoe tastes quite like Garcia. But this one could be a game-changer, financially and professionally. In an era when endorsement opportunities in golf have dwindled, he will be the equivalent of marketing kryptonite in the States.
Then there is the matter of his recent play. After blowing the lead at the Players Championship by hitting three balls in the water on the last two holes, losing to Woods, playing in the United States over the short term was going to be difficult, anyway.
Now, Garcia might need to wear noise-cancelling headphones.
If the Woods comment illustrates how Garcia really feels, being such an inveterate truth-teller and all, fans might prefer earplugs too.
selling@thenational.ae
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Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
