Not making her Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic debut until 4:30pm on Wednesday, Dame Laura Davies is using the relatively unusual tee-time to her advantage.
“Well, Liverpool are playing Champions League and I probably won’t get to sleep until about 2:30am, so that’s one good thing. Quite pleased with that,” says the avid fan of the English champions, who given the pandemic-enforced conditions this week, will be confined to her hotel room for much of the Dubai stay.
In its second year, the Moonlight Classic is this time being held behind closed doors within a bio-secure environment.
“I’m watching the US show Billions at the moment,” Davies adds. “So maybe a few episodes of that tomorrow and then on to the course.”
Now 57, Davies has been used to a starring role for much of her career. She is a seven-time winner of the Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit – a record – was the first non-American to finish top of the LPGA Tour money list, boasts 45 victories on the LET – another record – and more than 40 more worldwide, including four majors. In 2015, Davies was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Given everything that's gone before, there's not much left to tick off her golfing to-do list. Thankfully, this week, her first appearance at the world's first professional day-night tour event, provides something fresh.
Davies is a regular visitor to Dubai – she was a longtime Golf in Dubai ambassador and counts the Majlis course among her favourite in the world – but got introduced to the tournament’s Faldo Course only on Tuesday.
That, and the unique Pro-Am format, where on Wednesday she will play seven or eight holes in daylight, then the remaining through dusk and under the floodlights, adds a little extra ingredient as well.
“You can teach an old dog new tricks, so that’s gone against that saying,” Davies says. “I've played the par-3 course here under floodlights, so had a bit of a taste of it.
“But I must admit my eyes aren't brilliant, I did struggle a bit. I’m assuming I’m going to struggle a bit this time – possibly with contact – but it’s the same for everyone, so you’ve just got to get on with it. But it’s nice to do a different thing. It’ll be interesting.”
The field this week makes it exciting, also. At world No 9, Minjee Lee is the highest-ranked player competing, while former world No 1 and two-time major champion Lydia Ko makes her Dubai debut. Then you've got leading LET players in Georgia Hall, Charley Hull and Amy Boulden, not to mention Davies and Catriona Matthew, a major winner and victorious captain with Europe at last year's Solheim Cup.
Perhaps, Davies says, in a way the pandemic has actually worked in the tournament's favour.
“If this had been a normal year maybe the tournament would've suffered,” she says. “But, because we’ve had such a weird year, players just want to play. And it just goes to prove if it’s a good tournament on a great course at a great venue, then the players will come.
“I think this tournament definitely benefitted from that; if it had been a full schedule then maybe some of the LPGA [Tour] stars wouldn’t have come over. And there’s Solheim Cup points up for grabs as well, and top European players trying to get those.”
For the lead women’s European circuit, it’s great simply to be back on track. The LPGA Tour and the men’s European Tour lent their support this year and thus provided much-needed impetus, but then the pandemic struck and that was lost somewhat. The tour didn’t put on a tournament for five months from March.
“It’s typical LET: we get a bit of good news and something bad happens,” Davies says. “It’s obviously nothing compared to what’s happening in the world, but it’s such a shame for the LET because there were such positives and there was a lovely schedule.
“But the good thing is, from what I can understand, most of the sponsors are staying with us and hopefully next year, if things get back to a little more normal, we might have that same schedule or something pretty similar to it, especially with the backing of the LPGA and the European Tour and all the other people trying to help us.
“So I’m confident that all the good work that was done last year is not going to be undone by the pandemic. But you just don’t know."
As for her own game, Davies isn't sure either. The bad weather back home restricted her to playing only twice since she made the cut at last month’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – the first time she had done so in five years. However, some “abysmal” putting on the weekend in Pennsylvania led eventually to a 72nd-placed finish.
That’s why a top 10 or top 20 in Dubai, especially considering the different format, would represent a decent enough result, Davies says.
“Don’t know the course, and don’t know how my game is, but just hoping that something clicks early on,” she says.
That's early in the evening, obviously.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
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
