Bjorn says second Desert Swing to be launched soon - Golf News
Thomas Bjorn, Committee Chairman of the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Swing, has said that the tournament committee plans to launch another ‘Desert Swing’ as part of the tour in the near future.
Talking to the reporters on Tuesday, he said that the senior officials are considering adding another tournament to the tour to extend the European Tour’s stay in the Middle East.
Currently, there are three tournaments that are part of the schedule, starting from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club and the last one, Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club.
“They are all fantastic events, with great golf courses and facilities. From a player's point of view that's what we look for,” Bjorn said.
Dubai Desert Classic is the oldest of three, as the inaugural event was played in 1989 and it has been a success ever since.
“Abu Dhabi at the moment probably gets the strongest field but this event in Dubai has the history,” he added.
Now, the officials want to expand the Desert Swing to other Emirates, to give them a chance to host events of international standards as well.
This will in return enable the European Tour to stay in UAE for an extended period of time.
The basic idea is to add another desert swing to the end of the year so that the golf fans can enjoy the game in UAE twice a year.
“We hope places like Oman and Kuwait and maybe Saudi Arabia can also be hosts of European Tour events,” commented the 40-year-old Dane.
He went on to say, "It would be the tour's dream, that we could have an extended tour in the Middle East maybe two times a year ... preferably have a swing at the beginning of the year and a swing at the end of the year”.
The events in Middle East are already getting too much praise from players around the world and many top-ranked players such as Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer are participating in the UAE's ending tournament in Dubai.
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