The Omega Dubai Ladies Masters and Michelle Wie
Michelle Wie has had a lot more on her plate then just golf this season. First, her back injury forced her to withdraw from the second round of the Lorena Ochoa invitational last month and then she had to take two politics exams last Tuesday and Thursday.
However, this has been a great year for Wie and she is now looking towards the season finale in Dubai to be the cherry on top of her cake.
Wie is going to be competing against 108 golfers who will be teeing up on the Majlis course, from 8 to 11 December, at the Emirates Golf Club. This will be the first time the American golfer will be competing since she started having her back problems. Currently
World Number 10, Wie won her second professional title earlier this year at the Canadian Women’s Open. Another win would sure be a nice feather in her cap.
“I’m very excited to be here and very excited to play, and hopefully I can do as well or better as last year and I’m just going to go out there and have fun”.
Although the American golfer has stated that she plans to “have fun” on the course, this is does not mean she has no desire of becoming better still.
The Stanford student and LPGA member will be facing off against the defending champion and World Number 7, In Kyung-kim on the field. It would be of interest to note that Kyung-kim snatched the very same title from right under Wie’s nose last year.
Other strong contenders included the 15 year old golfing sensation Alexis Thompson, the 2008 champion Anja Monke and Christina Kim, the Solheim Cup star. The battle for the 500,000 euro prize money is all set to be the most intense one this season.
The 21 year old plans to give one final push before she takes a holiday and winning the Dubai tournament would certainly make her vacation all the more pleasurable.
"I've just been rehabbing, recovering. I hit some balls last week so this week I'm just going to go out there and try to play pain free," says Wie. "It's really important to finish strong, so I think it would make my vacation a lot more fun if I play really
well this week, just go out there and ending with a bang would be great.”
Another highlight of the tournament is the fight for the Henderson Money List. At the moment things seem to be looking up on this front for the South African Lee-Anne Pace, who has won 5 tournaments this year. This is not to say that Pace is going to have
it easy getting the title; England’s Laura Davies stands firmly between Pace and the title. Davies has been crowned European Number 1 a grand total of 7 times.
There will be a number of other interesting players on the course as well. Naela El Attar, the only professional woman in Egypt, will also be getting a piece of the action while making her second appearance in the event. We will also get to see Morocco’s,
Maha Haddioui, for the first time on the competitive scene.
Dubai has been very active in promoting golf and honing the talent of new players. Keeping up with this tradition a special invitation has been extended to Rhea Nair. The 21 year old prodigy has learned the basics of the game at the Emirates Golf Federation’s
Junior Development Programme and been sharpening her competitive skills in the States. This will be Rhea’s first professional tournament.
The tournament which is all set to be the battlefield for a number of legendary golfing rivalries, will have a definite Arabian feel to it this year. Whether Wie makes a glorious comeback by winning her 3rd major title at the course she loves
remains to be seen. However, one thing is for sure, this tournament is going to make one h**l of a watch.
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