The media are fortunate in travelling to tournament destinations around the world, and whether it be on the PGA Tour, the Asian Tour, the Australasian Tour or the DP World Tour, there’s always a welcome door open to play a nearby golf course.
And there can not better feeling than visiting a tournament host golf club that boasts more than one golf course, though better still, a second or a third golf course where you can go out and play without infringing, if I can use that word, on those competing in the Tour event.
What I mean is you don’t want the scenario like when I was playing the New Course at the Hong Kong Golf Club and I sprayed my final drive way left off the 18th tee, with my ball coming to rest slap bang in the centre of the opening fairway of the adjoining Old Course, where I could hear Colin Montgomerie had just been addressed on the first tee to Hong Kong Open spectators.
“Did you go after your golf ball”, I hear some of you ask (smiling). The answer to that question is: “Are you kidding me? No, I disappeared out of sight”.
In recalling that incident, Monty appeared again on a first fairway when I was playing on another adjoining course, and on this occasion he was strolling down the first fairway of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters host course at the Doha Golf Club.
Myself, good friend and Irish-born colleague, Eoin Clarke, just happen to be on the fourth tee of the adjoining nine-hole Academy Course, a great nine-holer measuring just under 3,100-yards off the blue or back tees, boasting two par-5s with the longest being the ninth at 540-yards, plus three par-3s with the longest being a well-bunker guarded eighth hole at 207-yards and the shortest being the sixth hole at 160-yards.
Usually, the Academy Course is closed during tournament week but over the course of many years I attended the Qatar Masters – 1999 to 2016 – the club was always obliging in allowing the visiting media, only a few, to play the course. You could go out mid-morning on any of the four days and still be back to the clubhouse before any of those you were looking to interview had finished their rounds.
There were also the occasions the sponsor would have arranged a ‘media outing’ on one of the evenings of the tournament when you could play the Academy course under floodlights.
So, back to Monty!
It was a case of once again of not wanting to spray your tee-shot left of the tee for fear of hitting or landing close to one of the professionals who was playing into the first green on the stunning Peter Harradine designed championship course.
Thankfully, I can safely say there was no repeat of my Hong Kong exploits in Doha, as we would wait until the tournament players were out of sight (or out of range) but then also, I can recall none of us ever sent a ball that far left off the fourth tee.
A great aspect of playing the Academy course on each visit to the Qatar Masters was observing the forever changing skyline.
In attending the second hosting of the Qatar Masters in 1999, the golf course was well out in the desert and a long way from the city shoreline that boasted just one hotel of size that catered for the tournament’s accommodation needs – the Sheraton Grand that opened in 1982, six years before the maiden Qatar Masters.
Back then, and in 1984 to be precise, Qatargas was established as a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and various other international oil companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Total to develop liquefaction and export capacity. In 1996, Qatar exported its first liquid natural gas (LNG) shipment to Japan.
As additional capacity came on line, Qatargas added customers, including Spain, South Korea, and India. By 2006, just 10 years after its first export, Qatar overtook Malaysia as the world’s largest LNG exporter.
I had been to the early Dubai Desert Classic tournaments and observed how the discovery of oil changed Dubai forever. You could be on the practice range at the Emirates Club and someone would ask you: “How many high rise buildings can you count over your shoulder (as the practice range faces away from the ‘madness’ taking place behind you)?”
If you looked around and counted say 20, the answer would be: “Right but come back tomorrow. There will be 21”. That’s just how fast they were being built.
Though there was one building in Doha that would always catch the attention of those there for the tournament, and that was the ‘not so straight’ lines of the funky-looking twin buildings – the Zig Zag Towers apartments – that went up in the early 2000s, and then in the mid-2010s there was the sight of another twin tower apartments construction named the Marina Twin Towers that you clearly see from the golf course.
It got that way that each time you looked at either set of towers, I kind of thought to yourself you’ve had too many ‘sherbets’ as I’m seeing double.
So, once again very fond memories visiting Doha and reporting on the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Oh, I almost forgot!
You’re probably wondering why I describe the Academy course as the best 8 1/2 holes and not the best 9 holes on the DP World Tour.
Well, the answer is kind of simple as the Tour players would take over the fringe area and green at the ninth hole to work on their game, and the last thing you would wish to do, after hitting your drive and then pick-up your ball, would be to go ahead and hit a second, and accidentally hit or come close to Colin Montgomerie while he was working on his short-game or putting (smiling broadly).
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