Dubai Golf Trophy 2022
(Dubai, UAE) – On Monday 9th May, Emirates Golf Club hosted the final day of the 23rd Dubai Golf Trophy. The tournament is formed by 16 of the UAE’s best amateurs against 16 of the UAE’s best professionals. Each team consists of 12 automatic qualifiers from the season-long UAE PGA tournaments and qualifying Emirates Golf Federation events across the UAE, followed by both team captains Michael Major (Professional Team) and Khalid Yousef (Amateur Team) carefully selecting four additional ‘wildcard’ picks.
The event mirrors closely to the format of the Ryder Cup, seeing two teams of 16 battle it out in team matches on Sunday at Dubai Creek followed by 16 matchplay singles on the Majlis course the next day. The competition has built a reputation as one of the biggest events in the UAE’s golfing calendar and the amateurs have been victorious in the last 6 meetings. Looking to reclaim the prestigious trophy, the professional team looked stronger than ever this year following a strong series of results in the UAE PGA events.
After day 1 the professional team were 1 point ahead of the amateurs (8.5 – 7.5). The biggest stand out of the day was a Hole in One by Nathan Kernaghan on Hole 14. The tight lead led to one of the closest and most dramatic final days in Dubai Golf Trophy history. Very early into the matches it looked like the Pros could face a complete whitewash with nearly all amateurs being up in their games. Yet the Pros fought back starting with a birdie down 18 from Sujan Singh to half his match with Max Burrow. Jackson Bell also fought to the end in a tight match with Craig Vance which saw both players awarded a half. Graham Forbes was the first pro to secure a full point on the final day, which also was Grahams third point of the week. Following Grahams win saw the professional team take consecutive points from the amateurs reinstating the points lead the team started the day with. Big wins from Ryan Smith another professional who won all 3 points, Oscar Yeomans and Louis Gaughan was enough to end the long 6 year wait for the professional side to reclaim the Dubai Golf Trophy.
Special congratulations to Toby Bishop and Yash Majmudar for winning all 3 points for the amateur team, Oliva Jackson for being the first female to compete in the Professional and Amateur Match and to Lea Pouillard, Ginger Delacretaz (Professionals), Jamie Rosalyn Camero and Liang Wei Lui (Amateurs) for competing in the Ladies Challenge Match which was halved after both teams earning 2 points each.