Rory McIlroy still full of belief after slow start to Grand Slam bid at Masters

Rory McIlroy is confident the gap between himself and the leaders at the Masters is "not insurmountable" after getting off to a slow start in his ninth attempt to complete the career Grand Slam.

McIlroy arrived at Augusta National as one of the favourites to win the Green Jacket and finally add the Masters to his major haul of two PGA Championships, one Open Championship, and one US Open.

But while several of the game's big-name players took advantage of rather benign conditions to post low scores, world No 2 McIlroy carded an even-par 72 that left him seven shots back of the leaders and in a share of 37th place.

"I'm probably two or three shots behind how I'd like to be, considering how I played today. I think, if I had gotten the most out of my round, I would have shot 68 or 69. So a few shots back, but nothing that's not insurmountable," McIlroy, 33, said.

"I think I can go out there and give myself plenty of chances and play a great round of golf tomorrow and get myself back on that big white scoreboard."

McIlroy, who has paid the price for slow starts at Augusta National, did not look anywhere near as dialled as he did in March when he finished runner-up at Bay Hill and third in the Match Play event.

But there is still time for the Northern Irishman to turn things around and keep alive his hopes of completing his collection of major titles this year and join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as winners of the career Grand Slam.

Weather forecasts expect more challenging conditions for the remaining three days, and McIlroy believes it could provide opportunities to those lower down the leaderboard.

"The more difficult the course is, I think that's probably favourable conditions for chasing a little bit or trying to catch up," said McIlroy, whose last major victory came in 2014.

"Look, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Hopefully we don't get affected by it too much, and we can get out there and play 18 holes uninterrupted. I can shoot something in the mid-60s and get myself back in it."

McIlroy reached the turn at one over par after mixing two birdies with a bogey and double-bogey and covered the back-nine and grinded his way home with three birdies against two bogeys over the back nine.

"Just a little untidy in places ... It's not disastrous, but I just need to sort of tidy it all up," said McIlroy. "I didn't feel like I was too far away today. I made five birdies but just a couple of too many mistakes on the card.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Rory McIlroy still full of belief after slow start to Grand Slam bid at Masters

World No 2 shoots even-par 72 in first round to sit seven shots behind the leaders at Augusta National