When Paul Waring arrived at Yas Links with a slender lead ahead of the final day of the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, you might have assumed he was feeling at least a hint of nerves.
After all, the unsung Englishman, who is 40 on his next birthday, had won just once before, six years previously, out of 332 starts on the DP World Tour.
The glare of the spotlight is not exactly the natural habitat for him in the way it might be for, say, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, or any of the other gilded vultures perched behind him in the ravenous chasing pack.
If he was feeling trepidation, he had a funny way of showing it. As he disembarked the Genesis GV80 tournament car which had brought him to the course, he had his cap on back to front. He flashed his biceps at the TV camera filming his arrival, blew a kiss, and proclaimed his love for everyone.
Was it a front? Or did he really feel that comfortable? “I felt OK today, I was worse yesterday,” Waring said.
“[Saturday, when he shot over par] was the harder day for me, as I had a bit of confidence about me today. You always have a slow round in four, a day you have to get through.
“To get through that and still be in the lead, I knew I was going to give myself a chance, even if someone made a run at me.
“I knew I was going to be able to control what I was doing quite well. I felt like I controlled my golf ball well into the middle of greens, and I felt like I could have been a little more aggressive at times if I’d needed to be.”
And the truth was, he didn’t need to be. Despite being without a title since the 2018 Nordea Masters in Sweden, and having had a couple of runner-up finishes this year, he was coolness personified as the starry field jostled for position behind him.
At the penultimate hole of the competition, he rolled in a long putt for birdie to assume a one-stroke lead from Tyrrell Hatton, the multiple Rolex Series tournament winner who had the clubhouse lead at 22-under.
Waring’s drive at the 72nd hole was perfect. He opted against a layup, and went direct for the heart of the green. His approach might not have exactly matched the one he played in setting up the eagle that gave him a course-record 61 on Friday, which he had termed “the best shot I’ve ever hit”.
This time it ran through the back, but he was comfortably up and down from there for another birdie that saw him finish on 24-under and claim the Falcon Trophy.
His calmness under pressure was remarkable. He said it was all down to delegation: he would worry about plotting his way round the course, while his caddie, Alex Evans, looked after any scoreboard watching that needed doing.
“I was just trying to play golf, and he was managing how aggressive he wanted me to be,” Waring said.
“Sometimes you have to do that. If you are looking at leaderboards the whole time, you know what you have to do, but you also know who the people are behind you.
“[Playing partners] Shane Lowry is a real good lad, a good friend of mine, as is Niklas Norgaard, and I had my best mate on the bag, so we had a bit of a laugh today. It was good fun.
“With all the pressure that was on, it was still a bit of a laugh out there. I’m wearing shorts, out in the beautiful sunshine, so it felt to me like I was on holiday out there at times.
“I was looking around, taking in the surroundings, and I felt like I was in a good place.”
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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.”
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Rating: 3.5/5
