Dubai schoolgirl Chiara Noja continues resurgence with upbeat show at PIF London Championship

Teenager is on her way back from injury and found form at tournament in Hertfordshire - just down the road from where she used to live

Chiara Noja during the PIF London Championship at the Centurion Club, England. Photo: PIF London Championship

With bright blue skies and agreeable temperatures over the course of the PIF London Championship, Chiara Noja might have wondered why her family ever made the decision to up sticks and move to Dubai instead.

The German-born teen lived around 15 minutes away from the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire, where the tournament was played this weekend, between the ages of seven and 14.

Then the family opted to switch to the UAE and chase the sun instead – which is, of course, far more predictable in Dubai than London.

“We wanted to move somewhere warmer and were struggling with school,” Noja said.

“We would finish at 4.30pm every day here and in the winter, by the time I got out, it was already dark. We were looking for places to move to, and Dubai came up.

“It has worked out perfectly, and I have not really complained since.”

Noja was already showing prodigious talent for the sport back then, despite her tender years. Still only 19 now, she has been making the news in golf for five years.

Back in 2020, she made her debut on the Ladies European Tour when she played at the Dubai Moonlight Classic at Emirates Golf Club, aged 14.

She was newly arrived as a resident in the city at that time, after Covid had briefly delayed the move from Hertfordshire.

She was back in familiar territory in the UK this weekend, at what is one of five tournaments on the PIF Global Series - a set of events with elevated prize funds organised by Golf Saudi.

It did not qualify as home comforts exactly. She used to live in Northwood, on the outskirts of nearby Watford, and her home course was The Buckinghamshire rather than Centurion.

And, having been born in Berlin, she represents Germany – the same nation as the tournament’s winner, Laura Fuenfstueck.

But the conditions still appeared to be Noja’s liking. Her one over par tournament total gave her a share of 41st place.

Clearly, the goal is to be contending at the top of the leaderboard, but her performance was another step in the right direction following a challenging past 18 months.

By midway through 2023, Noja had made it to No 91 in the Rolex world rankings for women golfers. But an indifferent run of results as she battled injury saw her tumble back down the standings last year, bottoming out at No 794.

“I hurt my shoulder in the end of 2023, and played a little too long with it,” Noja said.

“I tried a couple of different techniques healing it. That didn’t work, and then I stopped playing too late, and made it chronic. That wasn’t great.

“I then took seven or eight months off golf completely. It was all about rehab centres, doing lots of work in the gym and with physios, trying to rebuild all the systems that were damaged.”

Contending with such an issue at such a young age was a challenge, and Noja said it has taken some readjustment.

“I probably started a little too early this year, but it was about finding my footing again,” she said.

“It has been a weird situation because mentally you feel as though you are still the person you were before.

Chiara Noja at the Jumeriah Golf Estates at the age of 16. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

“Sometimes the results take a while to catch up, but that is all part of it. They say that if you are out for 12 months, it takes you 24 to get back.

“I’m trying to speed it up a little bit, but we will see.”

Her steady resurgence from injury is doubly impressive given the fact that she is still juggling time spent on the Ladies European Tour with schoolwork.

She is grateful to the flexibility granted to her by FirstPoint School in Dubai, where she is in the final phase of studying for her A-levels.

“I love the entire teaching system there,” Noja said. “My headmaster was always very supportive, as was the head of secondary, and they still are.

“I am finishing my A-levels now, because I lost a year when we moved to Dubai as I basically didn’t get to go to school for eight months. I will hopefully be done in January.

“I am going to be very relieved when I get my A-levels over and done with and don’t have to focus on that. If anything else [further studies] comes up, maybe I can take that on.”

While she might still be a little way off the form of three years back, when she had a win in Jeddah and top-10s in South Africa and Belgium, signs are that her form is returning.

Her tie for eighth at the Aramco Korea Championship in May was the best result since her injury, and she has had solid results in the time since, too.

“I played great that week and that is always great to see, that your hard work is paying off a little bit,” Noja said.

“I played well in [the Czech Ladies Open, where she tied for 17th] as well, so up and down is how I would describe it right now.”