The inaugural Icons Cup, a Ryder Cup-style exhibition golf event, tees off in earnest on Thursday at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, with some of sport’s most recognisable names taking part. Here’s what to expect.
Format:
Taking inspiration from the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, the competition pits a United States team against a Rest of The World side. The event runs across three days, beginning with Wednesday’s pro-am, although the competitive match-play action starts on Thursday. The two teams first face off in morning foursomes (alternate shot) and then in 12 singles matches that afternoon. The Cup concludes Friday with 12 additional singles matches.
Captain marvels:
The sides, comprising players from different sporting spheres, are led by a couple of highly decorated golfers: Darren Clarke, the 2011 British Open champion and 2016 European Ryder Cup captain, heads Team Rest of the World (ROTW), while Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, skippers Team USA. Both Clarke and Couples are still active on the major golf tours.
Leading lights:
There are 12 players on both teams, with each “icon” chosen from a wide-range of sporting spheres. All possess low golf handicaps. Team USA includes Ray Allen (basketball), Marcus Allen (American football), Eric Dickerson (American football), Ken Griffey Jr (baseball), Greg Maddux (baseball), Grant Fuhr (ice hockey), Kelly Slater (surfing) and Oscar De La Hoya (boxing). Meanwhile, Team ROTW features among others Luis Figo (football, Portugal), Kenny Dalglish (football, Scotland), Andriy Shevchenko (football, Ukraine), Kapil Dev (cricket, India), Shane Warne (cricket, Australia), Brian Lara (cricket, Trinidad and Tobago), George Gregan (rugby union, Australia) and Brian O’Driscoll (rugby union, Ireland).
Pressure shots:
“Golf is the hook to get these big stars. It’s a bucket-list thing for them,” says Phil Dickinson, senior company executive at Worldwide Sports and Entertainment, the event organisers. “They’re all keen players and are still hugely competitive. They’ll be kitted out in the team apparel, be wearing mics and have TV cameras scrutinising every shot. It’ll be interesting to see how they perform under the pressure of team golf.”
All-star exhibition:
“It almost puts the cool back into golf,” Dickinson says. “As we know, golf numbers are dwindling and, although we’ve all these prestigious and established tournaments, there’s not a lot of young kids picking up golf clubs and deciding that’ll be their chosen profession. What we’re hoping to do is help make it more appealing to people who didn’t necessarily think golf would be their sport. They could be NFL, MLB, football or rugby fans. It takes the elitism out of golf a little.”
Spectator sport:
Free to attend, spectators can register through the Icons Cup website: http://iconscup.com/admissions/. Fans can still turn up on the day. Thus far, organisers say they have more than 1,000 people registered to attend each day.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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