If Rory McIlroy was keen to put behind him all the off-the-course issues that dominated still his stellar 2022 on it, then a glance at the leaderboard in Dubai probably prompted a reflex eye roll.
The world No 1 had already “tee-gate” to contend with this week at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the build-up to the season’s second Rolex Series event quickly consumed by an apparent, and easily understandable, beef with Patrick Reed.
The word around the golfing world is that those who defected last year to LIV Golf, of which Reed is one, feel McIlroy has been a little too outspoken when it comes to what many refer to as golf’s “civil war”.
The four-time major winner has pinned his colours to a popular mast, serving not only as the game’s prominent player, but also the lead voice for the traditional tours.
Asked on Wednesday how much the feeling of being mentally drained at the end of last year was down to the “extra-curricular stuff with LIV”, McIlroy replied: “All of it. All of it.”
It’s conceivable, then, by the close of a second successive weather-delayed day at Emirates Golf Club on Friday, McIlroy would have let out an audible sigh.
Not, though, for his score and thus chances of a record-equalling third Classic triumph. McIlroy returned on Friday morning to complete his suspended opening round and played the sort of golf only a world No 1 really can, going birdie-eagle-birdie to sign for a 6-under-par 66. It hoisted the 2009 and 2015 champion to the top of the leaderboard.
Yet it’s the company he keeps. Reed was finishing his first round around the exact same time, and on the exact same score. By the time Friday had finished, McIlroy sat in a tie for fourth alongside Reed and South Africa’s Lucas De Jager, while Ian Poulter and Richard Bland, two fully fledged LIV representatives, shared the summit, on 8-under.
To be fair, unlike McIlroy, the English duo had time to begin their second rounds: Poulter had only just posted 7-under for his first round before squeezing in another three holes before darkness descended on the Majlis Course. Bland, meanwhile, racked up three more birdies through four holes of his second round to augment an opening 67.
Sandwiched in between the pair and McIlroy was young Spaniard Angel Hidalgo, who opened with a 66 and then went another 1-under through three holes of his second.
Maybe in contrast to McIlroy, Hidalgo took great pleasure in surveying the leaderboard.
“Yeah, it was weird,” said the world No 315, whose most notable professional win to date came on the Challenge Tour, at the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG. “See my surname and [McIlroy's] surname together in the leaderboard was pretty cool.”
Hidalgo, 24, added with a laugh: “That's why I made bogey [on his closing hole of the first round], to be close to him.
"It was something, a good dream when you see him winning majors. We played good today, and maybe why not play with him?”
Playing like McIlroy is a pretty fail-safe way to success. Just take his "wild" 45-minute effort on Friday morning, when he sunk the short birdie putt from overnight, bounced his ball into the hole a 116-yard wedge from the fairway sand on the par-4 8th – his penultimate hole – and landed his approach on the next to four foot for another birdie.
“I wouldn't say I'm the best fairway bunker player in the world,” said McIlroy, with typical understatement. “The desert is a little nicer, it's a little more packed down, so you get some better lies.
“All I was thinking about was catching it clean. My tendency out of those lies is to hit it a little bit heavy. As soon as I struck it, I knew it came out really nicely and it was right down the pin. Again, anything inside of 20 feet, I would have been happy with, so that was certainly a bonus.”
Ditto his 66, even if McIlroy wasn't too gushing about how he got there.
"Honestly not very good - I struggled out there most of yesterday," McIlroy said. "I thought did I well to be under par by the end of the day. I fought back after some very sloppy rusty golf over the first 14 holes.
“And then I came out and I don't really know if anything clicked because I don't think I hit enough shots to know. But it was definitely needed.
"I would have been happy with anything around 70 the way I played, and then to come in and shoot 66 is quite the bonus.”
Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, chose to focus on his debut performance at the Classic rather than the earlier McIlroy plotline.
“I'm obviously really happy with the way I played,” the American said after concluding his first round with an eagle on 18. “I felt like last week [missed cut in Abu Dhabi] wasn't really a reflection of all the hard work I've been doing in the off-season. It was more getting rusty on playing tournament golf.
“So to come out this week and feel like I was able to put everything together and to have my mind right on game-planning and course management was definitely a plus. I feel like I had full control of the golf ball and made a couple putts.”
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Stage result
1. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe, in 3:29.09
2. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto-Soudal
3. Rudy Barbier (FRA) Israel Start-Up Nation
4. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma
5. Luka Mezgec (SLO) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Sunweb
7. Jakub Mareczko (ITA) CCC
8. Max Walscheid (GER) NTT
9. José Rojas (ESP) Movistar
10. Andrea Vendrame (ITA) Ag2r La Mondiale, all at same time
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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