After off-season spent playing Xbox, Tyrrell Hatton ‘a little surprised’ to be leading in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI // The last time Tyrrell Hatton played competitively in the UAE, he left the Earth Course in Dubai trying his best to persuade everyone he was not going to be too downbeat about life.

The Englishman’s finish at the DP World Tour Championship in November was gut-wrenching. After a sensational save on the 71st hole of the tournament, he found water with his final tee shot of his breakthrough season.

It was a terminal lapse that allowed his young compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick to steal from his grasp what would have been the biggest win of his budding career to date.

The nature of the loss was crushing. What is more, he had six weeks to stew on it, before returning to European Tour action at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Stew? Hardly. Instead of wallowing in self pity, Hatton chilled.

The Tour’s leading lights used their time off in differing ways. Fitzpatrick, for instance, spent some of the off-season scouring the Florida property market to invest his Dubai winnings — although he eventually opted against buying his first house.

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■ Tommy Fleetwood: Plans to keep it simple in final round

■ Dustin Johnson: Obeys orders to surge into contention

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Henrik Stenson, the 2016 Race to Dubai winner, swapped fairways for pistes, while Martin Kaymer opted to redouble training ahead of the new campaign.

And Hatton? He loafed around playing Fifa and Call of Duty on his games console at home in the UK.

“I spent most of my time playing Xbox and chilling out at home, to be perfectly honest,” Hatton said after his third-round 68 took him to 13-under for the tournament, and a one-stroke lead. “It is a little bit of a surprise to see where I’m at this week, but I’m very happy with one round to go.”

Hatton does well to remain so chilled out. If he thought much more deeply about the company he keeps these days, he might be a little spooked.

During Round 3, he went round in three shots less than playing partner Stenson, who was the British Open champion last year.

Now he will tee-it up alongside Dustin Johnson, the reigning US Open champ, in the final match of the championship on Sunday.

There is plenty of illustrious company on their shoulders, too, given that 16 players will start Round 4 within three strokes of Hatton. As seems typical of him, the leader is phlegmatic about the prospect.

“Obviously, big names are up there, so I’ve just got to focus on my game and try to play as well as I can,” Hatton said.

“I love this place. It’s one of my favourite events of the year, so hopefully I can go out there tomorrow and have a good day.”

Stenson, the world No 4, is three behind. “It’s very bunched up and a lot of things that can happen in the final round,” Stenson said.

“I know I’ve got to shoot in the mid 60s to have a chance, and that’s definitely doable. Just got to try to carry on.”

Not all the contenders for the Falcon Trophy are gilded household names. Dean Burmester, whose third-round 66 took him to 11-under, only qualified to play here after finishing fourth in his home South African Open last week.

Even then, he was lucky to make it here in time, given the short timeframe to complete the administrative process.

“This is kind of a bonus week for me,” said Burmester, whose round of 66 was bettered only by Johnson.

“I didn’t get a visa until Tuesday morning, and got in here at 3.00am Tuesday night. It’s just nice to be here and to play well is just a bonus.

“Visas are a bit of an issue. Unfortunately our passport is not exactly the greatest one to be travelling on in the world, but I managed to get it sorted. I have a great team behind me and they managed to get the job done.”

pradley@thenational.ae

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Key findings of Jenkins report

Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."

First-round leaderbaord

-5 C Conners (Can)

-3 B Koepka (US), K Bradley (US), V Hovland (Nor), A Wise (US), S Horsfield (Eng), C Davis (Aus);

-2 C Morikawa (US), M Laird (Sco), C Tringale (US)

Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng), R Fowler (US), T Hatton (Eng)

Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)

1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)

3 R McIlroy (NI)

4 D Johnson (US)

THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

Results

2.30pm: Dubai Creek Tower – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Marmara Xm, Gary Sanchez (jockey), Abdelkhir Adam (trainer)

3pm: Al Yasmeen – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: AS Hajez, Jesus Rosales, Khalifa Al Neyadi

3.30pm: Al Ferdous – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Soukainah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout

4pm: The Crown Prince Of Sharjah – Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: AF Thayer, Ray Dawson, Ernst Oertel

4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup – Handicap (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: George Villiers, Antonio Fresu, Bhupat Seemar

5pm: Palma Spring – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Es Abu Mousa, Antonio Fresu, Abubakar Daud

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

Rating: 3/5

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.”