Jon Rahm of Spain looks forward to the DP World Tour Championship after a lengthy break. Getty
Jon Rahm of Spain looks forward to the DP World Tour Championship after a lengthy break. Getty
Jon Rahm of Spain looks forward to the DP World Tour Championship after a lengthy break. Getty
Jon Rahm of Spain looks forward to the DP World Tour Championship after a lengthy break. Getty

Golf

DP World Tour Championship: Jon Rahm needs a break to claim the Race to Dubai

Self-imposed exile means the 2017 DP World Tour Championship winner has arrived fresh and raring to go

John McAuley
John McAuley

November 21, 2019

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Jon Rahm hasn't trodden a typical path to this week’s DP World Tour Championship.

Winner of the event two years ago, the world No 5 spent the past six weeks away from competitive golf. He has not played, in fact, since his most recent victory, his successful defence at the Spanish Open.

Still, Rahm arrived at Jumeirah Golf Estates with the chance to conclude another strong season with a first European No 1 crown.

Even with the self-imposed downtime, the Spaniard enters the grand finale third in the Race to Dubai, knowing a win, coupled with a tied second or worse for leader Bernd Wiesberger, could land him the honour.

So, while his game might not be the sharpest, the time away helped firm his focus. Especially since the next 12 months includes the Tokyo Olympics and Ryder Cup, not to mention his wedding to fiance Kelley Cahill.

“I needed it. Honestly, I needed it,” Rahm said on Wednesday. “After Spain, I stayed home for a week, and after that, three more weeks in Arizona where I truly didn’t even step on a golf course.

“With the year we have coming up, and basically ever since I became a good amateur in Spain, it’s almost been 10 straight years of non-stop. Never have had a break like that, and professional golf is demanding.

“It was more like a future thing, knowing that with me getting married in Christmas, and the year we’re going to have, I needed a break at some point.”

Understandably, he concedes ring rust could be an issue. Rahm's course pedigree is not open to question: he won around Earth two years ago on debut, prevailing by a single shot. Last year, he was tied fourth. It’s just the long lay-off could be a factor.

“I really don’t know how it’s going to go,” Rahm said. “I’m hoping it’s going to be good. I'm feeling good. Feeling rested and looking forward to the week.”

Although, in the final furlongs of the Race, he is playing catch-up. “I’d rather be the front man, honestly,” he said.

“You don’t necessarily have to win. You just need to play good. But I’m here to win, and hopefully I get it done and won't have to think about the possible consequences of it.”

Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

FFP EXPLAINED

What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.

What the rules dictate? 
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.

What are the penalties? 
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.

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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics

 

UK’s AI plan
  • AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
  • £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
  • £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
  • £250m to train new AI models
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Champions League quarter-final, first leg

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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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