Dubai Desert Classic, a rich history: 25 moments worth remembering from history

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  1994 – ELS’ FANTASTIC FIRST It has been overlooked in the mists of time, given the 66 global wins Ernie Els has amassed, but his first European Tour win was recorded in Dubai in 1994 – with an exclamation point. Els opened with an 11-under 61 and beat Greg Norman by six shots. Both remain event records. Five months later, he won his first US Open. 2003 – SUPER SUBSTITUTE With trouble again brewing in the Gulf region in 2003, Tiger Woods was a last-minute withdrawal. Added to the field was Robert-Jan Derksen, who was not ranked in the world top 3,000. The Dutchman claimed his first European Tour title by beating Ernie Els by a stroke. “It’s the biggest shock of my life – unbelievable,” Derksen said.

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  2013 – WHERE EAGLES DARE Stephen Gallacher was clinging to a one-shot lead with three holes left in the 2013 event when he holed a 125-yard wedge shot from the rough for an eagle to cement the title. It was hardly a surprise. Incredibly, it marked his fifth eagle of the week and helped him match the tournament scoring record of 22 under. 1992 – BALLESTEROS PUTS DUBAI ON THE MAP Sure, it technically marked the third staging of the tournament, but after taking a one-year hiatus in 1991 because of military activity in the Gulf, when superstar Seve Ballesteros won the Desert Classic a year later, it was truly a landmark moment. Ballesteros would win four more titles in his 50-win European career thereafter.

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  2011 – QUIROS’ TREES AND TEES Alvaro Quiros is one of the most entertaining players in the game, but his final round in 2011 was nothing short of rollicking. After taking the lead, he lost a tee shot in a palm tree on the eighth hole and made a triple-bogey, then aced the par-3 11th. He won by a shot. 1991 – REMEMBERING ... WHAT? What was so memorable about the 1991 event? Nothing, really, which makes it unique in itself. The event was called off after Saddam Hussein’s troops invaded Kuwait, touching off the Gulf War. It marks the only gap in play since the tournament began in 1989. 2009 – MCILROY’S ASCENDANCE Full of promise and potential, Rory McIlroy’s much-anticipated first professional win came five years ago at the Desert Classic. McIlroy, 19, nearly blew a six-shot lead on Sunday, but held on to beat another future US Open winner, Justin Rose. A future world No 1’s career was launched.

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  1995 – WALK THE WALK Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion and former world No 1, first played in Dubai in 1994, when he missed the cut, then sat in the broadcast booth and supplied his unique brand of non sequiturs and bons mots. He returned 12 months later, closed with a 66 and beat Colin Montgomerie by three shots. 2011 – GREAT EXPECTORATIONS He was savaged by a Sky Sports analyst for being “disgusting”, excoriated by writers for his attitude and fined by the European Tour. Frustrated by a poor putt in the final round of 2011, Tiger Woods contemptuously spat on the 12th green as cameras rolled. He apologised, but the incident drew global headlines. 2010 – WESTWOOD WOBBLES AGAIN The former world No 1 has the most frustrating track record of any elite player at the Emirates Golf Club, with three runner-up finishes, but 2010 was truly painful. Westwood missed birdie putts of 10 and 18 feet in a play-off with winner Miguel Angel Jimenez, then missed a six-footer for par that would have extended sudden death.

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  2011 – SIMPLE AS 1-2-3 Back before groupings were so routinely massaged to ensure maximum impact, Dubai officials rolled out a stunner at the 2011 event, placing the world’s top three players in the same group for the first two rounds. Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Tiger Woods were drawn, the first time the top three were partnered at a regular European Tour stop. 1999 – DUBAI’S TRAVELLING SHOW It seemed like a good idea at the time. Tournament officials, hoping to showcase Dubai’s growing assortment of golf options to the world, moved the tournament in 1999 and 2000 to Dubai Creek. However, players made clear their preference for Emirates Golf Club, and the experiment ended quickly. 2001 – DESERT’S HOTTEST TICKET It remains one of the most famous photos in event history. In 2001, with Tiger Woods playing the best golf of his professional career and becoming a sports figure that generated international wonderment, organisers posted a “sold out” sign at the entrance to Emirates Golf Club. It marked the only golf sell-out in UAE history.

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  2005 – ELS SEALS DEAL Three-time Dubai winner Ernie Els has more battle scars from the 18th at Emirates than any other player, but in 2005, the fates were on his side. A shot behind as he played the 72nd hole, he reached the green in two and made an 18-footer for eagle to win by a shot. A year later, he lost to Woods in a play-off on the same hole. 2011 – ACES ON HIGH It defies calculable odds, but the 2011 event incomprehensibly featured holes-in-one on each of the four days of play, from Keith Horne, Raphael Jacquelin, Dubai resident David Howell and eventual winner Alvaro Quiros. The four-day feast of aces had been achieved only once before in European Tour competition. 2008 – WOODS’ FIRST-PUMP FURY He had easily won a week earlier by a eight shots. This time, he overcame a four-shot deficit with birdies on five of his last seven holes to win by a shot, completing the most spectacular charge in event history and touching off Woods’s now-familiar fist-pumping frenzy. Ernie Els blew a four-shot lead and found the water on the 72nd hole, finishing third.

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  1998 – EASY-BREEZE FOR OLAZABAL The Sunday of the 1998 event was a particularly blustery affair. Used to the Spanish sun, Jose Maria Olazabal would have been forgiven for getting blown away in the late-afternoon sandstorm, yet he put down solid foundations with a chip-in eagle on the par-5 13th and cruised to a three-shot victory. 2008 – KAYMER STALKS WOODS No question, everyone was in awe of Tiger Woods’s come-from-behind win in 2008, including Martin Kaymer, a future world No 1 who finished second. As Woods waited for the awards ceremony to begin, the German dispatched a tournament official to ask Woods a favour. Kaymer had never met the multiple major champion and desperately wanted to say hello.

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  1995 – COUPLES’ WATERING HAZARD Fred Couples was feeling generous after his three-shot victory in 1995 earned him €633,763, and he headed straight for the club’s 19th hole. There, he rang the bell behind the bar and bought everyone in the clubhouse a drink. 2011 – STARS AND STRIPING IT When Lt Col Michael Rowells received a call to his home, wife Molly thought someone was pulling a prank. Her husband, an American serviceman stationed in Afghanistan, was drawn from 16,000 amateur golfers to partner Tiger Woods in the Dubai pro-am. Although he borrowed clubs from Emirates Golf Club, Rowells brought his own caddie: Huey Hughes, a fellow serviceman. 2006 – ANYTHING YOU CAN DO... Tiger Woods would be pretty infallible in a game of one-upmanship. However, Mark O’Meara thought he could finally get one over his pal when they stepped off the plane in Dubai in 2006. O’Meara, the 2004 Dubai champion, quipped: “I’ve got something you haven’t”, in reference to the tournament trophy. Woods’s response? He won one for himself.

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  2009 – SANDS OF TIME Having won the 1993 event, Wayne Westner was a tournament regular until 2004, then suddenly went AWOL. Invited back five years later for the 20th anniversary – which McIlroy won – curious organisers asked where he had been, since past champions are exempt until age 50. The answer was simple: Westner, then 47, did not realise he was free to play. 2005 – FIRST-CLASS ELS After enjoying a day at the races in Johannesburg, a tardy Ernie Els had to take a seat in economy on his flight to Dubai, because the first-class compartment was sold out. When offered a five-star menu in his coach seat, he accepted on one condition: That the entire row received the same meal. The airline agreed. 2001 – WOODS FINALLY TRIPS This one had truly global shock value. Coming off a nine-win season in the US, Tiger Woods hit his approach shot into the water on the last hole of the 2001 Desert Classic to lose by two shots to playing partner Thomas Bjorn. At the pinnacle of his record-shattering form, Woods had blown a rare 54-hole lead, yet would complete the “Tiger Slam” 10 weeks later at the Masters.

DUBAI // As the Dubai Desert Classic this week celebrates its silver anniversary with an all-star assemblage of past champions, here is a look at 25 quintessential, quirky and mostly golden moments in tournament history, compiled by Steve Elling and John McAuley

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