With a couple of decent title defences in the bag this season already, Jon Rahm is hoping his third proves a charm in Dubai.
The Spaniard, ranked eighth in the world, returns to the DP World Tour Championship this week, where last year he delivered a firm endorsement of his undoubted talent by winning on debut.
As such, he arrives at Jumeirah Golf Estates as one of the men to beat. And defending titles clearly sits well with him. When twice attempting to hang onto hardware this campaign, Rahm finished tied-29th at the Farmers Insurance Open and T-4 at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
Perhaps, then, third time lucky?
“Hard to improve on what I did last year,” Rahm conceded on Wednesday. “I was able to be defending champion for three events this year. In Torrey [Pines], I played great the first two days, was in the final group, but didn't play great on the weekend.
“In Ireland, I was doing good until that second hole [on Sunday] – a triple-bogey doesn't help – but I still battled back and almost got myself into the play-off. So hopefully, I've gotten close and maybe this progression continues and I'm able to defend this week.”
Overall, his progression has been rapid. Rahm won three times in his first full season as a professional, and in January was within another victory of reaching world No 1.
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Understandably, this season has not quite reached those heights, although he still won on the PGA Tour and his national championship in Spain, while he finished in the top four at both the US Masters and US PGA Championship. At the Ryder Cup, also, there was a memorable success against Tiger Woods in the singles, part of Europe's comprehensive triumph in France.
And, as taming the Tiger, not to mention his form in his six previous appearances Rolex Series events, portrays, Rahm is a man for the grand occasion.
“For the most part, when I think about the year, I peak in those events, the ones that matter to me,” Rahm, 24, said. “Clearly I'm doing something right, if I finished top 15 in all of them and won twice, so hopefully I can keep that going this week and have a chance to win again on Sunday.”
Rating his year, Rahm offered that he had taken more satisfaction from his personal life, rather than professional.
“I'm not going to do it based on last year because last year was a 10 out of 10," he said. "For what I set it out to be and how hard it was to live up to expectation, I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.
“There’s so many things I learned about myself this year. What I’m going to say is it was a year for a lot of personal growth.
"It was a great year to get engaged and start my life. I would say in personal and family-matters way, it was such a great year. I’ll give it a 10 out of 10."
Sunday at the Ryder Cup would probably rank around that, too. Asked for the best moment of his 2&1 win against Woods, Rahm said: “The last putt. But I think the whole experience is my favourite thing.
“I can't point out one moment, since I found out I was playing against him until it was over, the whole series of events and what I had to do to get ready and mentally ready and play good golf.
"And I was so proud of myself the way I conducted and the way I acted and the way I kept myself very balanced throughout the whole round. I can't pick one moment. If I have to say the most special one is right before I stood up to the putt, walking towards it.
"Somebody in the crowd thought it was a great moment to yell, just at the top of their lungs, ‘Do it for Seve’. So, you know, it's not that I did it for him, but to do it in the middle of the process and three seconds be ready…”
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
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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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