The 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa became the youngest winner of a sanctioned Tour event two years ago.
The 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa became the youngest winner of a sanctioned Tour event two years ago.

Golf

Luck of draw smiles on Ishikawa

The Japanese golf sensation will have two rounds with Tiger Woods, the world No 1 who he is being compared to.

William Johnson

July 14, 2009

TURNBERRY // Ryo Ishikawa, the emerging golfing sensation from Japan whom many experts are comparing to Tiger Woods in his teenage days, has been drawn against the great man for the first two rounds of the 138th Open Championship which begins at Turnberry on Thursday. Lee Westwood, one of England's finest, will join one of the most attractive of the 52 threesome groups who will tackle what is expected to be a tough Ayrshire course.

Ishikawa, 17, who made history when he became the youngest ever winner of a sanctioned tour event at 15, has never been in Tiger's company before, although they met briefly at the Accenture World Matchplay tournament in the spring. Woods has never played a competitive round at the course which is being used for only the fourth time as an Open venue. The world No 1, back to something like his best again after a lengthy absence to undergo knee surgery, arrived on Sunday for an intensive practice round and indicated yesterday after teeing off in a light southerly breeze that he expects to find the conditions as testing as anywhere.

Yesterday's draw was also kind to another outstanding youngster Matteo Manassero, the 16-year-old Italian prodigy who won the recent Amateur Championship. He will go out alongside Turnberry's most famous champion Tom Watson, who won the legendary Duel in the Sun with Jack Nicklaus in 1977, and Sergio Garcia, the top Spaniard who has endured several Open near-misses. Garcia went particularly close at Carnoustie two years ago when he had a 10-footer at the last to deny Padraig Harrington the first of two successive holds of the coveted Claret Jug.

It will be a considerable upset to the form book if the genial Irishman makes it a hat-trick this year. His form and confidence have slumped in recent months but, a renowned big day performer, he will be hoping his game for the big stage returns when he goes out in a marquee group with Australia's Geoff Ogilvy, a former US Open champion, and the dangerous American veteran Jim Furyk. The honour of hitting the first Open tee shot at Turnberry since Nick Price walked triumphantly down the 18th in 1994 goes to England's Paul Broadhurst 21 years after he claimed the Silver Medal for leading amateur at Royal Lytham.

Broadhurst will be joined for the 6.30am start by former major winners Michael Campbell and Mark Calcavechia. There will be considerable local interest in the fortunes of a strong Scottish family of Salmans. Two of the three brothers, Lloyd and Elliot, are playing, having made it through final qualifying. A third, Zack, just failed to make the qualifying mark but will be carrying Elliot's bag. Lloyd is hoping to emulate his other Open appearance in 2005 when, as an amateur, he tied for 15th place.

"It's been a long wait trying hard to get back into the Championship as a professional, but it's a great feeling," he said. Elliot will not only be making his Open debut but it will be his first tournament of any importance. "To be here with both of my brothers is fantastic," he said. "I can't wait for Thursday to come." The withdrawal of another American Brett Quigley proved fortuitous for Frenchman Thomas Levet who comes in as first reserve.

wjohnson@thenational.ae

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.”