As the dinner hour came and went Monday night, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick was feeling overheated, hungry and dehydrated. Throw in completely knackered, and it represented the grand slam of fatigue.
“That about sums it up,” he said.
Not only had the rising golf prospect played 18 holes in the heat of the afternoon at Al Badia Golf Club, where temperatures in the sunshine approached 43°C during the first round of the Mena Tour's Sheikh Maktoum Dubai Open, but his professional circumstances certainly conspired against him, too.
The rookie from Sheffield, who turned 20 three weeks ago, finished eighth at the Challenge Tour event in Kazakhstan on Sunday night, then caught a plane to Dubai on Monday morning, arriving shortly before 11am. He headed straight to the course, warmed up for a few minutes, then played in the day’s final threesome, teeing off shortly after 1pm, during the hottest portion of the day.
Adding another layer of duress was the fact that Fitzpatrick, the 2012 US Amateur champion, was playing Al Badia sight unseen.
He then promptly birdied three of the first five holes and finished with a 1-under 70 that left him four shots off the lead.
Even for a player in a hurry to establish his pro credentials, the 24-hour period was a mad rush.
Playing a course without a practice round can be an adventure, though he is certainly talented enough to get away with it. “I definitely wouldn’t [recommend it],” he said, laughing. For first-year players, even uniquely skilled ones, the first year can be an exercise in frantic cab rides, lengthy airline layovers and late-night phone calls to travel agents.
Fitzpatrick, who is trying to secure a card on the European Tour for 2015, is playing the developmental Challenge circuit and has signed up for the autumn qualifying school, doubling down on his bets. There was some method to the madness to this week, though.
Fitzpatrick, who has an endorsement deal with Golf in Dubai, the organisation that runs the Mena Tour, will log three rounds this week at Al Badia, where the Challenge Tour season finale will be played in November. If he advances that far, he will not be playing blind the next time around.
“It could be of a big benefit, really,” he said. The former Walker Cup player, who was the first Englishman in 102 years to win the US Amateur title, has made seven of 10 cuts since turning pro at the European Tour’s Irish Open over the summer.
That is no surprise, since he finished as low amateur at both the US and British Opens before deciding to play for pay.
The world’s No 1-ranked amateur in 2013, the baby-faced Briton is a retro-style player in an era of oversized bombers.
He weighs about 65 kilograms, stands 1.73 metres and looks like the high-school kid who wipes your clubs at the end of the round.
In a way, this week stands as a fitting synopsis of his immediate future. In juggling uncertain paths on the Challenge Tour and Q-School, anything could happen.
“I’m just trying to play the best I can and try to get on the main tour as quickly as possible,” he said.
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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.”
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Scoreline:
Everton 4
Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', Digne 56', Walcott 64'
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
