ABU DHABI // As a midday call to prayer wafted over the practice range at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, the melody was all but drowned out by a piercing sound that was music of a different sort to Phil Mickelson’s ears.
One by one, the world No 5 sent laser beams onto the back of the range as he tested a series of new drivers that had him feeling almost giddy about his 2014 season, which begins tomorrow at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Mickelson, 43, won three tournaments last year, including the British Open, yet competed most of the season with a self-imposed handicap of sorts. For much of the year, he jettisoned his driver, sacrificed some horsepower and plodded onwards with a modified 3-wood.
Mickelson has forever been a tinkerer and techie when it comes to the 14 clubs in his bag, but rarely has he seemed so upbeat about his chances on the eve of a new season. Entering his 23rd professional season, he belted out some heavy lyrics.
“As I look back on 2013, I played some of the best golf of my career and had some huge breakthroughs,” Mickelson said. “But I did most of it without a driver.”
Mickelson ditched the club in June while playing in Memphis, then played a series of huge summer tournaments in succession using a modified 3-wood instead, including the US Open, British Open and PGA Championship. A fiend for distance, he was practically giddy about where the new club might take him.
“It’s a whole different weapon in my arsenal,” he said of the club, which reduces the sidespin he imparts on the ball. “If I drive the ball well, like I have been in this offseason, this 2014 season could be the best year of my career for that simple reason.”
It is rarely that simple with Mickelson, the most nerve-jangling player in the game’s upper tier, but after finishing second at the US Open and winning back-to-back events in the UK in July – without a driver in the bag – his enthusiasm seems legitimate.
“I hit it much straighter because I don’t have to manipulate it,” said Mickelson, who is playing for the second time in Abu Dhabi. “I just swing it.”
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ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Pakistan v New Zealand Test series
Pakistan: Sarfraz (c), Hafeez, Imam, Azhar, Sohail, Shafiq, Azam, Saad, Yasir, Asif, Abbas, Hassan, Afridi, Ashraf, Hamza
New Zealand: Williamson (c), Blundell, Boult, De Grandhomme, Henry, Latham, Nicholls, Ajaz, Raval, Sodhi, Somerville, Southee, Taylor, Wagner
Umpires: Bruce Oxerford (AUS) and Ian Gould (ENG); TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS); Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
Tickets and schedule: Entry is free for all spectators. Gates open at 9am. Play commences at 10am
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES EPISODE 1: LOT 36
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roche, Elpidia Carrillo
Rating: 4/5
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything
Director: Asif Kapadia
4/5
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 2 (Willems 25', Shelvey 88')
Manchester City 2 (Sterling 22', De Bruyne 82')
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
