Rory McIlroy adds another Desert Swing stop with Dubai Desert Classic commitment

Rory McIlroy will make it a busy winter in the UAE, as organisers officially announced his addition to the Dubai Desert Classic Field on Sunday.

World No 1 McIlroy is already slated to play the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which starts Thursday.

Two weeks after that tournament ends McIlroy will be back in action down the road in Dubai as part of the European Tour’s “Desert Swing”, a series of high-profile tournaments that run through the Arabian Gulf region this time of year.

“I’ve got great memories of Dubai and it will be fun to get back to a golf course where I have enjoyed success over the years,” the 25-year-old Northern Irishman said in a press release.

McIlroy made his first cut in a European Tour event at the age of 17 at the 2007 Dubai tournament, and won his first European Tour even at 19 at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic.

“It was nice to get my first professional win in Dubai,” McIlroy said in the release. “That win was a real stepping stone for the success that followed.”

McIlroy has risen in the last year to the summit of golf as Tiger Woods has waned, winning the British Open and US PGA Championship in 2014.

He joins a crowded field that includes Henrik Stenson, 2014 champion and European Ryder Cup team member Stephen Gallacher, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood.

“They obviously have an oustanding field all the time, and the golf course (Majlis) is really in great shape,” said McIlroy. “Obviously, I will be looking to win the event again.”

The Dubai Desert Classic runs from January 29-February 1 at Emirates Golf Club.

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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn

In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:

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Manchester United 6 (McTominay 2', 3'; Fernandes 20', 70' pen; Lindelof 37'; James 65')

Leeds United 2 (Cooper 41'; Dallas 73')

Man of the match: Scott McTominay (Manchester United)

The biog

Name: Abeer Al Shahi

Emirate: Sharjah – Khor Fakkan

Education: Master’s degree in special education, preparing for a PhD in philosophy.

Favourite activities: Bungee jumping

Favourite quote: “My people and I will not settle for anything less than first place” – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.

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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Classification of skills

A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.

A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.

The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.

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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.

- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.

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