Tiger Woods said that he “didn’t play poorly” despite sliding to his third straight defeat of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National as Europe grabbed a 10-6 lead over the United States yesterday to take into today’s singles matches.
The 14-time major champion and Patrick Reed suffered a second fourballs loss to Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood, four and three, in the morning before Woods was brushed aside by the same pairing alongside Bryson DeChambeau in the foursomes, five and four.
Woods had arrived in France for the competition full of confidence after capping an incredible comeback season after injury with his first title since 2013 last weekend.
But even at his imperious best, he was never a strong Ryder Cup player when in a pairing, and he has now won only nine, lost 19 and halved one of his 29 fourballs and foursomes matches in the event.
Woods was unlucky in some respects - being partnered with a totally out-of-sorts Reed, and also being drawn against the red-hot Molinari and Fleetwood duo three times.
Woods admitted he was frustrated and he said it was at “the fact that I lost three matches, and didn’t feel like I played poorly”.
He added: “That’s the frustrating thing about match play. We can play well and nothing can happen. We ran against two guys that were both playing well and when one was out of the hole, especially in best-ball, the other one made birdie and vice versa.
“They did that a lot to us. At one point, they made six out of eight birdies on the back nine, and only one person was in the hole at a time. That’s the nature of match play.”
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The United States will need to equal the record Ryder Cup comeback if they are to retain the trophy today, after their thrilling win in the 1999 “Battle of Brookline” and Europe’s triumph at Medinah six years ago.
But Woods has a far better record in singles play, having only lost one of seven matches, while also lifting the WGC World Matchplay title three times.
“We’ve got some work to do tomorrow,” said Woods. “Hopefully we can get off to a quick start and get up in some of these matches, and turn the tide a little bit.”
Reed badly let down the former world No 1 in the fourballs on both days.
The US Masters champion endured a nightmare round yesterday, hitting multiple balls into the water, spending much of his time in the rough, and even hitting one tee shot out of bounds and almost into a spectator shopping area.
Woods played down his teammate’s horror show, though, admitting that it was a similar story to 24 hours before, when they lost three and one to Molinari and Fleetwood.
“We fought back from 2-down to get it to all-square,” he said. “And then we didn’t do anything from there. They made a bunch of birdies, and we didn’t answer.”
Molinari and Fleetwood have proven to be key to Europe’s success, winning all four matches they have played.
Thomas Bjorn, Europe’s captain, said of the pair: “They were phenomenal. It was something that came a while ago. They spend a lot of time together and get on really well off the golf course.
“And they really want to be on the golf course together, they have fun together, they work hard and they are very serious with their golf. It has been tremendous to watch them play.”
Despite their strong position Bjorn said he is not taking anything granted going into the final day.
I’ve seen too many times what the singles does,” the Dane said.
“They have been great at refocusing and going out and delivering. I really thought 2-2 this afternoon would be a good place for us to be.
“We need every single man on the course to do their bit, go out there and play hard, determined to win this back.”
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THURSDAY FIXTURES
4.15pm: Italy v Spain (Group A)
5.30pm: Egypt v Mexico (Group B)
6.45pm: UAE v Japan (Group A)
8pm: Iran v Russia (Group B)
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.”
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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