Daniel Hendry will learn much in the next few days about whether his plan to become a professional golfer is a realistic ambition or an impossible dream.
Hendry, 17, will take on the cream of teenage talent from the United Kingdom in a tournament organised by the Daily Telegraph.
The Dubai schoolboy earned the right to pit his game against those young golfers by winning a qualifier for the Abu Dhabi Junior Championship with a three-over par score of 75 on the National Course, the venue for the European Tour event.
He repeated that feat in a specially arranged practice round and concluded that he is in good shape for what promises to be a daunting challenge.
"I would have liked a better score, and I know I'm going to need a better score to do well in the tournament," said the Scotland-born Hendry, who became a scratch golfer in February and has since progressed to plus-three handicap status as a member of Emirates Golf Club where he has been a member since he started playing the game.
"But I felt I hit the ball solidly round what is a tough course and the overall performance was more than satisfactory. Hitting top form today would have meant I had peaked too early. It's a question of building up gradually to an event as big as this."
The youngster is determined to make the grade in the professional ranks even as he is being distracted in a key part of his golfing year by forthcoming modules in two of the four A levels for which he is studying.
"The hope is to get a [golf] scholarship in the United States for 2012," he said. "It's a bit stressful putting it all together before all the places go but I have already got a couple of offers.
"Scratch or better will get me a place at one of the colleges. Obviously it will help to have a better handicap. But it is more about performances in the big tournaments and how your personality comes across.
That is why the three-day Abu Dhabi Junior Championship is so vital to Hendry, who has represented Scotland at schoolboy level and has a job offer back home in Stirling if his American adventure fails to blossom.
A triumph over Britain's best would get him noticed and possibly earn him an invitation into the professional event at the same course in January. He is also hoping to qualify for two other events on the Desert Swing - the Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters.
He was able to compare his level of ability with two other Daily Telegraph qualifiers - Oliver Carr and Toby Tree - during the summer and is looking forward to renewing the rivalry in the latest running of the junior competition which was launched as a boys' event in 1985 and became open to girls five years later.
"I have beaten them before so there is no reason why I can't go out there and perform well," said Hendry, who finished fourth in the Scottish Under 18s, tied for seventh in the Scottish Under 16s and made the cut in the English boys' championship during his summer holidays.
"A top-three finish is realistic for me. Any higher than that would be fantastic. But I know it's going to be tough because there are some excellent players coming here with eyes on this title.
"This is the biggest honour so far for me. It's the most important tournament I've played in individually and I'm really excited about it.
"I have always enjoyed The National course in Abu Dhabi. I probably enjoy it more than my own club at Emirates. I like the risk and reward set-up there."
Hendry is trying not to get overwhelmed by the possibility of eventually getting paid for pursuing his sporting passion.
He said: "I am not putting too much pressure on myself at this stage of my career. I reckon all of that is five or six years into the future."
His father, Andrew, who caddied for him when we went round The National course and has carried the bag for his son on most of the big occasions, nodded.
"His mother and I are nervous about this," he said. "You always want to give your children every opportunity to achieve their career ambitions but we are wary that it is a tough career to break into."
The long-standing Daily Telegraph tournament which is in its third year as the Abu Dhabi Championship will feature 12 boys, including Hendry, and nine girls in three rounds of strokeplay from today.
wjohnson@thenational.ae
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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.”
