Gary Player - The Legend

Saadiyat Beach Golf Club Opens To Rave Reviews

Feb 2, 2010 | Filed Under: Golf Course Design   

On 28 January 2010 the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club kicked off its grand opening with the inaugural Saadiyat Beach Classic charity golf tournament hosted by Gary Player.  Mr. Player officially opened the tournament with a perfect drive off of the first tee and then presented his autographed driver to the Tourism Development Investment Company’s COO, Ahmad Hussain (the TDIC is the master developer of Saadiyat Island). The Emirates Airlines team led by world number 11 golfer Rory McCilroy, and playing partners Pavan Nihalan, Kory Thompson, and Ashok Galgotia (all from Emirates Airlines) took home the first ever SBC Classic trophy winning with a combined team score of 27 under par.

The event was a great success raising over $1 million for children in need in The Middle East and around the globe and aiding in the relief effort in Haiti.  The Thursday evening festivities featured a silent auction, where McCilroy fresh off of his tournament win, was the winning bidder for a luxury vacation to the Maldives, Phuket and the Golden Triangle in Thailand later this year.

A number of top notch golfers were in attendance – McCilroy, Darren Clarke and Oliver Fisher headlined the European Tour, Catriona Matthew, Melissa Reid, Maria Verchenova and Henrietta Zuel, the Ladies’ European Tour and Sam Torrance, Peter Mitchell, and Costantino Rocca showed that the “old guys” from the Champions Tour can still play.  All had fun and were very impressed with the course and facilities.

“It’s brilliant,” said McCilroy. “It still needs a bit of time to bed in and mature, but the layout is great. Obviously there is talk of the Abu Dhabi Championship coming here in a couple of years and it is definitely good enough to hold an event like that… I mean, we didn’t even play off the back tees and it was still really, really tough – especially if you get a wind.”

Darren Clarke was equally impressed with Player’s design.

“It’s challenging,” he said. “You have to think, you have to work the ball in a bit. It’s really very good… Compared to other seaside courses, it’s slightly different grass, but obviously that is something Gary is trying to recreate and I think the course is absolutely brilliant. I think it would be fantastic for the Abu Dhabi Championship to come here.”

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