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Living Golf

Golf Stars and Sponsors Flock to Abu Dhabi

Aired February 05, 2015 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(MUSIC PLAYING)

SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN HOST (voice-over): This month's LIVING GOLF has come to the Persian Gulf and to Abu Dhabi, Qatar and here in Dubai to

profile the European Tour's Middle East swing.

For many of the best players in the world, these three big profile, big money events held in fine weather in successive weeks in close

proximity represent the best way to prepare for the season ahead.

In Abu Dhabi, I get up close with those players looking to make a big impact in 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): All the stories I've heard from guys that have played here are everything's been good. So I'm excited to be

here, excited to spend the week here, get to play some golf, obviously great field and great for me to start off the challenger season this way.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): In Qatar, I visit the state-of-the-art facilities where the next generation of golf stars are being groomed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): There's so many good golfers around nowadays so maybe there's something we can identify that will give them

that advantage over the guy who's ranked two places above them.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): And in Dubai, I find out how the city and the tour drove each other to unparalled expansion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): We were elated to follow our passion and elated to follow our dream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): First up on our tour, Abu Dhabi.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The Gulf States now boast some of the best golf courses in the world. Its oil-rich reserves have allowed this region

to develop into an international hub where business, commerce and leisure developments sprout up in the desert in next to no time.

But back a generation ago, this wasn't such an oasis.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): This is Al Ghazal golf club although built as recently as 1997, this sand course gives you some idea of how golf used

to be played here. So it's a piece of Astroturf at the ready, let's play what could be described as the world's biggest bunker.

When oil was first discovered in Abu Dhabi in 1958, Western petroleum companies rushed in to get a piece of the action. Three years later,

immigrant British workers had built the first-ever golf course in the UAE.

Courses are made out of a clay substance called sabkha (ph). For the greens -- or browns they call them here -- a mixture of sand and oil is

used to produce a road I could get very used to.

To give you an idea of how much golf has changed in the last 50 years, you just need to take a stroll down the road.

The $2.7 million Abu Dhabi championship.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Such is the pull of this area of the world that this tournament is now seen as the opener to the golfing year as

opposed to the first event on the PGA tour.

With stars keen to not only play here but promote themselves in such a lucrative market, few would argue where the season tees off.

All further underlined by the appearance of the world's number one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Hey, Rory, the trigger point with regards to switching onto the 2015 season and getting really started.

When was that moment?

RORY MCILROY, WORLD NUMBER ONE: I flew out on the 4th from Dublin to Dubai and that's when I started to really get into it. And you have those

sort of six hours to think about you want to do during the season. And I write my goals down on the back of a -- my boarding pass.

And I put it in my wallet. I memorize them; I don't look at them until the end of the year. So in my back pocket, in my wallet is a

boarding pass with my goals for this year and I don't really want to share them with anyone else. They're just my little goals and I'll try and

achieve those and I'll take that boarding pass out at the end of the year and see how well I've done.

O'DONOGHUE: You've got a range finder for that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: yes.

O'DONOGHUE: Yes?

Have you got a (INAUDIBLE)?

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Unsurprisingly, sponsors are keen to get bang for their buck here in the desert, making the most of star players to

showcase the tournament to the region and beyond.

So what may seem like a lighthearted photo opportunity about being lost in the sand dunes will soon be seen around the world.

Brand exposure maximized.

GILES MORGAN: All our sponsor investments to be made are decisions that are commercial decisions. They are for the good of our business.

The way the we sponsor is that we then put a lot of effort and investment into making the sponsorships stand out and to be memorable. If

we're going to invest in anything, we do it properly to maximize our ROI. And that is measured through business, as you'd expect, in our own

relationships; also the brand and how much brand exposure that we're receiving around the world.

This is why sponsorship matters a lot to big companies because it's a wonderful vehicle through the associated equity of something else, a set of

clothes, if you like, which allows you to put your best foot forward.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Few players attract as much sponsor media and fan spotlight as Rickie Fowler. And after finishing in the top five in

all four majors last year, the American hopes Abu Dhabi provides the springboard for an even better season and beating a certain Northern

Irishman in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Rickie, in your opinion, the Middle East, how important is it, you know, in professional golf now and certainly to a

lot of the top players?

RICKIE FOWLER, AMERICAN GOLFER (voice-over): I think it's very important. (INAUDIBLE) sponsors that are involved here, the way golf has

grown here over the past few years, the way the cities are developing here. I feel like it's a area where golf can grow even more.

It's very new and us being here, I feel like having the terms that we do have here, golf's only going to continue to grow here.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): You could easily be just playing on the PGA tour but you -- with this visit to Abu Dhabi are showing a greater interest

in becoming a more global player, is that right?

FOWLER (voice-over): Yes, I look forward to being able to play around the world a little bit more, you know, this is the first time for me in the

Middle East. I enjoy traveling and golf kind of allows me to take that and enjoy some places.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): How does Rickie Fowler handle the kind of media attention, the circus, the interest levels that have obviously

increased about you?

FOWLER (voice-over): Well, you're here talking to me. So I'm doing something right. You know, when the media and the fans want your time

it's.

I don't know, it's something to appreciate unless is -- you know, you did something wrong. And then you're in the media, that's not something

you want to do. But with the way I've played and the attention from the media and the fans, it's special to look back on and recognize that I'm

getting that attention because I'm a player. And the more attention I get from that means I'm doing something right out here.

So hopefully we can continue that.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Coming up the next stop on the tour's Middle East swing -- Qatar.

And the next generation of the region's golf stars.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): I mix business with pleasure in Abu Dhabi. Now to head west to Qatar to find golf's future.

While the UAE may have stolen the spotlight in the meteoric rise in the Persian Gulf, it's wealthier neighbor may soon outshine them all.

According to "Forbes" magazine, Qatar is now the richest country in the world per capita. In comparison, the UAE comes in 6th on the list.

This is its capital, Doha, and this is what the planet's third largest reserves of natural gas can build.

In 2022, the FIFA World Cup will be staged here. This is one of the major stadiums at the moment being reconstructed and being here in Doha,

you can't help but appreciate the amount of hard work that's going into creating a sporting legacy that can match Qatar's undoubted financial

muscle. None more so than right here, Aspire Academy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Every aspect of Aspire has been designed to meet the highest international standards and many of the world's top sports

teams and athletes come especially to train here.

When you can host 13 different sports in the world's biggest indoor dome, you can see why.

Saleh Al Kaabi and Ali Al Shahrani are two of the country's top ranked golfers who are making the most of Aspire's state-of-the-art facilities.

JONATHAN GLYNN (voice-over): Saleh, what we're doing here is putting reflective markers on certain landmarks onto your body and then we can take

measurements and input this data into a model so we know where your underlying bones are. And that will enable us to do very detailed

measurements of angles, distances, speeds and things like that so it'll give you good, detailed information about your golf.

So I want you to use your normal swing and 5 iron straight down the level, OK? We're going to measure and then we'll analyze that bit, OK?

SALEH AL KAABI, TOP RANKED GOLFER (voice-over): Golf wasn't like -- before it was like not only popular; everybody was thinking it's only for

old people or for English people. But now it's only different. There's we have some juniors joining the Qatar national team and we have like

(INAUDIBLE) coming for the golf course to visit and to watch what's golf and what it's about.

GLYNN (voice-over): OK, get ready, Saleh.

Swing.

ALI AL SHAHRANI, TOP RANKED GOLFER (voice-over): Before when I started, there was no interest in the game here in Qatar. But after that,

like now, I can see that the Olympic Committee (ph) that they are taking care of the game and I can have a golf station as well.

And I see there's a very big improvement in golf.

GLYNN (voice-over): This is not something that the golfers will be doing on a daily basis. This is something that they'll maybe do in

periodically three times a year maybe and there's so many good golfers around nowadays that everyone wants to do as much as they can to get

themselves that little bit of advantage.

So maybe there's something we can identify in using much greater detail here that will give them that advantage over the guy who's ranked

two places above them.

KAABI (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) got some idea about our swing and the club speed and all the (INAUDIBLE) that we can see by the eyes.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Do you think this technology is now a part of golf?

KAABI (voice-over): Yes, it is. But the new golf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): At Qatar's first and as-yet only grass golf course preparations are well underway to host the second tournament on the

European Tour's Middle East swing, the Qatar Masters.

Smaller in prize money than the events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, it nonetheless attracts enough star names to sell Qatar to the world.

For the events manager, a further boost if needed is just at the corner.

O'DONOGHUE: 2022: the World Cup coming to Qatar.

What's the feeling on the ground and do you think golf will benefit in any way?

CHRIS MYERS, GENERAL MANAGER, DUBAI GOLF CLUB: The World Cup in Qatar is representative of the Arab world in general. It's given them the

opportunity to show what the Arab world can do and Qatar, it's fortunate that they've got a blank canvas that they can build everything that's

required in terms of infrastructure and stadiums and I think there's a lot of excitement on the ground. And I personally think that Qatar needs 3-4

golf courses to satisfy firstly the local appetite for golf and also to allow us to promote golf tourism. And the normal people that come to town

because of these big events, at the end of the day, they're here to watch just one particular sport, but everybody wants to do something else when

they're here and I can guarantee there will be a few golfers amongst the spectators for the World Cup.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Ahead of their appearance at the tournament, a chance for Ali and Saleh under the watchful eye of their coach to put

what they learned from Aspire Academy into practice.

Mike, do you sense that the guys want to make it as professional golfers?

MICHAEL ELLIOTT, COACH (voice-over): I do. Saleh, especially, his father is 100 percent behind him and he just needs to work on a few things

in the next couple of years and really practice hard. And he's got the potential to reach the Cup.

Ali has got a phenomenal course management skills. There's a possibility that maybe in two, three, four years when he finishes

university he might take serious about playing as a professional and start practicing harder -- right now he's mixing school with golf and it's kind

of difficult.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): We all know about how good Qataris are at business.

What about the business of sport?

Where do you see that going?

ELLIOTT (voice-over): Sport, I mean, you see every federation here. They've got every single sport onto the book. They're fantastic. The

support is very good from the Qatar Olympic Federation and from various other people. And I think sport's going to be fantastic here in the next

8-10 years.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The duo may have a way to go to make it as professionals. But one thing's for sure, it won't be for the lack of

persistence or assistance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): My journey to the Persian Gulf has taken me to Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Now last but certainly not least the metropolis of

Dubai.

O'DONOGHUE: The European tour has been crucial to the incredible development that we see in Dubai and vice versa. But to really understand

how this all came about we should go back a few years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): This is Wentworth, England, home to the European Tour. It was formed in 1971 to attract sponsors, prize money and

grow the game beyond its traditional heartland of Britain.

After a few steady years under the leadership of ex-player John Jacobs, a driven, determined Scot named Ken Schofield took over in 1975.

KEN SCHOFIELD, FORMER CEO, EUROPEAN TOUR: When I started, I think we had 17 weeks of competition and around half a million pounds of prize

money. And I think we search almost every highway and every byway to find sponsors, certainly sponsors were not growing on trees.

They were different times. I certainly wouldn't say they were easier times.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): With Schofield at the helm, the tour flourished.

Leading players emerged to take on the world and promote European golf along the way.

But strong personalities required strong leadership, especially with a certain Spaniard in the ranks.

SCHOFIELD (voice-over): I can remember him coming to the incent game (INAUDIBLE). And I said tell me what's on your mind.

He said, "You have too many tournaments. I can't play all these tournaments. I can't win the (INAUDIBLE)."

And I said, "Seve, but there are 300 guys who simply want to play."

"Right. It's not fair. It's not fair. Too many tournaments."

And of course for him, he was right because his argument was of quality. And my job was to maximize quantity.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): In 1982, Schofield at the board agreed to expand the tour's boundaries beyond Europe. The first event to be staged

was the Tunisian Open. It was a decision borne out of necessity more than anything else.

SCHOFIELD (voice-over): Now did we do it because we had a brilliant plan? I certainly cannot say that and wouldn't say that.

Why did we do it?

I know that we did it because we were trying to fill the schedule. And that small step of going to play in Port El Kantaoui for I think a

total purse of 60,000 pounds started something that unquestionably it led to the rest of the world realizing the European Tour could and would move

outside the geography of Europe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'DONOGHUE: Now where the tour was expanding Dubai was a very different place. With vast amounts of wealth, the ruling family decided to

move away from an overreliance on dwindling oil resources and instead create effectively a modern-day commercial mecca right here in the Middle

East.

Business, trade, tourism, real estate and leisure developments all grew at a rate never witnessed before. And golf, well, it was only too

willing to join the pilgrimage, if you will, to the desert.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The first Dubai Desert Classic was played right here at the Emirates Golf Club back in 1989. Now back then, there

was absolutely no skyline. Apart from that Bedouin tent-type structure just behind the 8th green. Millions were spent creating a golf course and

a club capable of hosting the very best players in the world.

And attract them they certainly did. Twenty-six years on, the tournament stands as a testament to how the tour and the sport can help

promote a region. Want proof? Last year Dubai was the world's fifth most visited city.

The European Tour has also benefited from this relationship. The Dubai Desert Classic has been the catalyst for its expansion into other

parts of the world. Back in 1982, there were 27 events. This year, we'll see 47 tournaments staged. And when you throw into that the season ending

race to Dubai conclusion, then you have a tour every bit as competitive as its biggest rival in the United States.

Much of this recent expansion is down to the blueprint set by Ken Schofield's successor, George O'Grady.

GEORGE O'GRADY, CEO, EUROPEAN TOUR: When we look at starting a tournament with certain similarities, but they all are different . They all

just have that unique flavor, whether it's been driven by a sponsor, driven by a golf club itself or driven by government. When the course is ready,

you work out whether you've got all the logistics -- parking, (INAUDIBLE), hotels, how close you are to an airport -- that makes it work. And then

look at all the other things that you can bring back in to look after your stakeholders.

And so it's a similar equation every week, but always just that little bit different.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): As the likes of Ballesteros, Faldo and Langer carried the torch for the European Tour in the '80s, so Rory McIlroy

is doing so today.

MCILROY: I've played these tournaments in the Middle East for the last eight years. I can't believe it's been that long already, but I feel

like the fields have got stronger and stronger every year. So you get a really good competitive start to the season, where you're playing against

the best guys in the world. And it's really benefited me over the years.

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): For more insights into the winner of the Dubai Desert Classic, go to cnn.com/golf.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): So what next for golf in the Middle East? The worldwide recession, the last few years has certainly slowed the rapid

rate of progress down and nowhere has felt it more acutely than here in Dubai. But the wheels of change can only be slowed for so long. And

already you can get that sense of development of commercial activity in this region. And if you can play golf at night, you can get a lot of work

done in the day.

Until next month on LIVING GOLF, goodbye.

END