All you need to know about the Dubai Desert Classic
It’s been tamed by McIlroy on four occasions and has been graced by everyone from Ballesteros and Els to Woods and Couples. The Dubai Desert Classic is one of golf’s iconic events and is back at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai in January. Kit Alexander tells us what we need to know...
Collin Morikawa at the 2022 Dubai Desert Classic
The first Dubai Desert Classic was held in March 1989 on the Majlis Course at the Emirates GC. It was the first European Tour event to be held in the Arabian Peninsula. The inaugural edition was won by Englishman Mark James with a score of -11.
The Emirates Golf Club has hosted the tournament on 34 of the 36 times it’s been played. There was a two-year stint at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club in 1999 and 2000, with those events won by David Howell and Jose Coceres respectively. Emirates GC also hosts the Dubai Ladies Classic, which has been played since 2006.
Emirates Golf Club was the first grass golf course in the Middle East when it was opened in 1988. The 36-hole complex was designed by American Karl Litten. The honorary first ball was hit at the grand opening by then Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq, who was a keen golfer and had recommended opening a golf course to the Dubai royal family. President Zia was given a gold tee and a club with a gold shaft to hit the shot and he knocked it 200 yards down the middle of the driving range. The stunning clubhouse represents a cluster of Bedouin tents.
A look back down 9 & 18 to the Emirates Golf Clubhouse
The Majlis Course is a par-72 layout that measures 7,353 yards. It was named the Best Course in the Middle East by Golf Digest in 2020. The 18th hole is a dramatic 564-yard par-5 that features a dog-leg from right-to-left off the tee and an approach shot over water. Water also comes into play on seven other holes.
Tiger Woods won the Dubai Desert Classic in 2006 and 2008. The 15-time major winner finished birdie-birdie and beat Ernie Els in a play-off after the pair tied on -19 in 2006. Two years later, he edged out Martin Kaymer by a single stroke after playing the back nine in six-under-par, including holing a long downhill putt on the final green. Woods has played the event a total of seven times, also teeing it up in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017.
Tiger Woods teeing off at the iconic 8th hole on the Majlis
The lowest winning score in the tournament’s history is -24 by Bryson Dechambeau in 2019. The big-hitter romped to a seven-shot victory with rounds of 66, 66, 68 and 64. He notched an impressive two eagles and 26 birdies over the four days to clinch his first European Tour win.
Colin Montgomerie hit one of the most famous shots in European Tour history at this event in 1996. The eight-time Order of Merit winner hit driver off the fairway for his second shot into the par-5 18th and got it to land softly and finish 15 feet from the hole tucked on the right of the green. He two-putted for the birdie he needed to get his hands on the trophy. He has since described it as the “best shot of my career”.
Alvaro Quiros made a hole-in-one at the 11th in the final round on his way to winning in 2011. It was arguably the most dramatic winning round the tournament has ever witnessed as the Spaniard also made an eagle two on the par-4 2nd, made a triple bogey on the 8th and had four birdies and a bogey on the card.
Ernie Els, Dubai Desert Classic Winner
Rory McIlroy won his first professional event here in 2009, aged just 19. He’d led by six shots with six holes left to play after firing four straight birdies from the 9th, but three bogeys in three holes saw Justin Rose move within one of his playing partner standing on the final tee. A par on the last was enough to secure his first win in his 38th European Tour start as a professional.
He made it a record four Dubai Desert Classic wins in 2024. In 2015 he won his second title with a score of 22-under par, before going back-to-back in 2023 and 2024 in wins that both came down to the wire. In 2023, he birdied the last two holes to beat out Patrick Reed by one shot, and in 2024, he reeled in Cameron Young before holding off Adrian Meronk down the stretch to seal a one-stroke victory. His fourth win made him the most successful in the history of the tournament, taking him ahead of Ernie Els on three.
Rory McIlroy with his fourth victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic
It’s a truly international tournament with winners coming from 14 different nations across six continents. Those countries are Argentina, Australia, China, Denmark, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and USA.