The Lure of the East

Filed in archive Golf Business on December 29, 2007

Courtesy: getty images

The smell of money is a powerful scent and more and more golfers are sniffing the winds carrying that scent out of the Middle East.

World number 17, Luke Donald, has become the latest golfer to enter next month's Qatar Masters, which is boasting a purse in 2008 that tops 2 and a half million dollars - its largest ever.

World number 7, Adam Scott, world number 12, Sergio Garcia and defending champion, Retief Goosen will also tee it up.

This makes the Qatar Masters appear very bright on golf's global radar screen.

The Qatar is also part of the trio of tournaments in the Emirates, the others being the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Dubai Desert Challenge.

"When we look at the progress of golf in Qatar, it's hard to believe we've come so far in such a short space of time," Qatar Golf Association chairman Hassan Al Nuami told the European Tour's official web site.

Indeed. So what is behind it, especially in light of the massively wealthy Race to Dubai season-long money grab beginning in 2009?

Is golf surging in popularity among Arab countries? I don't think so.

The Arabs love their horse racing and are superb horsemen.

The Al-Maktoum family which controls Dubai are renowned for their stables of thoroughbreds.

At least one Al-Maktoum, Sheik Suhail bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum, is a power in the Middle East Rally; in fact, no less than four sheiks are drivers in that series.

But golf? It doesn't fit. At least not as a sport.

Where it does fit is when golf is used as a tool to leverage business.

And that's the secret behind the enormous money being thrown at the game of late from that sector of the world.

To a lesser extent, there is prestige attached (the International Cricket Council and the European PGA Tour have both moved their headquarters to Dubai) to having global professional sports on your doorstep.

But there is no intrinsic love for golf, per se. Just the money that the game can bring.