As the Hero Dubai Desert Classic is always one of the first tournaments of the year, if not the first for the vast majority, it is often at this venue where players, with all the honesty in the world, declare that one of their major New Year’s resolutions is to go out on the course and simply enjoy the game…
Some express it one way, others another. Simply trying to play golf. Forgetting about technique and just designing the shot and executing it, without regrets: what’s done is done. Enjoying every round, regardless of the result. Enjoying the process, enjoying the successes, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy…
Guido Migliozzi (-6), who has initially positioned himself just one shot off the lead, was asked today what the secret was to his bogey-free round of 66. “Having a free mind,” he replied. And he emphasised: “the most important thing I was thinking about was enjoying playing golf.”
Australian David Micheluzzi (-7), one of the three co-leaders after the first round, was asked about his outlook for 2025. “Just go out (to play) and enjoy it,” he responded.
The case of Mike Lorenzo Vera (-5) is more delicate, as he put his clubs away in the garage last August and spent a few months without playing, so for him, more than a New Year’s resolution, it’s a deep and vital reset. But the fact is that today he handed in a card of 67 and commented: “my mindset this week and the ones to come is simply to go out and enjoy playing golf, which hasn’t been easy for me in the last two or three years.”
Even David Ford (-7), the young American amateur who is also co-leading the tournament, admitted that he tries to keep expectations low. “I just try to have fun, come to Dubai and do the preparation I do in college tournaments, keep it all simple and have fun.”
Jon Rahm (-3) was also very pleased today for having let go of some baggage on the course. “It was the freest round I’ve played in a long time and the one where I’ve had the least thoughts about the swing,” he declared.
All, except the Spaniard, are at the top of the leaderboard, although Jon’s debut at the Emirates was also more than remarkable. Could it be that they enjoyed it? Let’s not be so foolish or cynical: it’s very likely that precisely today, in Dubai, because of the New Year, many of the players who haven’t signed such low cards defend the same message: at least they managed to enjoy themselves on the course…
Jack Nicklaus once warned that “the only consistent thing in golf is its inconsistency.” Despite everything, many believe that the true Holy Grail of the sport of the fourteen clubs is precisely consistency in excellence. Let’s say that whoever finds it, or comes close to it, has drawn a line that separates them from the rest.
Or could it be that the true Holy Grail is the ability to find a way to enjoy every round?
And it is at this point that it is advisable to firmly plant your feet on the ground and digest the ‘bad news’ with good attitude and sportsmanship: permanent enjoyment in golf, just like happiness as a state of being, does not exist. Moreover, let’s not deceive ourselves, as the months go by it will become harder and harder to find the bright side to a round of 73… Even to one of 70. And maybe even to one of 69. All these players are quite mad. Fortunately.
