Two-time Omega Dubai Desert Classic champion Tiger Woods is back in action at the Emirates Golf Club this week as he continues his comeback after 15 months out of the game through injury.
The 14-time Major champion remains one of the biggest draws in sport, despite his current position of 666th in the Official World Golf Ranking, and excitement is building around the course where Woods tasted victory in in 2006 and 2008.
Woods will be up against an old foe when he tees up at the Majlis Course for the eight time, and the first since 2014. European Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn recorded a famous victory at this tournament back in 2001, when he came through an epic four-day battle with the then World Number One to record a famous two-stroke victory.
Woods will tee it up in the company of defending Omega Dubai Desert Classic and current Masters champion Danny Willett and his countryman Matthew Fitzpatrick in rounds one and two over the Majilis Course. Major champions Martin Kaymer, Henrik Stenson and their Ryder Cup team mates Rafa Cabrera Bello, Sergio Garcia, Andy Sullivan, Lee Westwood and Chris Wood are among the other headline names in a star-studded field.
Tiger Woods: “It’s great to be back. I haven’t been back here in Dubai in a few years and to see the amount of growth that’s transpired is pretty remarkable. The golf course is about the same. Only change I think is 18, playing with a different angle but the golf course is the same. It’s in great condition.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m tired. My mom called me about two in the morning last night and woke me up, and asked me how I was doing. I said, “Mom, you realise there’s a nine-hour time difference?” And so I’ll get a good rest this afternoon and be ready for tomorrow.
“If I’m teeing it up, the goal is to win it and that doesn’t change. Whether I’m injured, coming off an injury or I’m playing well, or I’m playing poorly, if I’m in the event, it’s to win the event.
“Whether my swing looks classical, rhythmical or it may look unorthodox, I don’t care. As long as I don’t feel that nerve pain. Anyone in here who has ever had nerve pain in their back or anywhere in their spine, it’s like hitting your funny bone a thousand times a day; it’s just not fun. And I would much rather not have to go through that again.
“I love playing around the world. I love seeing other cultures. I have so many friends around the world that I have gotten to know over these years of going to these places.
“You know, quite frankly, I haven’t been able to travel much. I’ve been home in Florida for almost two years now. Not really travelling much because I really can’t. Now I’m going to be able to start doing that and I would like to start playing around the world but again, it will be a limited schedule. I won’t be playing a high number of events. I’ve got to save my body and be ready to peak four times a year.
“One of the reasons why I’m playing four out of five here is to get more competitive rounds so that come the first full week in April, I’ll have more rounds under my belt and know what it feels like to be ready.”
Thomas Bjørn: “It was just a wonderful week back in 2001. I had my base here and my family and friends, which made it extra special, and we were witnessing something in golf we might never see again. Somebody dominating the game like Tiger did, and every time anybody went up against him you were bound to fall short, and that week I didn’t. That was something to be proud of.
“But it was just the way we played and the way we just went at each other, but also that respect that we grew for each other that week; that’s carried through another 16 years after. And the respect is very much there today and has grown into a friendship. Every time we see each other, it’s more than two golfers just meeting, that’s for sure.
“Any time he plays, it puts focus on the event, and what he is, he’s the biggest draw in the game, no matter how he plays.”
Woods returns to iconic landmark
Ahead of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Woods visited the Burj Al Arab, the iconic Dubai landmark where he famously hit balls from the helipad in 2004.
Woods, making his eighth appearance in the tournament that he won in 2006 and 2008, took time out to practise his swing on the terrace and was on the helipad again to take a helicopter tour of the city that in 2019 will become home to a course he is designing.
© Getty Images for Falcon
Tiger was taken on a helicopter tour of the city by HE Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council.
