Abu Dhabi Golf Championship by HSBC - Day 2 Preview

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship - A HSBC event! Here are some preview shots from my 5 hours at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, on Day 2 of the championship ...

The crowds following Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and new Nike-boy Rory Mcilroy's group was huge! Here is Tiger having a chuckle at the practise greens half an hour before his 12:05 tee-time...

One of my favourite players, the Big Easy ... Ernie Els, after his round. This was taken at 2:00pm on Friday.

MA and myself even had the special privilege of watching him talk to the Callaway engineer about various weight permutations on his driver head, and trying out a "new" driver at the practise range. Perhaps it was because at this mid-way point of the tournament, Els was only tied for 36, after shooting a 73 :-( Ernie had shot 71 on Day 1.

If you remember from July 2012, Els had won his second Open Championship with a Callaway RAZR Fit driver.

We had a wonderful time ... despite the sunburn I suffered waiting for Tiger/Mcilroy/Kaymer to tee off from their first hole of the day on the 10th tee!

More photos to follow ... Later this week ;-)

Saadiyat Island Beach Golf by Gary Player

My first round at one of Abu Dhabi's finest courses - Saadiyat Island Beach Golf Course.
Designer: Gary Player
Owner: TDIC Abu Dhabi
Tel: +971 2 557 8000
Green fees: 375 AED walk-in (Summer rate), 320 AED or RM$260 (Purchase 5 rounds)

 

Very professional and excellent practise facilities, I could get used to having a pyramid of range balls at my disposal as well as hitting off fairway :-)

 

The personalised touch starts with the lockers with our names, and extends itself to the buggies which also have our names :-) Seems they are trying to give visitors a "member of the day" experience, and I can say that in most part - It was successful! Ice-cold towels on every other hole, ice-lollies at the mid-point and friendly marshalls.

Yes ... it was an early morning tee-off at 6.50am, to try and avoid the mad summer heat here. The forecast was 46C, eeeep!

 

Here are more shots of our round - a great time for AM, EL and MA .. as well as myself, I started off beautifully with 2 pars in the first 4 holes, but then the heat got to me ... I eventually shot 103. Not bad, lar!

 

  

Just one of the 60 bunkers in play at the Gary Player designed course!

 

AM and myself were reminded time and again how links-like some of the holes on this waterfront-side course was!

 

 

 

A few more memories of this rather special golf course :-) Cheers from Abu Dhabi!

Han Kang - Korean restaurant at the Golf Driving Range

Located: Abu Dhabi City Golf Club
Previous visit: We seem to come here a lot these days!
Update: Its rumoured that the original outlet at Eclipse Suites has now closed, and Han Kang has actually moved here to Abu Dhabi City Golf Club. Business seems very good in its new location though ;-)

Various banchan to start ...


There's a whole lot of different Korean dishes in Wikipedia ... but what caught my attention was the Bean Sprouts Hangover soup! Heh heh ...


Food here is good, a little bit expensive (Probably cos its beside the golf driving range or academy, of Abu Dhabi City Golf Club), and portions are not the largest ... but we like it here! Galbi or BBQ pork time ;-) Yes .. they do serve pork here in Abu Dhabi.


We had BBQ beef rib eye instead of Kimchi pancake or Kimchi dumpling and ribs soup, this evening ... And the damage (Together with 4 bowls of rice for the 3 of us, as well as 2 Asahi's and 2 cokes) came up to 110 AED per head (3 persons).

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship - Martin Kaymer & G-Mac, Day 3

Some final shots from my Saturday at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, sponsored by HSBC. Tickets at 125 AED were really good value, considering how good the action was, and how close we could get to the players! Here is the final grouping on Day 3, of Martin Kaymer (The champ for a 3rd time, thus keeping the Falcon Trophy!) - Graeme MacDowell (Finished tied-3rd) - Charl Schwartzel (eventually finished 8th).


Yes, we were so close to Martin Kaymer. These shots were without zoom on my Canon Powershot G10.


Its Graeme G-Mac MacDowell!


G-Mac looking on...

Check out Martin's swing ... future world number one? You betcha!

Calm ... composed ... Martin Kaymer!

G-Mac hits another brilliant approach!

I like the new Cadillac CTS-V coupe!

Teeing it up on the Par 3 12th, 174 yards ... Funny how Soren Kjeldsen had an ace on Day 1 (winning a Cadillac CTS in the process!), Ricardo Gonzalez repeated this in Day 2, and Paul Casey who is a 2 time winner of this tournament, did it on the 3rd day! 3 hole in ones ... 3 days!

G-Mac was closest to the pin, only 6 feet away!

Strike a pose...

Charl Schwartzel had a frustrating day :-(

Kaymer and G-Mac lining up their putts ...

G-Mac's effort just lips out!

Martin misses his putt too!

All in all ... a brilliant event, we thoroughly enjoyed the Friday at the Pavilion, and my walking day on Saturday too! See you in 2012!