Dubai to determine Europe’s best golfer

Dubai will host the biggest prize in the European professional golf with a total of $15 million worth of prizes, the UAE-based The National reports.

Dubai World Championship’s award this year is like its predecessor last year remains unchanged at $7.5 million and the same amount of money will be distributed among the winners of the season-long Race to Dubai, the series on which will determine Europe’s number one golfer.

Deemed as richest on the European Tour, Dubai will host the big events in November in the lavish green Jumeirah Golf Estate.

The prize money last year was reduced by 25 percent from the planned $10 million for both competitions, making the total lump sum come down to $15 million.

More than 60,000 fans attended to watch Dubai World Championship which will take place between November 25 and November 28, and the Race to Dubai series.

The top 60 players in The Race to Dubai, ranked according to their earnings from all events on The European Tour international schedule, qualify for the Dubai World Championship. The Race to Dubai was announced in 2007 as a partnership between the European Tour and Leisurecorp, another unit of Dubai World.

“In early September we welcomed European Tour officials to inspect the conditioning of the Earth Course – a programme of work is being implemented to ensure the conditioning and aesthetics of Earth are to tournament standard,” said Saeed Harib, the managing director of Nakheel Marine and Leisure.

Sponsors

International Port operator DP World is the grand event’s top sponsor, also the project is under the management of Nakheel, a unit of Dubai World, which also owns DP World.

“We are confident this year’s competition will further enhance Dubai’s status as a top-class golfing destination,” said George O’Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour.

DP World on August announced encouraging financial results for the first six months of 2010 as it saw 5 percent increase in revenues. During the financial crisis in 2007 DP World’s debt was excluded from the restructuring debt of the state-owned Dubai World.

Dubai World has $24.9 billion debt restructuring deal which includes 99 percent of its creditors by value, also investment bank Shuaa Capital speculated that the UAE banks could book up to $1 billion in provisions related to Dubai World’s debt restructuring in the second half of this year thereby dampening the banking industry’s performance in the country.