Dubai Desert Classic Facts

  • Ten of the holes on the Majlis Championship Golf Course have water features.
  • Although Ernie Els was won the tournament on three occasions, none of the Dubai Desert Classic players have ever held the title for two consecutive years.
  • The youngest player to win the tournament was David Howell who won the 1999 Dubai Desert Classic Golf at the age of 23.Ernie Els of South Africa plays his second shot at the 13th hole during the final round of the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, on the Majilis Course at the Emirates Golf Club on February 4th 2007, in Dubai Unted Arab Emirates. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
  • Fifteen hole-in-ones have been played since the tournament’s first inception in 1989. The 1996 tournament featured three hole-in-ones. They were scored by José Coceres, Roger Wessels and Peter Hedblom. In 2005, both Nobuhito Sato and Yasin Ali managed to land a hole-in-one during the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic Championship. In the same year, Stephen Gallacher hit a hole-in-one shot into the fourth hole during the fourth round of the competition.
  • In 2006, the Dubai Desert Classic had been won by fifteen different golf players from ten different countries.
  • In 2003, the largest final round comeback and the lowest final score ever recorded were achieved by Robert-Jan Derksen from the Netherlands. He finished at 7 under par with a score of 65 after catching up three shots. In 1998, José Maria Olazábal from Spain also managed to overcome the Dubai Desert Classic odds to make a tremendous three shot comeback.
  • The lowest 72-hole winning score was 266 which is 22 shots under par. It was attained by Thomas Björn (Denmark) when he was the 2001 Dubai Desert Classic winner.
  • The largest winning margin for the Dubai Desert Classic is 6 shots. It was achieved by Ernie Els from South Africa during the 1994 tournament.
  • The 2009 Dubai Desert Classic players will be participating in the tournament’s 20th event.