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The Amateur team are going for four-in-a-row at the Dubai Golf Trophy, one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the golfing tournament calendar, held at Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club on April 27th and 28th.
Featuring the Top 16 UAE-based PGA Professionals and the leading 16 Emirates Golf Federation amateur golfers, the event, now in its 20th edition will see the teams go head-to-head in a Ryder Cup-style showdown.The history of the Dubai Golf Trophy dates back to the year 2000 and originally started as a social season-ending tournament that was originally held at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. The event has since grown in popularity and stature having become one of the highlights of the golfing calendar.
This year, the Amateur team will be going for four victories in a row having successfully defended their title last year in convincing fashion. The total result to date is 5 victories to the Amateur Team and 14 victories to the Professional Team.
Tom Buchanan, a Dubai Golf Trophy veteran and Captain of the Professional Team looks ahead to the 20th Anniversary of the annual showdown: "It's a huge honour for me to be Captain of the Professional Team. I have been involved in the last 7 Dubai Golf Trophies and to lead the team on the 20th Anniversary, it's huge for me". Despite the statistic, the Professional Team captain Tom Buchanan from the Al Ain Equestrian, Golf & Shooting Club is relishing the chance of being the underdog in this year’s matches: "It's going to be a tight affair as it always is. The Amateurs are very strong. They have used their picks very well. However, our guys are up for it. We are on a losing streak and hopefully we can turn it around this year". Tom captains a team of professionals in form, including Vice Captain Luke Plumb, and Dubai Creek Professional Adam Burwood, who recently won the UAE PGA Championship and UAE PGA Order of Merit.
The Amateur team is once again made up of a strong mix of youth, experience, veterans and rookies this year. The ‘star’ of the team this year Bradley Mogire from Emirates Golf Club, who recently competed in the Kenyan Open on the Safari Tour. The Amateur team consists of the Top-12 players from the UAE Order of Merit and four Captain’s picks.
Craig Vance leads the Amateur team this year and stated that "It was great to be picked as Vice Captain last year and to eventually be captain this year. It's a great honour and I look forward to the challenge of taking on Tom and his team”. Vance is mindful of the pressure of continuing the run-of-form in this prestigious event as he looks to the challenge ahead: "It should be a lot tighter this year with a few of my keys players out and I know Tom's lost a couple of his players as well". Vance puts the recent form of the Amateur team largely down to the quality of the coaching available across the UAE and a higher intensity during amateur tournaments: “We play in events across the region and you now have to score under-par, or significantly under-par to even have a chance of winning. This shows how much the amateur game in the region has developed in recent years and it had certainly been a contributing factor to our recent successes in the Dubai Golf Trophy”.
Christopher May, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Golf, said: “The Dubai Golf Trophy is a fantastic event to be part of. There is always a strong competitive spirit between the two teams, which always leads to a strong competition. The Amateur Team built on their previous success in 2016 and 2017 by winning the Trophy again last year and I know that the the Professional Team will be keen to get back to their winning ways”. May also stated that “The Dubai Golf Trophy was founded on the principle of raising the profile of golf in the region and bring golfers from clubs all over the UAE together in a competitive and enjoyable format, which provides a focus for players to aim for throughout the qualifying events during the season”.
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