Top Three to Play Together in Dubai!

Article by Conor @ Wei Under Par

The top three players in the world, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Tiger Woods, have been drawn together for the first two rounds of this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic! According to a particularly gleeful story on the tour’s official website, it’s the first time since 1994 that the top three players in the world ranking have played together in a regular European Tour event.

While the powers that be are giddy at the prospect of the 12.20 tee time drawing the attention of the world’s sporting press, the players are doing their level best to balance their excitement with a grittier professionalism. Lee Westwood underlined the extent to which he sees himself as an ambassador for European golf by putting the event in context:

“Certainly for The European Tour itself, having the top two in the World Rankings, with the person that’s dominated the game over the last 15 years, playing in the same three ball would be great for the Tour, great for golf and very exciting that would draw a lot of attention to The European Tour in a period where sponsorship and things like that is very competitive… I think we want to be making our game look as attractive and glitzy as possible. I think by doing that, it’s the ideal way. Especially if we all did well and performed.”

This golfing alignment of the stars seemed nearly too much for Martin Kaymer who sounded a note in the interest of peace, love and universal harmony:

“I think we shouldn’t really see it as a rivalry. We are out here to have fun and play good golf and show the people that we do our job with passion and love. It’s not about winning or losing in the end of the day. It’s about challenging each other and having fun.”

Totally, man… but something tells me the Kaymer trophy cabinet hasn’t been filled by virtue of Martin’s ambivalence in the face of competition.