'Giants of Golf' in a Giant of a desert

Photo: Getty Images

World number one, Luke Donald, will have no fears about playing out of the sand at Abu Dhabi Golf Club for this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, after the Englishman successfully tackled the world’s biggest ‘bunker’ – a mammoth dune in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert, the world’s largest uninterrupted sand mass.

In Liwa, Donald was joined by triple and defending Abu Dhabi champion, Martin Kaymer, as the awe-struck pair stood amongst 250-foot sand dunes at the entrance to Rub Al Khali (Empty Quarter) - a desert made famous by British explorer Wilfred Thesiger’s 1940’s crossing and immortalised in the timeless book: Arabian Sands.

“Well that was no ordinary sand-trap!” said Donald, who became the first player in history to top both the PGA and European PGA money lists last year. “When you spend the vast majority of your time on the course, it’s easy to forget that Abu Dhabi is surrounded by such an enchanting desert landscape. Truly, I was awestruck at the gigantic enormity of it all.”

Kaymer and Donald headline an Abu Dhabi field that is the strongest ever assembled at a Middle East tournament. Other contenders for the $2.7million, PGA European Tour event include Abu Dhabi debutant, Tiger Woods, world numbers two and three, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, respectively, as well as reigning Major champions, Charl Schwartzel (US Masters) and Darren Clarke (The Open), Australian hot-shot, Jason Day, Korea’s top ranked player, KJ Choi, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.