Charity the big winner at the DP World Tour Championship Dubai

With the birdies and eagles rolling in for fun this week the official charities of the DP World Tour Championship, taking place at Jumeirah Golf Estates, are set for a bumper donation in a wonderful initiative being driven by title sponsor DP World, The European Tour, the Tour Players Foundation and Jumeirah Golf Estates. Friends of Cancer Patients and Special Needs Families Group are the two charity partners of the event and the better the players play, the more money they make. That is the premise of the ‘Birdie Pledge’.

“For every birdie we’ll donate $50, for every eagle we’ll donate $100 and we’re hoping to raise at least $50,000 this week,” said Jonathan Orr Financial Director of The European Tour and Trustee of the Tour Players Foundation. “We’re seeing lots of birdies and eagles at the moment so hopefully we’ll be able to handover a big cheque at the end of the week.”

Dr Sawsan Abdul Salam Al Madhi, Secretary General of Friends of Cancer Patients, who have a stand in the Championship Village at the event raising awareness about male cancers – particularly prostate and testicular – made a special visit to the tournament today (Saturday) along with Dr. Abdul Qadir Al Zarooni, President of Emirates Urological Society.

“I’d like to thank DP World and The European Tour for hosting Friends of Cancer Patients at this week’s tournament,” said Dr Al Madhi. “The initiative that we’re running in the Championship Village is called Shanab, which is the Arabic word for moustache which has become the international symbol for male solidarity. It’s the first male cancer initiative in the UAE. Most people know about the Pink Caravan breast cancer awareness initiative that we launched back in 2011 but we wanted to focus more on the male cancers this time and we found that a platform involving sports and healthy lifestyle such as the DP World Tour Championship is perfect.

“Friends of Cancer Patients have been working for the community for the past 15 years raising awareness about different types of cancer. We also work for patients, looking at how we can help them financially to get the required treatment and of course this is where the money from this great DP World initiative will go.”

The Shanab stand is attracting a lot of attention, not least because of the quirky bean bags which have a rugby ball concealed in them causing no shortage of strange looks on the faces of those who happen to sit down on them.

“Humour is the only way you can talk to men!” said Dr Al Madhi. “Basically we just want to start the conversation, create that awareness that there is something called testicular cancer, something called prostate cancer and then explain what they are. We wanted men to sit on the beanbags and experience something that feels abnormal and then carry on the conversation from there.”

Dr Al Zarooni continued: “Cancer should not be a taboo subject because any cancer, if it is discovered at an early stage, is treatable. The problem with prostate cancer and testicular cancer is that they are what we call ‘silent killers’.  But if discovered in the early stages the treatment is almost 100% successful. Examination and screening is very simple and costs almost nothing. But the problem is with patient orientation, patient awareness and general public awareness. If someone knows how important early detection is they will come for screening.
Also set to benefit are the Special Needs Families Group who make a huge difference to the lives of young adults with special needs in Dubai, helping them to achieve as much independence as possible and to become responsible members of their families and society.

“I was lucky enough visit founder Shafia Bari and her wonderful team back in 2007 when The European Tour first started getting involved with the Special Needs Families Group and its been fantastic to revisit over the last few years and see how it’s kept growing and growing,” said Orr.
“We wish them all the best and we hope there are many more birdies this week so that we continue our support of this wonderful charity.”

Both charities will be delighted with the news that Ireland’s Shane Lowry made a hole in one on the par three 13th hole during Friday’s second round.

“We’ll be making a special donation for that one,” smiled Orr.