The Swing comes to a dramatic close for Stephen Gallacher

It’s Sunday evening and the sun is settling in the sky. The 24^th Omega Dubai Desert Classic has finished with Stephen Gallacher taking the title in a thrilling final round on the Majlis.

The tournament literally had four seasons of weather which added an extra element of difficulty. The event attracted fog, rain, wind and the occasional sun. As usual, the ODDC served up some superb Golf and a dramatic final round that almost went to the wire.
The scot who was leading on day 3 fought an up and down battle with his playing partner and day 1 leader Richard Sterne. Right up until the 16^th, it was a real desert duel between the 2 players. They were vying to take the Classic title from the Spanish grip which has been firmly on the trophy over the past 3 years.

Throughout the final day, most peoples favorite to take the title (Lee Westwood) did his best to not only catch the leading two. Lee was not that far away in the end and his card was littered with birdies. Unfortunately there was also several crucial dropped shots as he attacked the course in swirling winds. You had to take your hat off to Lee for trying and pushing all the way.

The young Dane Olesen who has so much promise also failed to make an expected final day push. Do not worry this guy will be back on the leaderboard very soon and I think he has made a lot of people sit up and take notice on this year’s Desert Swing.

With the Desert Swing coming to an end, it has been a fascinating affair sprinkled with news (Ryder Cup Captain Announcement, Rory’s Nike Deal), controversy (Tigers penalty in Abu Dhabi) and most important of all some great Golf has been played here in the UAE.

We have 2 new names on the UAE swing events, Donaldson and Stephen Gallacher. If you add Chris Wood winning in Qatar, we now have 3 brits who have shone out here in the dunes.

These 3 have been nearly men over the past few years and it was good to witness them achieving some success on the Tour.

There are rumors of another Golf event joining the swing to make it 4 again, we shall have to wait and see on that to see if it occurs.

I am signing off now, hope you enjoyed the Golf and also enjoyed the content we supplied. Much more to come from UAE Golf Online this year, so watch this space…

Paul Editor