Tiger Woods appearance in this month’s 25th anniversary Dubai Desert Classic will attract more attention to the club than any visiting king, queen, president or prime minister, claims Tournament Director Adrian Flaherty.
Woods will join 20 other former champions, along with Javier Ballesteros who will represent his late father, at the event on January 30 at the Emirates Golf Club.
World No1 Woods is a two-time former Dubai Desert Classic winner and has been enticed to Dubai to compete for the first time since 2011 having played in Abu Dhabi the last two years.
“Anyone who has ever visited Emirates Golf Club, and I mean kings, queens, presidents or prime ministers, no one attracts more attention coming here than Tiger Woods,” said Flaherty.
“It’s special anytime Tiger comes to play in our tournament because he’s that name whether you are a golfer or a nongolfer that everyone knows.”
With ticket sales already up four times than recent years, it’s a fact Woods raises the excitement in the tournament more than anyone else.
“Any tournament that is able to secure Tiger Woods appearance I’m sure generates the same windfall in terms of crowds, media interest and worldwide coverage,” Flaherty added.
“So as limited as Tiger’s schedule is around the world outside of the four majors, and where he picks and chooses where he wants to play, it’s just fantastic he’s coming back to Dubai to compete.”
At this stage the 25th Dubai Desert Classic will be Woods only regular European Tour appearance in 2014 although he is expected to return to compete in season’s penultimate Turkish Airlines Open to honour the second year of his two year contract.
Woods will join fellow past winners and Major champions Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, Jose Maria Olazabal, Fred Couples and the newly-engaged Rory McIlroy. Els and Couples were the last to confirm, advising Flaherty in emails received on New Year’s Eve.
Ballesteros won the 1992 tournament by defeating Northern Irishman Ronan Rafferty in a play-off.
“The great thing is that while Seve sadly passed away his name will live on as Javier will have a caddy wearing the name ‘Ballesteros’ on his bib and hopefully we will see the ‘Ballesteros’ name up on the leader board,” added Flaherty.
