Ryder Cup golfer Rafael Cabrera Bello attended a special dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on Monday night in celebration of the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge’s return later this month.
Last year marked the first time that the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge appeared on the European Challenge Tour’s calendar, with Jordan Smith winning the event at Al Hamra Golf Club.
The Englishman has since gone from strength to strength, finishing in the top 10 at the PGA Championship earlier this year and clinching the Porsche European Open.
And Cabrera Bello, a mainstay on the European Tour since 2009, believes more gems are set to be unearthed in Ras Al Khaimah this year.
“What I’ve heard from friends who play in the Challenge Tour, they love the event in Ras Al Khaimah – and it introduced a very good winner (in Smith),” said Cabrera Bello, who is a JA Resorts and Hotels ambassador.
“I have a good relationship with the Challenge Tour director (Alain De Soultrait) and he said the biggest improvement on the tour he is how the courses are prepared.
“They are playing on better courses more often which is a big difference from when I played. I think because of this the success ratio for the players who get the European Tour card is much improved.”
The tournament, held this month between October 25-28, is a key part of the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority’s (RAKTDA) drive to introduce more attractions to an increasingly popular emirate with tourists.
According to RAKTDA CEO Haitham Mattar, Ras Al Khaimah has become a can’t miss destination for golfers alongside Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“The fact that we have two understated golf courses between Al Hamra’s natural lagoon setting, and the Tower Links, gives us a great advantage for us to position our destination on the map for golf tourism,” he said.
“We are seeing fantastic growth year on year from golfers since Al Hamra has become a championship course.
“Monthly it is well above 35 per cent and that is predominately from players who go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai and are now including Ras Al Khaimah in their tour.”
The Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge will be hotly-contested as it is the last chance for the top 45 golfers on the European Challenge tour to make it into the following week’s NBO Golf Classic Grand final in Oman.
“It’s a very important week for the Challenge Tour. It’s life-changing for the golfers, and the great example is last year’s Ras Al Khaimah champion Jordan Smith, who now stands 71st in the official world golf rankings,” said Nick Tarratt, director of European Tour International Dubai office..
“He’s a great example of how careers and lives have changed, and Ras Al Khaimah is part of that journey and we look forward to the event in year two being bigger and better – and who knows where it will take us.”
