UAE in bullish mood ahead of the Nomura Cup at Yas

Sport360 staff 16:28 21/10/2015
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  • Yas Links Abu Dhabi will host the 27th Nomura Cup.

    An intensive international build-up focused on improved biomechanics, fitness and mental game preparation has the United Arab Emirates in a bullish mood on the eve of the 27th Nomura Cup at Yas Links Abu Dhabi.

    UAE coach Greg Holmes has set Khalid Yousuf, Rashid Hamood, Abdulla Al Qubaisi and promising teen Ahmed Skaik the goal of being the top Arab nation at the Asia-Pacific Golf Team Championship being hosted by the Emirates Golf Federation.

    It’s a lofty objective given the UAE’s recent fifth-place finish at GCC Championship in Kuwait last May. But with his top players back from military duty and a build-up that has seen the team play and train in Germany and at the European Tour Performance Institute in Terre Blanch, France, Holmes is looking for a much improved showing. 

    “We’d definitely like to be at the top end of the Middle East table with the likes of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan [plus Iran and Lebanon],” said Holmes. “And if we could finish in the top half overall that would be really nice,” Holmes said.


    “We’re obviously playing some very serious countries here…teams like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, they pick from much bigger pools of talent and we haven’t had the U15 and U18 players pushing through to the senior level. We’re working on that now and have had some good results at the junior level and with our women’s programme.”

    The UAE is now concentrating on extracting every last ounce of ability out of the players and Holmes is pleased with his team’s preparation so far.

    “We’ve done a lot of work on our biomechanics and I have to say the guys are pretty fit as well. We’ve also done a lot on the mental game, our pre-shot routines, a lot of process work,” Holmes said.

    “It’s about focusing on the shot at hand, the process and not worrying about the result. Now it’s time to take that out onto Yas Links. The last two days of practice has been great. They’re all hitting it pretty well, they’re all good ball strikers, but now it’s obviously about getting that going in the tournament.”

    The 27th edition of the biennial Nomura Cup, featuring 27 four man teams, tees off tomorrow morning.

    The lowest three of four scores count towards the team total on each day of the 72-hole stroke-play tournament which is second only to the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur teams’ championship in terms of size and global stature.

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