Golf returns as JA Summer Classic begins today

Competitive golf returns to JA The Resort with the JA Summer Classic, held on JA The Resort Golf Course on Tuesday. A full field of 45 golfers will compete over 27 holes in this, first of its kind, two-day event over three loops 9 holes over two days of the 5,863 yards Resort Course Peter Harradine designed layout.

A 3 pm shotgun start will see 18 holes being played this afternoon (Tuesday) in a Stableford, full handicap allowance format that has attracted entries from throughout the UAE from both men and ladies. After an overnight stay at the JA Palm Tree Court, the second ‘half’ of the tournament is played on Wednesday with 9 holes with a 7.30 am shotgun start.

Play will be in 3 balls and is played under the local sanctioning of the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) and will strictly follow the COVID-19, EGF and Ministry of Youth and Sports Federal Sports Policies.

The event will be a EGF qualifier for handicap. Prizes, courtesy of support sponsors ProSports International, will be distributed on Wednesday morning for the following divisions; overall, men and ladies, as well as the typical ‘novelty’ prizes of various nearest the pins and longest drives.

Stuart McMurdo, Director of Golf at JA The Resort Golf Course said at the publishing of the draw: “We have been overwhelmed by the uptake and interest in our first two-day JA Summer Classic 2020. We even have a healthy wait list! The initiative was designed to highlight the championship standard golf facilities and 9 hole course at JA The Resort, while also familiarising golfers with the other attractions here at Dubai’s largest experience resort.”

“The initiative is aligned to our Summer 2020 Staycation Packages at JA The Resort. It is a key part of JA The Resort summer marketing programme to encourage 2020 Staycations for this summer season, whether for non-golfers or golfers.

JA Resorts is a partner of both the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the Omega Moonlight Classic. The former European Tour sanctioned international event made JA The Resort and JA The Resort Course famous with the legendary ‘9-Hole JA The Resort Challenge Match.’

The current generation of transient expats in Dubai and the UAE, may not recall or appreciate that the ‘JA Resort Challenge Match,’ a curtain raiser of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, held nine consecutive years from 1998 and again in 2016, and historically featured some of the world’s great players playing The Resort Course including including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson, Mark O’Meara, Sir Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen, Jose Maria Olazabal, Rafa Cabrera Bello plus so many others. The Match was filmed and distributed around the world in a number of 26 minute highlight TV packages aligned to the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic but also filmed and packaged on its own merits as a dedicated golf and destination TV programme for JA Resorts and Hotels.

“We are already planning a series of Summer Staycation Golf Opens, for EGF members with handicaps as well as separate events involving; JA Summer Swing Members and other players,” continued McMurdo.