Rafa Cabrera Bello says it is great to see local golf so strong this summer with local tournaments as well as local play at record levels at all the golf clubs in Dubai. File/ AFP

JA The Resort will host the Jebel Ali End of Summer Classic at the JA The Resort Golf Course from Sept.30 to Oct.1. field of 45 golfers will compete over 27 holes in this, the final two-day event of the summer season over three loops 9 hole over two days of the 5,863 yards Resort Course Peter Harradine designed layout.

Entries are being accepted on a first come, first served basis. A 2 pm shotgun start will see 18 holes being played on Wednesday, Sept.30 in a Stableford, full handicap allowance, format that is open to all Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) members from throughout the UAE.

After an overnight stay at the JA Palm Tree Court, the second ‘half’ of the tournament is played on Thursday, Oct.1 with 9 holes with a 7.30 am shotgun start. The tournament will 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 an EGF qualifier for handicap.

Prizes, courtesy of support sponsors ProSports International will be distributed on Thursday 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 official event announcement, “With the weather now getting significantly cooler by the day, this is our third and final JA End of Summer Classic following our successful two previous events. We have been overwhelmed by the interest in our JA Summer Classics 2020. The initiative was designed to highlight the championship standard golf facilities and 9 hole course at JA The Resort, while also familiarizing golfers with the other attractions here at Dubai’s largest experience resort. We thank both MEDICLINIC as a partner sponsor of JA The Resort and ProSports International for their continued support.

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

Rafa Cabrera Bello, JA Resorts & Hotels Global Golf Ambassador and 67^th in the current Official World Golf Ranking, said about the JA End of Summer Classic, “I am having a few days off this week with the family and not will not be playing on either the PGA Tour or European Tour following a successful but mentally draining US Open campaign where I was pleased with my tied 23^rd finish. I have heard through my friends at JA Resort, of next week's 27-hole, two-day, JA End of Summer Classic. I wish all players the best of luck for this event. Stay cool!

“I am hearing that The Resort Course is in its usual excellent condition as the genuine golf season returns to Dubai, the weather is sure to be a lot kinder than for the event in August and I will be watching out for the scores and the winners.

“It is great to see local golf so strong this summer with local tournaments as well as local play at record levels at all the golf clubs in Dubai,” concluded Cabrera Bello.

JA Resorts is a partner of both the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the Omega Dubai 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 ex-pats 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 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 & Hotels.