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OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSICJanuary 28, 2015Mohamed Juma BuamaimDavid CannonIan FairserviceStephen GallacherDavid TomsDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES RODNEY BOGG: Thank you all for being here. Would I first of all like to thank Mr.Rory McIlroy for doing the warm‑up press conference for this by far more important event. We have a very celebrated panel, on the far right, Mr.Ian Fairservice, who is the managing partner and group editor and chief of Motivate Publishing. Next to him, very familiar face especially here Mr.Mohamed Juma Buamaim, who is the vice chairman and Ceo golf in DUBAi, the organisers of the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. And next to me is Mr.David Canon, and most of you will all know David, former director of Golf Sport and now working with Getty Images, and recently completed his 100th major, which must be a world record among all the other achievements he's had as one of the finest golf cameramen in the world. MOHAMED BUAMAIM: And his son just made the Asian Tour, so that's another achievement for David, as well. (Laughter)‑‑‑‑ RODNEY BOGG: And Mr.Stephen Gallacher. Thank you for coming straight off the course, David‑‑ STEPHEN GALLACHER: Been called worse. RODNEY BOGG: Could have called you Mohamed. Obviously you'll know, a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup Team and twice member of the 2014 and 2013 OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic‑‑ what are you laughing at now? MOHAMED BUAMAIM: You were going to say 15, weren't you. (Laughter). RODNEY BOGG: Say a few words about the partnership with the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic, as well as the publication. IAN FAIRSERVICE: Yeah, as Rod just alluded to, Motivate has been involved with all 25 Desert Classics. We've been the official publisher since the event started, and at various levels of support and sponsorship and for many years now we've been a patron of the event. So to me, it's one of the most exciting sporting events of the year but also personally, having to entertain 40 guests every day in our chalet overlooking the 9th and 18th green, it's also one of my favourite weeks of the year. But having been involved with all of these tournaments, it gives us a real and particular pleasure to be publishing this very, very lovely volume covering that quarter of a century of great tournaments. It's been great working with Rod again and also with Dave Canon again. Rod, of course worked with us previously on the beautiful book, the history of the club itself. And this book has a great personality return: Not does it feature photographs by David, which are absolutely fantastic; but also year on year, it's not just a sort of litany of records of events and scores. It really brings out the personality of the tournament over the 25 years and makes it a very, very enjoyable read, which is a great credit to Rod Bogg as the author. So congratulations Rod and David, thanks very much. And also of course Mohamed is one of the personalities that has been involved in developing the sport and developing this club overall of these years, so it's great to have his support. And I'd also like to reiterate what Rod said earlier, great thanks to the sponsors of the book. So thank you all and congratulations. RODNEY BOGG: Perhaps you could tell us why you did this in the first place. MOHAMED BUAMAIM: That's because you wanted to do it. (Laughter). RODNEY BOGG: No, I just stole your idea. MOHAMED BUAMAIM: I think the idea started with initially David. He wanted to showcase his photography over the years and thought it was a brilliant idea, and then thought, why not add some words to these photos and that's where Rod came in. Because I think he's the only one that remembers all the history of the club and I must say, I haven't read it all, but what I have read so far is fantastic, a great account of what happened over the years. Therefore, I do appreciate all the hard work you've done and Motivate, as well. Ian has been a supporter of this tournament as he said, 25 years, and I think they have come up with a fantastic book. Obviously it tells a great story of how golf started in this part of the world, and why it's such an important thing to this region whereby without it, I think without The European Tour and the Emirates Golf Club, we wouldn't be sitting here talking golf and there wouldn't be so many golf courses in this region as we see today and the more to come. If anything, this gives us more insight for the many years and the people involved in it, and the different players who came through. And by the way, one of those players featured in this book is Chubby Chandler, who used to play golf, and apparently, he hit the first ball in the Dubai Desert Classic in 1989. Yes, thank you, Ian, thank you Rod and David. RODNEY BOGG: Just one note I would like to make, very personal note. Mohamed did comment about the history and the description of all the events, and most of it, obviously, is done from memory but my memory not being quite what it used to be, I have a big debt of thanks to pay to both David Spencer, and especially Chris Turley. Neither are in the room, but Chris corrected me on several erroneous descriptions of final holes in some of the most important events, and I would like to thank them but they are not here. MOHAMED BUAMAIM: We'll tell them. RODNEY BOGG: David Canon, this is not his first book by a long way and his Fairways of the World was for a long time Dubai golf's corporate gift to people. But it's an absolutely fabulous book and if you haven't got it I suggest you try to find it on Amazon‑‑ is it still in print? DAVID TOMS: No. RODNEY BOGG: How did it compare doing this one? DAVID CANNON: Different. I've been lucky enough to come to Dubai, when I first saw the Emirates Golf Club from a helicopter as a square kilometre of desert and three black lake linings, and some very early stages of iron girders for the clubhouse, so I've seen enormous change in Dubai. STEPHEN GALLACHER: Didn't know you were that old. DAVID CANNON: I'm very biased but I think golf has played a huge part in the development of the region, let alone the sport. I think the business side of golf and the way the whole place has developed as a destination for travelers; and I can't think of many places better in the world than to come play holiday golf than this, this time of the year, just the general condition and everything. It's always been‑‑ the quality of the place has been astounding. Everything has been built to the highest order. I feel very privileged to have actually seen the development, been able to record it and pictures and hopefully I'll go another 25 years and get to the 50th. Maybe my son might configure in this seat, as well, champion hopefully in the next ten years. RODNEY BOGG: Mr.Gallacher, I have a bone to pick with you. Because obviously I wrote a lot of this book before the 25th tournament, and several occasions I happened to mention that nobody had ever had back‑to‑back wins, but then you go and do it on the last one, so I had to rewrite half the book. So how does it feel to be a double winner and are you looking forward to making it three in a row? But you won't be able to keep the trophy‑‑ STEPHEN GALLACHER: Like you say, for me coming here, it is a brilliant destination. A place I've come to hone my game, especially because the courses are so good. The weather's perfect. Like the book, it's great that a tournament, when you get history, when you get a 25‑year history and for the people that have came here and played, the winners, the development of the course, it just gets better every year. I don't know how Craig and his team do it but they seem to push the boundaries. I know that my peers, as well, it's a tournament we all love to come and play. It's such a relaxed atmosphere, and you get good crowds. As I say the course keeps getting better and better, I don't know how he does it but all credit to him and his staff. To showcase Dave's pictures, he's a famous man, and you pinned the right guy there to do it. DAVID CANON: One thing I forgot to say and forgot to say early on, is that I have been helped by some other amazing photographers in this, because I could never have got around the golf course to get all these pictures and the team at Getty, Warren's there, but Andy and Ross especially have been coming for the last 12 years, each, as well, they made a significant contribution. I think also the front cover is an amazing picture; to actually get all those guys to come back, it just shows you how much people really appreciate Dubai I think. STEPHEN GALLACHER: That's what I mean. The pros, my peers, everybody loves coming here. They love coming to the place, Dubai as a whole, and just to see it‑‑ I've been coming here since I think '98, and the differences I see from then, every year you come back, there's something different. It's great that we get it down in a nice book like this for everybody to read. Maybe people didn't realise, when you see the first iconic picture of just the square, and then you see it now, it's breathtaking, really. RODNEY BOGG: Before we invite questions, I have six very important people to thank who sponsored the book, without their support it would not be possible: OMEGA, they are now title sponsors of the tournament, huge thank you to them. Emirates Global Aluminum, they have been with the event since it started and a huge thank you to them. Dubai Duty Free, Sinead is here, and they seem to support everything I've ever done, and pretty much every other sport as an organiser in the country does. As always, they were 100 per cent supportive and thank you to them. Hassir from Byrne, Byrne I think have been with us since day one, all the facilities you see around the course, you can't miss the name, and they were in first to join us as supporters of the book. Jebel Ali Resorts and Hotels, David Thompson is not here, but as always, has supported the Desert Classic and supported this. And last but not least, Mercedes‑Benz who have been absolutely fantastic in supporting us on this and other events. And last but not least, in fact, but nearly forgot, Getty Images. Without Getty we wouldn't have these fabulous images throughout the book from David and his team. So a huge thanks to them for making this book possible and from David and me, a very big thank you from Mo for giving the opportunity. It's been a privilege to do this, but it is a very special event and a very special book, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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