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OMEGA DUBAI LADIES MASTERS

December 8, 2015

Maha Haddioui

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

BETHAN CUTLER: Like to welcome Maha Haddioui from Morocco. You're making your third appearance in the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters this week. You're the only Arab golfer in the field. How does it feel to be back here in Dubai and what are your hopes for the week?

MAHA HADDIOUI: I'm really happy to be back in Dubai. It's one of my favourite tournaments and it feels like home, and it's a little bit like home, as well.

My goals for the week are pretty high this year, because I've been working a lot on my game. I know the course pretty well. I'm more used to the high pressure that is involved in this kind of big tournament. So I'm hoping for a Top 10 which will help me secure my card for next year.

Q. Can you remind us how you did the previous three years?
MAHA HADDIOUI: I missed the cut in the first two, and finished 40th last year. So I think I had a hard time dealing with the big pressure that was on me. It feels a bit the same as being in Morocco here. So basically, I think I had too high expectations, and I've worked on it a lot. I think I've gained more experience from the previous years and worked a lot on my game and shot making. So very confident this year.

Q. Can I just ask you, what is it like coming in here as kind of the home player? What's the pressure like around the golf outside of the ropes and how do you deal with that or how do you try to deal with that this year?
MAHA HADDIOUI: Well, I know there's a lot of eyes that are set on me because I'm the only Arab player. I'm trying to use it as a positive thing and as a pride, and trying to have it lift me up rather than put pressure on me and have more weight on my shoulders. So I'm trying to use it as a fuel rather than a pressuring thing.

Q. Do you notice that when you're out there playing? Do you notice there's more people coming to watch you specifically?
MAHA HADDIOUI: I feel it more outside the golf. In the practice areas, I see all the people, the security people. Everybody is cheering me up and telling me nice words and telling me, "Maha, let's do it."

I used to take it as a pressure to do well and I thought if I don't do well, I'm going to disappoint everyone, but that's not the way to look at it. I'm pretty sure like everybody is feeling pressure on the golf course, and I really need to use it as a positive thing and as a support more than anything.

Q. Can you just describe that process? Is it just like flicking a switch, just thinking, right, I'm going to use it as a positive, as opposed to feeling the pressure and the expectation?
MAHA HADDIOUI: Basically I've set up a mind routine with a coach that involves it's basically like mental conditioning where I think of positive things and a quiet mind before playing every shot. Basically that helps me a lot. It's like using a trigger before I play every golf shot. It involves a lot of thinking of a happy place, a happy smell, a happy sound, and then that helps me a lot like put the pressure down.

Q. Have you used before?
MAHA HADDIOUI: This is the first time I'm going to see it. We'll see. It's working in the practice rounds.

Q. Asking about the sponsorship in your career, how did the sponsors help you to be the first Arab lady in professional career in golf?
MAHA HADDIOUI: The sponsors have a big part to play. I have the ATH, which is the Hassan Trophy Association, and Taghazout Bay, which is a new station in the south of Morocco, eco friendly golf resorts and hotels.

And basically, everybody knows it's an expensive sport, especially playing on Tour. You're traveling a lot and it costs a lot of money, and having the right sponsors and the right people around you helps you basically only think about your golf, because it's a lot of there's a lot to do and a lot to think about. Like you have to book flights and you have to figure out where you're going to get the money. A season costs about 70,000 a year. If you don't have that money on hand, there's an extra worry.

Q. All of your sponsors are Moroccan or do you have any other offers from Arabic companies?
MAHA HADDIOUI: No. All my sponsors are 100 per cent Moroccan for now. But if anything comes up, I'm more than willing to

Q. You're free?
MAHA HADDIOUI: Of course.

Q. Can you tell us what kind of a change have you seen in these last four or five years in women's golf in the region? Have you seen a perceptible change of more women taking up the sport or trying to become professional golfers coming up to you and asking you for advice? Has it changed?
MAHA HADDIOUI: Yes. I felt a big change, especially in the last six years since I turned professional. I played a lot in the Arab Games when I was an amateur, and we were not a lot of ladies. Most of the ladies that played were 35 and over.

Now the change is that a lot of young girls are playing and I get a lot of messages on Facebook or even on WhatsApp. Like I'm a lot in contact with the girls, little girls that are nine years old from Kuwait who send me messages during the tournament or send me their swing videos. That's something I'm really happy about because I get to see outside of Morocco, as well, what's going on.

Basically in Morocco, Morocco is an example when it comes to women's golf. I'm the first professional but there's a lot of young girls that play, and I think it's going to carry on to the whole Arab world. And I see it in Kuwait, I see it in Qatar. I see it in other places. I think it's just a matter of time before there's a lot more girls playing.

Q. What do you think of a concept like the MENA Golf Tour, and do you think it can be applied on a smaller basis maybe to women's golf over here?
MAHA HADDIOUI: I think it would be a great idea, but obviously it's hard to ask for sponsors to put in a lot of money and organise tournaments if there are not that many girls playing. At the same time, organising tournaments would get more girls to play. So it's a circle that needs to be started somewhere.

Yeah, I believe having a few tournaments, not even as big maybe as the MENA Tour, but having a few tournaments in the winter could bring foreign players and also young golfers, young female golfers who want to play tournaments. Because unfortunately the problem that we have is that there's not enough amateur events, and if you don't play events as an amateur, like how can you you don't get the experience that others get. I used to get that a little bit in Morocco because there were not many girls. We were maybe two and we barely had any tournaments. So we had to play with the guys or we had to go to Europe. It would have been nice to have the same things as the Americans or the Europeans had being able to play a National Championship, European championship.

So I think it would be a great idea, but it takes I think it will require time and more players.

Q. You're saying Top 10 is a target. Considering 40th is your best finish, what gives you so much confidence, because that is quite a lofty target.
MAHA HADDIOUI: I made a lot of changes since last year and changed the way I work. I used to just get to the golf course and think, okay, where is the fairway, I'll just hit the fairway. And now, I've been working a lot on shaping the ball, and I think it makes such a huge difference, because you're able to avoid certain parts of the course you don't want to be at.

I'll just give you a simple example on hole No. 9. I used to always draw the ball. That was my shape and I couldn't do anything else. On hole No. 9, you just cannot do that, because you will just hit it in the water. But now I'm able to hit a fade if I want to, and I think that just makes you more in control. I've worked a lot on that with my new coach and did a lot of mental training. I think I have the game to do a Top 10.

Q. Who is your new coach?
MAHA HADDIOUI: Patrice LÃ©glise.

BETHAN CUTLER: Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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