JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s best golfers have been gearing up for an action-packed 2018 with a training camp at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and have praised the recently opened course as an ideal venue to launch a successful season.
With 22 international tournaments scheduled for the national team through the year the national team gathered under the watchful eyes of coach Ali Balharith. And they loved the new facility.
“It’s fantastic, with excellent facilities. The golf course is what my team needs for training,” Balharith told Arab News.
“It’s unreal. To have a thing like this in Saudi Arabia, it’s unbelievable,” Saudi golf star Othman Almulla said of the championship course and clubhouse nestled within the prestigious Al Murooj district in King Abdullah Economic City.
“You don’t even ask,” commented Saudi national team standout Abdulrahman Almansour, obviously in admiration of what is arguably the crown jewel of golf courses in Saudi Arabia.
“Jumeirah Golf Estates (Dubai), step aside,” said the one-time Arab Junior champion Saud Al-Sharif, referring to Royal Green’s majestic clubhouse.
Gaining a stamp of approval from the Saudi Arabia national team, Royal Greens Director of Golf Paul Dennis said it was great to have the national team hone their skills on the fairways and greens of the new course, and hoped it would help them on the pathway to golfing glory.
“It’s nice to be recognized by the best players in the country. The golf course is ready but still very young. There are still things that we will see in terms of golf; and the restaurant, its operational.
“We’re providing facilities that are probably second to none in the region. We guarantee the best playing facilities and the best playing surfaces. (These are the) best conditions that they can experience.”
In the past many of Saudi Arabia’s best golfers had to travel to the UAE, considered the golfing hub of the Middle East, to get some decent practice in. But Dennis claimed that was now no longer the case.
“They have to be proud of the fact that they now have facilities in Saudi Arabia. We’re proud to have it. It’s a great thing for the club,” Dennis said.
“Hopefully there’s nothing else that they want in their visit, because it gives them the opportunity that they never had before, to really get the best out of their playing abilities and equipment that’s being used by the best players in the world.
“The weather is better. Better than the UAE, for example. We are 10 degrees cooler, it doesn’t get as cold in the winter. We have an amazing coastline. With the golf club, marina and sports center across the road, we have the key elements of reacreational activities in the city.”
Managed by Troon Golf, Royal Greens has seen golfers from Jeddah, Yanbu, Rabigh and Riyadh coming to play since its soft opening on Nov. 30, Dennis revealed.
Almulla, who won the Saudi Golf Federation Open last month at the Nofa Golf Resort on the outskirts of Riyadh, is competing in the Oman Amateur Open this weekend at Ghala Golf Club in the heart of Muscat along with fellow national players Al-Sharif, Almansour and the US-based Ali Alsakha.
Then in mid February, the quartet will play the Red Sea Little Venice Open on the Alps Tour in Egypt.
From there the focus will be on the Asian Games, which Indonesia will host in August, and the Eisenhower Trophy, a biennial world amateur team golf championship for men to be held in early September in Ireland.
Saudi Arabia golf team ready for a busy year on the fairways
Saudi Arabia golf team ready for a busy year on the fairways
Egypt switches off Liverpool after Salah fallout
- Liverpool games once drew wall-to-wall crowds in Cairo whenever Salah was playing
- Manager Arne Slot left Egyptian star on the bench for three consecutive games
CAIRO: At a cafe in a bustling Cairo neighborhood, Liverpool games once drew wall-to-wall crowds, but with Mohamed Salah off the pitch, his Egyptian fans would now rather play cards or quietly doomscroll than watch the Reds play.
Salah, one of the world’s greatest football stars, delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of manager Arne Slot after he was left on the bench for three consecutive games.
Adored by fans as the “Egyptian king,” Salah told reporters he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club he has called home for seven-and-a-half years.
The outburst divided Liverpool fans worldwide — but in the Cairo cafe, people knew what side they were on, and Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan went unnoticed.
“We’re upset, of course,” said Adel Samy, 40, a longtime Salah fan, who remembers the cafe overflowing with fans whenever he was playing.
On Tuesday evening, only a handful of customers sat at rickety tables — some hunched over their phones, others shuffling cards, barely glancing at the screen.
“He doesn’t deserve what’s happening,” Samy said.
Islam Hosny, 36, who helps run the family cafe, said the street outside used to be packed with “people standing on their feet more than those who sat on chairs” whenever Salah played.
“The cafe would be as full as an Ahly-Zamalek derby,” he said, referring to Egypt’s fiercest football rivalry.
“Now because they know he’s not playing, no one comes.”
At a corner table, a customer quietly asks staff to switch to another match.
‘Time to leave’
Since joining the Merseyside team in 2017, Salah has powered the club’s return to the top of European football, inspiring two Premiere League titles, a Champions League triumph and victories at FA Cup, League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
With 250 goals in 420 appearances, he is Liverpool’s third-highest goalscorer of all time, and for Egyptians, the country’s greatest sporting export.
But this season, Salah has struggled for form, scoring five goals in 19 appearances as Liverpool have won just five of their last 16 matches in all competitions, slipping to eighth in the Champions League with 12 points.
At the cafe in the Shoubra neighborhood of Cairo, the sense of disillusionment gripped fans.
“Cristiano Ronald, Messi and all players go through dips,” said Mohamed Abdelaziz, 40, but they still play.
Shady Hany, 18, shook his head. “How can a player like Mohamed Salah sit on the bench for so long?” he said.
“It is time for Salah to leave.”
Slot said on Monday he had “no clue” whether Salah would play for Liverpool again.
Salah, due to join Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations after next weekend’s home match against Brighton, has around 18 months remaining on the £400,000-a-week contract he signed in April.
Egyptian sports pundit Hassan Khalafallah believes Salah’s motivations lie elsewhere.
“If he cared that much about money, he would have accepted earlier offers from Gulf clubs,” he said.
“What matters to Salah is his career and his legacy.”
Salah’s journey from the Nile Delta village of Nagrig to global stardom at Anfield has inspired millions.
His rise is a classic underdog story — starting at Egypt’s El Mokawloon, moving to Switzerland’s Basel, enduring a tough spell at Chelsea, finding form at AS Roma and ultimately becoming one of the Premier League’s greatest players.
“Salah is an Egyptian star we are all proud of,” said Hany.
