Ahead of the first Rolex Series event of the year, Wayne Riley walks the dramatic final stretch at Emirates Golf Club, explaining the opportunities and dangers at both the scoreable 17th and 18th holes on the Majlis Course.
The 17th Hole
Par: 4
Yards: 359
In last year’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic there were three eagles, 118 birdies, 276 pars, 35 bogeys and just one double-bogey on the 17th hole on the Majlis Course. The penultimate hole averaged a score of 3.80 short, making it the fifth easiest hole on the course, and as Riley explains, a perfect risk-and-reward opportunity.
“The 17th hole it's a classic risk or reward,” he explains. “It doesn't matter if it comes at the 17th of your round or it comes at the 71st hole of the championship, you've got a chance of making a two or a birdie or others. It's 359 yards in length and with some help in the air as there is today you can whip it straight over those trees. If you see the V in those trees with the wind just straight down, that's where you hit it.
“If you want to lay up, it's only going to be a hybrid, a four iron or a three iron just to advance it down there towards that green.
“There's nothing fancy about it [the green]. Most things over there on the right hand side haven't changed. Still some shrubbery over there on the right. Still the waste area and those big old palms. Balls have been known to stay up there on the odd occasion. Over here on the left-hand side, there are a lot of low lying bush, more shrubbery, but it's all been cleaned up. I love it. It's just made it a total waste area.
“The rough up here on the left hand side is still very thick indeed. It's overseeded rye, and when the flags on the left hand side, you're on the left hand side, you are short sided. It is a big old circular green with a little step in it. This par four is a beauty, comes at a gorgeous time. But you play it under the par of four, or you’re going backwards.”
The 18th hole
Par: 5
Yards: 564
The dramatic final hole has provided some hugely memorable moments throughout the 34 previous editions of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and has proved pivotal to the outcome of several of those championships.
In 2023, it ranked as the second easiest hole of the week with an average of 4.56, comprised of 15 eagles, 204 birdies, 117 pars, 32 bogeys and 5 double-bogeys or worse. A hole with plenty of variability, defending champion Rory McIlroy went birdie-par-bogey-birdie over the four days of competition.
Below, Riley gives insight into the hole, while remembering two of the most iconic moments.
"The famous 18th, here at Emirates Golf Club, 546 yards and it’s a dog leg, a severe one at that from right to left. You need to cover that rough over on the left-hand side because it really is dragged in and cut right down into the fairway and the fairway cambers from left to right so the ball can get away from you.
"337 yards to reach the water down there, and with these fairways baking up you can reach there no worries, [but] you don’t want to go there.
"If you miss the fairway left or right that’s where you lay up to. Back in the day it was really wide and I didn’t like it but they’ve pinched it in. Out of the rough, the thick stuff, it’s very difficult to find your favourite yardage so usually lay it down there and give yourself 110 yards. The green is huge, it’s actually shared with the ninth. A lot of players will take too much club here and hit it towards this unbelievably amphitheatre of the hospitality suites. It’s a green which tilts severely from back to front, and we’ve seen so many iconic moments here."
