Dubai Golf Ambassador Peter Cowen poses a question: 'Where are all the Daily Drawsheets at golf tournaments?' - Photo Instagram
After a thrilling few days at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi for the HSBC Championship and a brief stint in Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates for the DP World Tour Championship, I have returned to Rotherham. During this journey, I seized the chance to inspect our new Emirates Golf Club Golf Academy facilities, and I am thoroughly impressed with the progress on the Driving Range at EGC. This long-awaited upgrade will elevate one of the world's premier golf clubs to new heights. Kudos to the EGC management team and my dedicated staff for their relentless efforts in realizing this vision. Exciting developments are on the horizon!
My next trip to Dubai will coincide with the HERO Dubai Desert Classic in January—can you fathom that it's already 2025 in just 61 days? Time is fleeting! I eagerly anticipate seeing the final touches and possibly participating in an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Academy to commemorate these new milestones. But before I get ahead of myself, I need to address a persistent issue.
As many are aware, I am an ardent advocate for sustainability, equality, and inclusion, values that guide my every endeavor. However, a growing frustration at golf tournaments is the vanishing daily drawsheet. Event organizers often claim a shift towards a paperless system—digital ticketing and tournament programs. Yet, nothing compares to a straightforward, single-page drawsheet, ideally double-sided. It's practical, user-friendly, and keeps fans and players informed. In today's digital age, everything is accessible via mobile phones, from emails to bank accounts. But losing your phone or facing a dead battery can be disastrous. I dare any spectator to sit behind a random green without a video wall or scoreboard, as was the case at last week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and rely solely on a mobile app to track pairings and monitor approaching players while keeping tabs on the leaders—it's akin to herding cats.
This is a demanding task, even for tech-savvy youngsters. The golf spectator demographic is skewing younger, yet many mature, traditional fans still roam the fairways. They come for the golf, not the entertainment or social aspects of these large events. In my view, the reinstatement of the Daily Drawsheet would be warmly embraced by all—behind the scenes and by the paying public. Why should tournament officials have them for the Starter, Rules Officials, and others within the ropes? Could this not be an additional revenue stream for organizers? A few thousand Daily Drawsheets, for those who desire them, could be offset by purchasing carbon credits. Buying trees to produce paper for Daily Drawsheets—is that the 'Circle of Life'? It's certainly a conversation worth having.
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