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Royal Golf Club – Long 13-Year Tour Return Wait Is Over For Bahrain’s Only 18-Holer

4 months ago by Fatiha Betscher Comments Off

It has been 13 long years since the Persian Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain has featured on the annual DP World Tour schedule.

That was in 2011 with the hosting of the inaugural Volvo Champions won by England’s Paul Casey over a then three-year old Colin Montgomerie redesigned course located some 20 kilometres south of the capital Manmar.

GolfByTourMiss recently rekindled memories of that first event and you can read our feature article by clicking on: http://www.golfbytourmiss.com/2024/01/bahrains-royal-club-rewarding-golf-in-this-oil-rich-nation/

In writing that article a strong sight of so many oil pipelines running down the sides of the golf course, and with small bridges erected in places where the players and spectators crossed over the pipelines.

Emirates Golf Club 1985ish? No, June 2007 and work gets underway on the Royal Golf Club course in Bahrain. You can make out the oil pipelines running the length of the landscape – Image Greenside Magazine

Of course, in 2011 the Royal Golf Club was then it’s infant stages and also with the many homes about the course still under construction however in the 13-years since the hosting of the Volvo Champions much has changed in Bahrain and, in fact, it is no different to other Middle East Tour stops such as Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

Among those who teed-up in that 2011 Volvo Champions and who have returned this week include winning 2018 European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn.

“I am looking forward to returning to Bahrain in February and seeing how the country has changed since my last visit almost 13 years ago,” Bjorn said at the launch of the Bahrain Championship.

“The beauty of the DP World Tour is we get to visit so many interesting places and help bring golf to new audiences, and I am thrilled to help to achieve that with the Bahrain Championship.

“I would like to thank His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for welcoming us to his Kingdom and I can’t wait to visit early next year.”

DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley with His Excellency Faris Mustafa Al Kooheji, Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee confirming the staging of the 2024 Bahrain Championship – Image DP World Tour

When Montgomerie set to work on his redesign work only five of the nine holes were retained, with the other 13 holes spread out over the then barren desert. The desert was ‘snooker-table flat’, as stated in the review appearing in World Golf Architecture – A Worldwide Review with barely a bush to be seen.

What was present though was several active oil wells, crude oil dumps, gas flare pipes and a maze of overground oil pipes, radiating out from a central pipe corridor that was split in two like a rusty railway tracks.

Now, just over 15-years since the opening of the Royal Club 18-hole course, and close to 13-years after the hosting of the Volvo Champions, and the DP World Tour is returning.

The course is now there with there on par with all those gems in the Middle East we have come to enjoy including the two championship courses at the Emirates Club, The Els Club, Jebel Ali, the Montgomerie course, Dubai Creek, Arabian Ranches, Dubai Hills, Ras Al Khaimah, the standout trio in Abu Dhabi of the National along with Yas Links and Saadiyat Beach along with the Doha Golf Club and also the most recently opened in 2019 Education City course alo in Qatar capital, and we cannot forget the impressive-looking Education City course along the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia.

Hereunder, and with thanks to the Royal Golf Club, is a 2024 look at the host venue for the Bahrain Championship.