Peter Dawson is the former long-time CEO of the R and A but after announcing Tiger Woods as ‘The Championship Golfer of the Year’ for 2000, 2005 and 2006 Dawson has turned his hand at a TV journalist.

And Dawson’s first task to interview 14-time Major winning Tiger Woods.

Dawson, who has contested last week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic Pro-Am in the company of Woods, got to sit down that week with Woods.

Here is the Dawson’s first attempt at TV journalism.

TW: The Dubai that I know has changed absolutely dramatically.

It’s hard to wrap your head around it.It’s like the beginning part of New York city.It has changed so much, so fast.  It’s just truly remarkable.

Overall just the experience of coming here and seeing the changes that have evolved over the years. That’s what’s been, just how much effort has gone into making this city so great and so expansive so quickly.

Peter. Hey man.

PD: It must have changed a lot since you were up here last.

TW: It has.

PD: Saeed thank you.

TW: Saeed.

HE SH: Thank you. Great to see you.

TW: Pleasure. Thank you. I’ll see you.

PD: Well it must have been, brought back a few memories being back on that helipad. I think it was back in 04’ you hit that iconic shot that’s been shown around the world so often and here we are what 13 years later.

TW: My main goal was to try and hit the helicopter that was flying around. And I came close a couple of times. It was one of those things where it was a lot of fun doing it.

PD: The leadership here is truly visionary and they encourage change.

TW: They think outside the box and they’re thinking ahead. Very modern thinking.

PD: Yes.

PD: Ah. These guys I guess are getting tougher to beat aren’t they?

TW: Now. All these guys can move it. Don’t forget now. You have, you can get away with hitting the ball off centre. You couldn’t get away with miss-hitting a ball before. It wasn’t important to hit the ball hard, it was more important to hit the ball flush. That ball spun so much and curved off line so much. Now these kids tee up like this. Far forward and just go after it.

PD: Isn’t this beautiful?

TW: This is gorgeous.

PD: Beautiful. Beautiful.

TW: Yes sir, I need to work on my tan.

TW: I miss playing here. I miss playing here I miss being here. It’s been a while since I’ve been, ah, one fit enough to play.

PD: You know the last eighteen months must have been really frustrating for you. The whole world of golf is delighted to see you back competing.

TW: It was tough. I mean, Peter, it was more than brutal. Because there were times when I physically didn’t know if I could get out of bed. And then were times when I needed help just to get out of bed. It was hardest things to wrap my head around. I had a lot of great people around me to help me. Help keep my spirits up and two of the most important people in my life kept my spirits up every day they were my kids.

PD: Was there a time when despair took over and you thought I am never going to get back out there again.

TW: Yeah. No, no there have been plenty of times, plenty of times when I thought I would never play the game at the elite level.  You put in the leg work. You gotta get in the gym. You gotta hit balls. You’ve gotta refine your game, not make dumb mistakes out there on the golf course and in order to do that you’ve gotta play a lot and I couldn’t play. And, you know playing once every three or four weeks that’s not going to cut it. There were a lot of times when I didn’t think I was going to make it back.

PD: How do you feel now?

TW: You know I feel good, not great. Granted, I don’t think I’ll ever feel great because it’s three back surgeries, four knee operations.

PD: You must always wonder I guess.

TW: You know I am always going to be a little bit sore. It’s just the way it is. But as long as I can function and function at a good enough level then I’m fine with that.

PD: Looking forward to the season. The Majors I know are very important to you.  The Masters isn’t too far away, early April.

TW: Yeah. The whole plan was to get my body, mind and spirit ready for that first full week in April. You know, I’ve done it four times and I’d love to do it a fifth.

PD: Great occasion The Masters I always think.

TW: It is the best.

PD: There are some new courses coming on stream. I think you’re involved in designing at least one of them aren’t you?

TW: Yes. I am going to be designing one here. A championship type venue. I am talking with them. How much of a championship venue do you want? Something somewhat member friendly or do you want to actually design it so it’s basically like OakMont, OakMont Winged Foot and have it just tough.

PD: Do you think you can do both? Can combine the two in one design?

TW: I think you can based upon tee locations and angles. I think you can do that. And bunker placements. If you move the tees around and line them up correctly. You know the best person in the history of the game doing that is Pete Dye.  He can make a simple golf course from the up tee, not really that simple but they’re pretty simple but from the back tee their brutal and he’s the best at visually intimidating you and that’s how you can get to a lot of these top players by visually intimidating them even though there is a lot of room out there it may not look like it.

PD: I think it would be better too if a lot of amateurs did go to the forward tees instead of trying to play too far back. That would speed up the game.

TW: Well you want, the whole idea is nowadays, that’s one of the reasons I design my golf courses the way I design them, is try and design a golf course where you don’t lose your golf ball. I mean, most people lose twelve balls a day and it’s not a lot of fun and one of the more difficult things about the game of golf now is that the time of play it takes and nobody can go without their cell phone for five minutes. And so it’s trying to get them to put that away and then losing themselves in the game of golf again and bring families together and all ages together.  It’s a difficult job as an architect but one that I am trying to do my best at.

PD: Back here to Dubai though you’ve seen a lot of changes in all the times you’ve been coming here and they’re still happening.

TW: It’s crazy to see that there are two different skylines here. When I first came out here there were two buildings there at number eight that we used to aim at, and they looked like they were shaped like dumplings on top, on top of the buildings and you’d pick you cut one of that one or draw one off the other one. And that was your aim point. Now you have a whole skyline. Which one am I going to aim at?

PD: Hit a skyscraper.

TW: Exactly. For me coming back here like this, this is what I grew up in. This is like California. Sun’s out, it’s warm all the time and this is like Southern Cal’ to me.

PD: And golf itself is still very strong here.  Very popular. The golf courses are in my view terrific.

TW: And you know there’s also a lot of players that live here. They come here and practice. Rory spends just a boatload of time here, playing and practicing. Overall the weather allows you to build and practice all day every day.

PD: The weather is a great key to it. The facilities have been built on that and they are proving very popular at all levels of the game. Well look we wish you well in all those things and great to see you here in Dubai.

TW: Thanks Peter.

PD: We’re not going to have you hit balls from up there.  If you wouldn’t mind.  We’d like to see you do it.

TW: Done deal.

TW: This is the changing of the guard. My generation is getting older but if I’m teeing up the goal’s to win it and that doesn’t change whether I’m injured, coming off an injury or playing well or I’m playing poorly. If I am in the event it’s to win the event. I know I’ve accomplished some pretty neat things over the course of my career and I hope I can continue.

TW: Thanks Peter. Always fun.

PD: Thank you. Thank you very much. That was great.

TW: Your turn.

PD: Ah ah. You’re the guy doing the comebacks.

TW: C’mon.

PD: You’re the guy doing the comebacks I’ll leave it to you.

TW: Tomorrow morning.  Done deal. Done deal.