Some of the best amateur golfers in the UAE will take on teams from all over the world when the prestigious Nomura Cup comes to the Middle East for the first time in its 52-year history.

To be played from October 22-25 at Yas Links, Abu Dhabi, the tournament provides the opportunity for the UAE team – comprising Khalid Yousuf, Rashid Hamood, Abdulla Al Qubaisi, youngster Ahmed Skaik and coach Greg Holmes – to test themselves against other top amateurs from far and wide.

They are taking the tournament extremely seriously and even travelled to Terre Blanch in France, where they visited the European Tour Performance Institute (ETPI), to hone their preparations.

– GOLF CITIZEN: Lutton extends lead as Ayoub impresses

The team benefitted from Jean-Jacques Rivet’s biomechanics guidance and advice, and Holmes said: “The players were measured physically and any errors they needed to work on, they could do so. They’ve benefited a lot from the trip.” 

Skaik is new to the tournament after successfully making the step-up from the UAE junior team. The talented Emirati played a key role when the UAE Junior side won the GCC Championship for the second year in a row in Oman last year. 

And he said: “I hope we show up in this tournament and perform well, we’ve put a lot of preparation in and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re used to playing against the Arab nations, But it’s good to play against players from Australia, Japan, China and Korea.”