Thomas Rubi

	Sporting chance With sports facilities on the growth in the Middle East, what challenges lie ahead for the man at the heart of Dubai Sports City, Thomas Rubi?
		Dubai Sports City is the cornerstone project of Dubailand and will be the first integrated purpose-built sports city. Golfers are being treated to an unrivalled experience following the opening of The Els Club earlier this year, the first amenity to be completed in Dubai Sports City. The Els Club at Dubai Sports City, managed by Troon Golf, is adjacent to the three magnificent stadia and will feature a series of major sports academy facilities including a Butch Harmon School of Golf, the first such facility outside the United States. General Manager Thomas Rubi oversees all aspects of the club’s management, from the pre-opening marketing and brand positioning to membership services, and full managerial oversight of the Club’s operations. Emirates Golf discussed with Rubi the challenge of launching the newest golf course in Dubai.

	How long have you been in golf? I’m a relative newcomer to the golf industry, as my background was in luxury hotels. It was four years ago when I joined the leader of upscale golf course management, Troon Golf, and The Els Club is the third project I’ve worked on. My first was the private 27- hole facility in the Colorado Rockies, The Glacier Club, followed by Europe’s finest new resort, Monte Rei, featuring the only Jack Nicklaus Signature in Portugal. Which aspects of The Els Club and Dubai Sports City convinced you to move? All of them! It’s a fabulous project, which gave me a wonderful chance to work with quality developers. It’s also been a great experience to work with Ernie and his design team. Which aspects of launching the newest golf course development in the Emirates were the most challenging? As with most projects now in the region, the most challenging aspects we faced were handling the issues of water, power, infrastructure and logistics in accessing the site, during the pre-opening phase before our launch with Ernie. In addition, recruiting and relocating an international team from all over the world was no small feat, but I relished all the challenges I faced. Do you think that Dubai Sports City can achieve its goal of becoming one of the hubs for world sport in years to come? The vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, the Ruler of Dubai, the founding partners of Sports City and Dubailand is a perfect union that I don’t think exists anywhere else in the world. Given how things are evolving, I have no doubt that Dubai will become one of the focal points in the world for sport. Has being the first amenity to open in Dubai Sports City added to the pressures to make the service and all aspects of the golf course world class? It is a privilege to open the first facility at Sports City and to be the first landmark golf course in Dubailand. For The Els Club to be a key part of the master plan here is a great honour. I don’t view it being a huge pressure to make the experience world class; with the expertise of Troon Golf behind us, the key has been to hire the best team with the relevant experience. That’s why we have got Chris Brown, previously director of instruction at Turnberry, Brian Hampson, who used to be the golf course superintendent at Troon North in Arizona, and Darren King, our head of sales and marketing, whose background is with the Australian AFL franchise, the Brisbane Broncos and the well-known Troon Club, Brookwater. It’s an all-star cast that has come together to work alongside Ernie Els and his team to deliver what we have termed ‘The Els Club Experience’. What is your favourite hole? The 16th. It’s a driveable par 4 which sets up a fantastic final three-hole stretch. It is a classic risk/reward hole with magnificent views, as you have the perfect trilogy of greens with the 16th in the foreground, flanked by the 8th on the left and the 17th on the horizon, sculpted beautifully by sand dunes. This is followed by the monster par-3 17th and the par-5 18th where anything could happen. I think Ernie has created one of the best finishes in world golf. Is there scope to host a championship event at The Els Club one day? We have always felt that the quality of the course would speak for itself, without necessarily needing to host a tour event. Having said that, with more and more high-profile events coming to Dubai, it would be a privilege to be considered as a host venue. The course is certainly laid out well for tournament golf with natural amphitheatres for spectators and dramatic scoring holes! How does The Els Club compare both in design and quality with other courses in the UAE? What makes for a great golf course design tends to be very subjective. In our case, given the natural dune sculptures and ghaf trees on the site combined with Ernie’s inspiration from Pinehurst 2 and Royal Melbourne, what we have is a layout that is unique. This will certainly appeal to a discerning golfer and I believe stands alongside the very best the UAE has to offer.