Kevin Na will be remembered for not quitting or losing his temper while under duress on the course.
Kevin Na will be remembered for not quitting or losing his temper while under duress on the course.

Na means yes to golf fans world over



You and I have never shot a 16 on a golf hole. And even if we did, we would not admit it.

Around shot 11 or 12 we would have picked up our ball and walked to the next tee box, or chucked our clubs into the nearest body of water and given up the sport for something less maddening. Like making gold out of lead.

You need a professional to shoot a 16. No one else would keep trying to salvage an impossible situation. Which brings us to Kevin Na.

Na is a 27-year-old Korean-American ranked No 64 in the world, with nearly US$10 million (Dh36.7m) in career earnings, a serious golfer who now owns a dubious US PGA record as the first man to shoot a 16 on a par-4, the 474-yard ninth hole at the Texas Open last weekend.

In the days since Na's nightmarish "triple-quadruple bogey", he has become famous, or at least infamous. He was wearing a microphone for the pga.com website. So not only can his ordeal be seen on video (580,000 YouTube visits, and counting), he can be heard talking us through the disaster as it unfolds, even while commentators marvel at his tribulations.

Na was one-under par when he shanked his tee shot at No 9, and "rough" does not do justice to the thicket were it landed. Imagine big, shaggy trees with low branches tangled with dead vines and briars, and you begin to picture it.

After examining the situation, Na and his caddie, Kenny Harms, decided to take the one-shot penalty and go back to the tee.

Na's second tee shot, No 3 on his card, landed almost exactly where his first did, in the nettled wilderness. And this is where professional pride made him a celebrity.

"What he should have done was go back to the tee again," said Stephen Deane, a PGA professional at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai.

"He would have been hitting his fifth shot and easily could have got out of there with an eight. But going back to the tee once is not nice, and twice is worse, and I can understand why he didn't."

Na sealed his fate when he took a hack at the ball in the briar patch. It travelled about two feet, struck a tree and banged off his thigh for a one-shot penalty. Also, by the rules, he now could not go back to the tee. It was play out of the mess he was in or be disqualified from the tournament.

Na to Harms: "What are the chances of me getting out of here?"

Harms: "Fifty-fifty."

While commentators intone, "Oh, man, this is getting worse", and "We could be here a while before we sort this out", and "He's got the head-spinning going on right now."

Na called over a PGA official, took a penalty drop, hit the ball again, and after a ricochet it landed behind him. He took several more swings, at least one of them left-handed, while so deep in the forest that he may have been swinging a machete. And when he was nearly out of the woods, his 11th shot hit a tree and landed behind him. Said Na, exasperated: "Ah, come on!"

He reached the fairway on his 13th shot, drove the green on his 14th and two-putted to "save" a 16. On his way to the green, he and his caddie chatted. Harms: "I have no idea what you have."

Na, smiling: "How are we going to count all the shots?"

Harms: "I have no idea."

Na: "Can't keep track."

PGA officials went to the video to decide that Na attempted to hit the ball 12 times and incurred four penalty shots, for a total of 16. In the days since, Na has been celebrated for not quitting, for never losing his temper and for getting the ball in the hole. Finally. "Top players never give up." Deane said.

Some comments left on the YouTube video mock Na, but many others praise him for finishing what he started, oh, so wretchedly.

"He is the anti-Tiger, a man of the people. I feel compelled to buy one of the products that he endorses," wrote one.

Na played the final nine holes in three-under par. He shot 80, but played 17 holes in four under.

Deane said he has never seen anyone need 16 shots to play a hole.

"A 12, maybe, by a beginner or a junior," he said.

And then he added his own tribute to Na. "He was able to laugh at himself. But once he got to the fairway, it's like it never happened."

We are glad, however, that it did. In an era when "professional" too often means "foul-mouthed, tantrum-throwing lout", calm, cool and relentlessly competitive Kevin Na showed us what being a professional ought to be about.

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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THREE
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Nayla%20Al%20Khaja%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Jefferson%20Hall%2C%20Faten%20Ahmed%2C%20Noura%20Alabed%2C%20Saud%20Alzarooni%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Company name: Farmin

Date started: March 2019

Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi 

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: AgriTech

Initial investment: None to date

Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs 

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results:

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: Eghel De Pine, Pat Cosgrave (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Sheaar, Szczepan Mazur, Saeed Al Shamsi

6pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (PA) Group 3 Dh500,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Torch, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel

6.30pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan National Day Cup (TB) Listed Dh380,000 1,600m | Winner: Forjatt, Chris Hayes, Nicholas Bachalard

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup for Private Owners Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 1,400m | Winner: Hawafez, Connor Beasley, Ridha ben Attia

7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 80,000 1,600m | Winner: Qader, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roaulle

The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
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MATCH INFO

Champions League quarter-final, first leg

Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)

Match on BeIN Sports

360Vuz PROFILE

Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah 
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology 
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million 
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin

PROFILE OF INVYGO

Started: 2018

Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo

Based: Dubai

Sector: Transport

Size: 9 employees

Investment: $1,275,000

Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt

What went into the film

25 visual effects (VFX) studios

2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots

1,000 VFX artists

3,000 technicians

10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers

New sound technology, named 4D SRL

 

Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

Company%20profile
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
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US%20federal%20gun%20reform%20since%20Sandy%20Hook
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