US Open champion Graeme McDowell credited his even temperament for seeing him through a dramatic final day at Pebble Beach.
McDowell, 30, held his nerve at the famous California links to end a 40-year European drought at the US Open and land his first major with a one-shot victory over Gregory Havret of France.
His three-over-par 74 gave the Northern Irishman a level-par finish and not only made him the first US Open champion from Europe since Tony Jacklin in 1970 but put him alongside Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods as Pebble Beach winners of the championship.
McDowell had been the 36-hole leader before Dustin Johnson took over after round three, but he rallied as his American rival crumbled at the start of the final day.
Johnson squandered his three-shot lead at the second hole to blow the final round wide open, with McDowell rising to the challenge and holding his nerve best as others, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, faltered.
"I controlled my emotions," said McDowell. "I felt calm all week.
"Probably the worst I've been was Thursday when I got a little frustrated out there.
"I hit it out of position a few times, hit a few bad shots and got frustrated.
"You just can't do that at a US Open and I promised myself I was going to be calm, I was going to hang tough."
McDowell also paid tribute to his caddie Ken Comboy for keeping him together around 72 holes of one of the toughest challenges in golf.
"I have a great caddie on my bag who keeps me calm, and I really just try to stay in the present as much as I can," he continued.
"This is just a special golf course to win. I dreamt of winning major championships and to win my first one; I wanted to win multiple and you can't win multiple until you win your first.
"I can't believe it. Pebble Beach, it's such a special venue."
Havret was second, having shot a 72 to finish one over par, with Els third on two over after a 73 and the world's first and second-ranked golfers Woods (75) and Mickelson (73) tied for fourth a further shot back.
McDowell, the world No 37, almost did not made the field after his tie for 28th at the BMW PGA Championships gave US Tour players Scott Verplank, Michael Sim and Brian Gay the chance to oust him from the world's top 50 rankings with their finishes at the Byron Nelson Championship.
They failed to do so and McDowell got in, going on to win the Celtic Manor Wales Open two week ago and bringing that winning form to Pebble Beach to lead the US Open at halfway.
American Johnson, with a seemingly unflappable demeanour, outscored him in the third round to take a three-shot cushion at six under par into the final round but did not last long with the pressure of a Sunday lead at the majors.
His disasters at the second, with a triple-bogey, and the third, with a double, sent him falling out of contention and handed McDowell the lead he did not relinquish, despite four bogeys on his back nine.
Havret, who had qualified for the tournament at Walton Heath, birdied the first and sixth holes but bogeyed eight and 10 to fall back to level par but did not drop a shot until the 17th, keeping the pressure on McDowell down the final stretch.
Both bogeyed the 17th and McDowell went to the par-five 18th one ahead with the Frenchman still playing ahead.
As McDowell waited to play his second shot, Havret missed his birdie putt, instead making par for a one-over 72 to finish one over and leave the leader needing a par or better.
He and Comboy immediately made the decision to lay up and McDowell did the sensible thing before sending in a solid shot to the middle of the green to leave himself with two putts for victory.
First he had to wait for Johnson to putt out, then he rolled his first putt to within a foot and tapped in, looking to the skies then producing a double fist pump before a tearful embrace with Comboy.
Havret was a dignified runner-up, saying: "The feeling right now is it's probably the best surprise for me. I'm very happy but it's also the biggest disappointment.
"But to play golf like this, compete for the title... just before 17, I was really playing fine and I had some opportunities and then nearly holed that long putt on 16.
"It's a shame I didn't get up and down on the last but I'm very happy.
"I need probably a couple of hours to get over it. Absolutely. I'll have a great night and some fantastic memories."
* PA
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
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Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
Race 3
Produced: Salman Khan Films and Tips Films
Director: Remo D’Souza
Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Salem
Rating: 2.5 stars
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
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
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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%3Cp%3EChris%20Jordan%20insists%20Sanchit%20Sharma%20will%20make%20an%20impact%20on%20the%20ILT20%2C%20despite%20him%20starting%20the%20campaign%20on%20Gulf%20Giants'%20bench.%3Cbr%3EThe%20young%20UAE%20seamer%20was%20an%20instant%20success%20for%20the%20side%20last%20season%2C%20and%20remained%20part%20of%20the%20XI%20as%20they%20claimed%20the%20title.%3Cbr%3EHe%20has%20yet%20to%20feature%20this%20term%20as%20the%20Giants%20have%20preferred%20Aayan%20Khan%20and%20Usman%20Khan%20as%20their%20two%20UAE%20players%20so%20far.%3Cbr%3EHowever%2C%20England%20quick%20Jordan%20is%20sure%20his%20young%20colleague%20will%20have%20a%20role%20to%20play%20at%20some%20point.%3Cbr%3E%22Me%20and%20Sanchit%20have%20a%20great%20relationship%20from%20last%20season%2C%22%20Jordan%20said.%3Cbr%3E%22Whenever%20I%20am%20working%20with%20more%20inexperienced%20guys%2C%20I%20take%20pleasure%20in%20sharing%20as%20much%20as%20possible.%3Cbr%3E%22I%20know%20what%20it%20was%20like%20when%20I%20was%20younger%20and%20learning%20off%20senior%20players.%3Cbr%3E%22Last%20season%20Sanchit%20kick-started%20our%20season%20in%20Abu%20Dhabi%20with%20a%20brilliant%20man-of-the-match%20performance.%3Cbr%3E%22Coming%20into%20this%20one%2C%20I%20have%20seen%20a%20lot%20of%20improvement.%20The%20focus%20he%20is%20showing%20will%20only%20stand%20him%20in%20good%20stead.%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
The 100 Best Novels in Translation
Boyd Tonkin, Galileo Press
Credit Score explained
What is a credit score?
In the UAE your credit score is a number generated by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), which represents your credit worthiness – in other words, your risk of defaulting on any debt repayments. In this country, the number is between 300 and 900. A low score indicates a higher risk of default, while a high score indicates you are a lower risk.
Why is it important?
Financial institutions will use it to decide whether or not you are a credit risk. Those with better scores may also receive preferential interest rates or terms on products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.
How is it calculated?
The AECB collects information on your payment behaviour from banks as well as utilitiy and telecoms providers.
How can I improve my score?
By paying your bills on time and not missing any repayments, particularly your loan, credit card and mortgage payments. It is also wise to limit the number of credit card and loan applications you make and to reduce your outstanding balances.
How do I know if my score is low or high?
By checking it. Visit one of AECB’s Customer Happiness Centres with an original and valid Emirates ID, passport copy and valid email address. Liv. customers can also access the score directly from the banking app.
How much does it cost?
A credit report costs Dh100 while a report with the score included costs Dh150. Those only wanting the credit score pay Dh60. VAT is payable on top.
The specs
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Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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