The second Dubai World Championship will be contested on a much more mature Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, according to the organisers.

David Garland, the European Tour’s director of tour operations, was recently in Dubai to examine the course. He said: “We are very pleased with the way the Earth course has survived the very high temperatures during the summer in the Gulf and we expect playing conditions to be even better than in 2009. A substantial number of trees have grown and shrubbery thickened since last year and there is now a clearly defined band of rough between the fairways and the bark chippings, which was absent last year due to high salt content in the water during the summer which restricted growth.”

Tour agronomist Graeme MacNiven reckons the greens will putt more consistently than in 2009. He said: “Last year the course was brand new and the greens needed time to settle. Through play and maturity, the greens have found their level, the sward is denser and the fact that we are now able to use ride-on machinery on them is a sign of progress.”