Sunil Gavaskar is now part of the Els club after Sachin Tendulkar!
Sunil Gavaskar has been awarded the honorary life membership at the Els club at Dubai sports city. He joins Sachin Tendulkar who was given the membership, when he was in Dubai as part of the Mumbai Indians coaching staff during the recently concluded Indian Premiere League.
Sachin and Sunil may not have batted together for India, but there is a possibility of the duo playing golf together in the 18-hole Par 72, 6,750 yard championship golf course in Dubai.
Gavaskar, the first player in history to top 10,000 Test runs and an ICC Cricket World Cup winner in 1983, received the honour from Dubai Sports City Partner Abdulrahman Falaknaz and Dubai Sports City President Khalid Al Zarooni at a private ceremony at The Els Club on June 17, 2014.
Asked if there is any possibility of playing alongside Sachin, "We actually played once together in Chittagong in Bangladesh and he was pretty serious, as you would expect (and) he hit the ball really well. Yes, I think at some stage if we are here in Dubai we will certainly look to play together,” said Gavaskar.
“But I think he has got a head start. I believe he has already had some golfing lessons over here at the Butch Harmon School of Golf (at Dubai Sports City) which is a world-famous academy, so I am pretty certain he is going to beat me by a mile.”
He had a few words to say about the golf course as well.
"When I played cricket I thought I had to work very hard for my centuries but in golf I find you can get a century just like that," he joked. "I do not like easy centuries but maybe now I have got this membership I will try to play a bit and get better. I have seen that (the facilities are excellent) and I think that is something that will appeal to me. Maybe at my age, sitting in The Clubhouse and enjoying the ambiance is the thing to do. I think it is absolutely fantastic here. I have been here for lunch and for an evening, and the atmosphere is really a pleasant one and you can totally relax. I am honoured and really looking forward to using the facilities here," he added.
The Els Club at Dubai Sports City is a world's first and is also the first golf course designed by Ernie Els in the Middle East.
Hollywood actor Will Smith took lessons at the Butch Harmon School of Golf. Former World No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy is a regular visitor to the golf course.