Golf guru Harmon gives Emirati youngster thumbs up ahead of his date with world's best KHALID YOUSUF tees it up in his second Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday having had the kind of preparation only one other player in the 120+ field has enjoyed - personal instruction from the world's best golf coach this week. Butch Harmon, widely-regarded as the world's No.1 golf coach, is the most sought-after tutor in the game. His time is so precious that he has cut his top-level Tour students from 15 down to five. Only Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Stewart Cink and Nick Watney can count Harmon as their 'coach' now. Harmon is in town this week to officially open his first Butch Harmon School of Golf outside of the USA, at Dubai Sports City. But the man who made Tiger Woods the world's best player took time from his duties and the grand opening yesterday to run the rule over 19-year-old Yousuf, before going on to work with Els. And he liked what he saw. "I think Khalid has a wonderful swing," Harmon said of Yousuf, who has enrolled in the Butch Harmon School of Golf. "I'll be interested to see how he handles his nerve when he plays. I think he has a great future ahead of him and with the right instruction and being able to understand what he is doing I think he could be a real good player. "I think he needs to work on all his skills to get more consistent on all he does. "When you look at the difference to what we call 'good' players and 'really good' players there's a very small line between them and a lot of that is just consistency and how mentally strong you are and I think in time he will learn that." No-one else in the field this week can say they have something in common with Ernie Els' preparations. But cool Khalid, who became the first Emirati golfer to play in the Desert Classic last year, a reward for being the first UAE National to achieve a scratch handicap, is taking it all in his relaxed stride as he gets ready for his big day on Thursday. "It was pretty nice for him to take time out and look at my swing," Khalid told 7DAYS. "He didn't really say much, apart from that my swing was looking good so that was nice." Khalid was cheered on by his own fan club during his Dubai Desert Classic debut last year. After admitting his putting let him down in 2008 as he finished with rounds of 81 and 82, the youngster is out to give them something to cheer this time around. Team Yousuf will be completed by fellow top teenage amateur Joel Neale caddieing, and Khalid says it is all about enjoyment. "I'm really looking forward to this week," added Yousuf, who has been granted two days off from his studies at the American University, Dubai, to help him prepare. "If I make the cut, it might be three days off! "My putting was pretty bad so I'm going to go and practice that. I'm just going to try my best, I'm playing pretty good, so we'll see what happens."
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