Dutch international Nigel de Jong and his connection with Qatar and playing amateur golf in Doha Doha Golf Club Do it with

 Dutch international Nigel de Jong and his connection with Qatar and playing amateur golf in Doha Doha Golf Club

Do it with passion or don't do it all. #Dedication, twitted former Dutch international Nigel de Jong @NDJ_Official some five years back.

A lot has changed over the years for him on the football pitch. During this period he changed several clubs moving from Italian giants AC Milan to USA-based LA Galaxy followed by Turkey’s Galatasaray and later on Germany’s Mainz 05 and to finally land up in Qatar with Al Ahli.

Currently, he is with another Qatari club Al Shahania and continues to be dedicated to his first love football but now is dividing time on the golf course to polish his skills with an aim to take it to another level.

Currently, he is with another Qatari club Al Shahania and continues to be dedicated to his first love football but now is dividing time on the golf course to polish his golf playing skills and take it to another level.

Nigel tested his skills last week at the Qatar Open Amatery Championship held at the Doha Golf Club, which was open for both pros and amateurs. He failed to make the cut in the three-day event with only 50 top golfers making it to the final round.

“It is nice to see everybody here most of the regular members at the Doha Golf Club. It's a great setup, you get to play with some of the pros out here, so it's always good to know some of the pros and compete against them,” said Nigel.

Nigel wants to improve his scorecard in the coming months and said he is working in that direction.

“I started not so long ago, I started to play consistently a year and a half ago but I hit some balls over the years. So, yes it's a great sport it's very competitive it's similar to football you know, so, yes it does a great thing you always want to be better and you want to learn,” said Nigel, who represented his country at two FIFA World Cups.

In 2004, the defensive midfielder made his international debut and during the period between 2004 and 2015 he turned out 81 times in Dutch colors and scored one goal. He took part in two European Championships and in the two editions of the FIFA World Cup he picked up a runners-up medal in 2010, and a bronze medal four years later.

Explaining his baby steps in the golf he said: “It's always easy when you start, the first thing you tee is that you always think that you're gonna be the Tiger Woods and that you're gonna show a low round but a lot of other parts will come into play when you get down the fairways and on the course.”

The football journey has been long and colourful for this 35-year-old. who started with Ajax youth academy as a youngster and worked his way through the ranks to make the first team at age 17, some 18 seasons back. A lot has changed over the years for him and many laurels came his way at the club level too.

At the club level, his football journey took him outside the Netherlands first with ]Hamburger SV followed by Manchester City. AC Milan, LA Galaxy, Galatasaray, Mainz 05, Al Ahli and Al Shahania in that order and he says a few things are similar in golf and football.

“So, the build is similar you have to focus, you have to do some warm-up some stretching, the same things which we do in football. So, it's just one of those things that is similar and I can't blame anybody else's, but yourself, so it's a great thing that keeps the competitor in me going, “ he said.

Physical fitness also comes into play he said and being fit as an active footballer is helping him a long way he said.

“Of course, I mean not only swing wise but also you have to walk most of the day so you've been out there for four and half hours sometimes five hours so it's good to be in a physical fit condition, so you can keep up to the game and the focus.”

“I just loved the game, I was watching on television so there was not this particular event that could have attracted me to go I just like golf in general because it's a sport that is close to my heart and you have to be in competitor and you know you can't blame anybody else and it's one of those only sports that you never old enough to learn you can always get better so that's good for us football players,” he added.

2002–2006 Ajax

2006–2009 Hamburger SV

2009–2012 Manchester City

2012–2016 A.C. Milan

2016 LA Galaxy

2016–2018 Galatasaray

2018 Mainz 05

2018–2019 Al Ahli

2019– AlShahania

National team

2002–2005 Netherlands (U-21)

2004–2015 Netherlands