The Lebanese are a proud people.
Even for those that have left their occasionally troubled homeland, the ties to Lebanon remain strong and their culture alive and well in language, cuisine and more. As evident all across countries like Australia where so many Lebanese people now call home.
Golf though, is certainly not a major part of that culture.
In fact, Lebanon has just one 18 hole golf course known as Golf Club of Lebanon. However, there are a pair of players representing team Lebanon at this year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship proudly flying the flag bearing a cedar tree while in Thailand. Both Rene Nicolas and Karl Traboulsi speaking passionately about the war torn country they represent after round one at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand.
“I never thought I would be on the national team representing Lebanon,” Nicolas, who is American born to Lebanese parents, told Golf Australia magazine. “Currently the situation isn’t the best, so it’s great to bring some light to Lebanon and hopefully I can play a little better the next couple of days and really get to the top of the leaderboard.”
Nicolas has yet to play the Golf Club of Lebanon despite visiting family who hail from Tripoli and Beirut each year. But he is the nation’s best chance at success here this week, with hopes to bounce back from an opening round of one-over 73 that included an eagle at the par-5 11th. A dose of perspective when thinking of the country he is representing helping to keep a smile on the Georgetown University Freshman’s face despite feeling he could have played better.
“Every time I hit a bad shot I know I am inspiring some people in Lebanon and especially with the situation now, hopefully they can watch and see my name at the top of the leaderboard and that can inspire some people,” Nicolas said.
His teammate has played Lebanon’s only layout, and was born in the country before moving to Germany, where his mother is from, as a two-year-old.
“It means all for me. It is my home country, I am really glad to be part of the national team and that I can play a tournament like this. We have a bad situation going on now in Lebanon, that’s why it means a lot representing the nationality of Lebanon." - Karl Traboulsi.
“I am trying every year to come to Lebanon because my grandma still lived there till a year ago,” Traboulsi told this publication. “I tried to come each year to try and to meet the guys of the Golf Club and the guys of the Federation.”
The Federation the 26-year-old mentions is the Lebanese Golf Federation, one of the many groups that help demonstrate the importance of this event beyond the more established golfing countries and their players chasing a Masters and Open Championship start via a victory this week.
Although Nicolas and Traboulsi, who opened with an 84, appear unlikely to get their hands on those major championship spots, they both hope to have inspired more golfers in Lebanon as the 12th and 13th representatives to play this tournament since 2011. And like their compatriots around the world spread the word that despite its troubles, Lebanon is a truly special place.
“Definitely proud to be Lebanese, Nicolas said. “That’s the first thing that comes up whenever I meet someone new is where I am from and my roots.”
Adds Traboulsi, “It means all for me. It is my home country, I am really glad to be part of the national team and that I can play a tournament like this. We have a bad situation going on now in Lebanon, that’s why it means a lot representing the nationality of Lebanon.
“Lebanon is the most beautiful country, is really great. You can go to the beach, you can go skiing in the mountains. Really you can do everything, and that is why it is such a marvellous country. That’s why I think all the people are so proud, because it is a beautiful country, and if someone asks me if I should go, I will always tell them to ‘go for it’.”
It’s the stories like team Lebanon, Nepal or Bahrain that prove the most overused phrase in golf can actually still be achieved. Because players from these nations coming to play the region’s elite men’s amateur tournament and inspiring others is truly ‘growing the game’.
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