Rory McIlroy is a fan of Will Smith’s golf game

Tiger Woods and Matt Kuchar may have borrowed a dweeby handshake from a popular 1990s TV show to celebrate their birdie barrage at the Presidents Cup in October, but Rory McIlroy got to hobnob with the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air ” himself, Will Smith, during a practice session on a golf course in Dubai.

McIlroy, in the Middle East to kick off his 2014 European Tour season at next week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, was not the only golfing bigwig to make the scene somewhere other than Kapalua, where Dustin Johnson is vying to go back-to-back as Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner. Phil Mickelson chose cold and rainy Cincinnati over Maui to watch his San Diego Chargers make mincemeat of the Bengals in the AFC wild-card game on Saturday.

Judging from Phil’s wintry duds (which he’ll no doubt have to reprise for a trip to Denver to witness Peyton Manning manhandle the AFC North champs) and summer-like threads for Rory and Will, the Emirates look like a better option for a January get-away than the Queen City.

Smith, by the way, is no stranger to the links, as this snippet from a golf date with “Uncle Phil,” the late James Avery, can attest (golf clap/Back9Network):

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