By Kent Gray
The MENA Tour deliberately took 16 months between the end of its seventh season in late 2017 and the start of its eight edition in February 2019 to redesign the regional developmental circuit. A further refinement was the decision to condense the current 2020 schedule into essentially three months between late January and mid-April, allowing members the chance to kick-start their year in the Middle East’s best weather before spreading their wings around the world. The MENA Tour suddenly fitted perfectly into golf’s global landscape – until the world suddenly wasn’t the same courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With travel around the G.C.C becoming increasingly challenging, the MENA Tour’s leadership took the decision on March 5 to postpone the final six events of the 11-tournament season until October-November, reintroducing a mid-summer break as was previously the case. Only time will tell what professional golf, much less global sport, will look like come late 2020 and beyond but two things are certain; the MENA Tour deserves praise for acting so decisively and continues to work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a smooth resumption when things get back to the new normal, whenever that is. In the meantime, here’s five mid-season takeaways from the 9th edition of the MENA Tour by Arena.

1) Langley leads
What’s $704 between professional golfers? For David Langley (pictured above), it’s a potentially priceless sum. The 25-year-old Englishmen went into the enforced break atop the Order of Merit (OOM) standings, edging compatriot David Hague to a start in the European Tour’s €2.5 million Trophee Hassan II as a result. At the time of press, the June 4-7 stop in Morocco wasn’t among those postponed by the European Tour meaning Langley, the 2017 Open Championship silver medallist (for low amateur honours), has a shot at quickly adding to the $25,499 he’s banked in his five MENA Tour starts this far. The Stokenchurch pro will take plenty of confidence (if not recent form) to wherever his golf travel takes him next after capturing the season-opening Journey to Jordan 1 Championship before finishing 11th and runner-up in Egypt and Oman respectively. Langley then did just enough to hold off Hague for the Morocco spot after Hague won the Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open before finishing 33rd to Langley’s 38th in the Journey to Jordan 2 Championship, the final event before the postponement. $704? A huge sum in the mini-tour scheme of things.

Bailey Gill teed it up on the European Tour courtesy of the MENA Tour. Photo by Joy Chakravarty

2) Gill (just) sneaks in
The MENA Tour’s remit is to provide fledging professionals opportunities at the next level. Unlike David Langley whose aforementioned, European Tour start in Rabat is up in the air, countryman Bailey Gill at least got to play the Oman Open before the coronavirus shut down golf worldwide, the reward for winning the MENA Tour’s Ghala Open in Oman a week earlier. Rounds of 77-70 meant the 22-year-old English lefty missed the cut at Al Mouj Golf but the big-time experience was no doubt priceless. Gill will resume the MENA Tour in 6th place on the OOM.

Arjun Gupta has ground to make up on amateur oom leader Shergo Al Kurdi. Photo by Joy Chakravarty

3) Al Kurdi has company
After Josh Hill’s breakout 2019 campaign including worldwide fame after winning the Al Ain Open, Shergo Al Kurdi has dominated amateur headlines this season. The Jordanian 16-year-old become the first amateur from the G.C.C. to earn Official World Golf Ranking points after his gusty runner-up finish to Langley at the J2J#1 Championship in late January, a huge step towards realising his 2024 Olympic Games dream. But watch for Arjun Gupta (pictured No.3) in the second half of the season. The Dubai-based Indian is second to Al Kurdi in the amateur OOM and will be buoyed by his 4th placing at the Ghala Open. Gupta’s fellow Els Club Dubai range-rat, Toby Bishop, is another cursing the coronavirus enforced pause after a rich run of domestic form. Bishop, 7th in the MENA Tour amateur OOM, signed for a course record 62 en-route to winning the EGF’s Saadiyat Beach Open before capturing The Els Alliance and then leading the Trump Dubai Open before COVID-19 trumped everything.

George Groves, the WR4GD No.1, in action at the DP World Tour Championship, where he lifted the EDGA Dubai finale trophy last November. Photo by Joy Chakravarty

4) Great determination
Sadly lost in these tumultuous times was the MENA Tour’s trailblazing agreement with the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA). It was set to showcase four players with an official World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) and a handicap of 4.4 or less at the Ras Al Khaimah Open (Tower Links G.C.), the Northern Emirates Open (Al Hamra G.C.) and the Al Ain Classic. Those events were among the six postponed. Here’s hoping the EDGA players are among those on the tee when the MENA Tour resumes.

Englishman David Hague is second behind Langley in the OOM and eyeing the Arena Championship at Ayla Golf Club, the MENA Tour’s destination partner in Aqaba, Jordan. Photo by Joy Chakravarty

5) Smooth resumption
A doff of our cap to the administrators worldwide trying to piece professional golf back together again in these extremely uncertain times. The cryptic scheduling puzzle is no less challenging for the MENA Tour who had sourced a series of European, Asian, Challenge and Alps Tour starts for its best 2020 performers, invites on tours now in a state of flux themselves. Those are complications for another day though. For now, the great news is a determination to get the MENA Tour by Arena back on its feet as quickly and as safely as possible and heading towards the season-ending $100,000 Arena Championship at Ayla Golf Club, the circuit’s Aqaba destination partner. “We are in touch with the members and updating them on a regular basis. The logistics are being tied up right now. We are looking at the window of October-November. The Tour is talking to the venue partners and will release the dates as soon as possible,” the tour said in a statement. A resumption, in any shape or form, will be a grand statement of intent.

The post Officials hope to complete the disrupted 2020 MENA Tour season in October-November appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But the second-year pro, who carded a four-under 68 at Ayla Golf Club on Tuesday for a one-shot lead after the opening round of the $75,000 event, knows his time will come as long as he’s patient. The 24-year-old Englishman, who joined the paid ranks in late 2018 after a decorated amateur career, is certainly trending towards victory. He played three Challenge Tour events in South Africa on invites before returning to the MENA Tour and made the cut in all three, highlighted by a T-7 in Cape Town that has him 13th overall on Europe’s second-tier tour.

“It would be nice to get playing status on Challenge Tour. Obviously, I want to win [as well] and getting it on the MENA Tour would be great, but these are things you cannot rush,” said Waite who will take a one-shot buffer into Tuesday’s second round over playing partner Benjamin David and Curtis Knipes (both England) and Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden.

“I look at Hague, Langley and Bailey [Gill] and they have all gone and won events in their first few weeks as a pro and here I am, have been a pro for more than a year and still haven’t got my first win.

“I can get down upon myself, or I can keep doing the right things and stay patient knowing that my week will come.”

Waite, a former European Amateur Championship runner-up and semi-finalist at The Amateur Championship, frustratingly three-putted his final hole for the only bogey in a round punctuated by five birdies.

The Bristol lad has taken a different tact this week after finished tied 37th in the Journey to Jordan #2 last year before securing his MENA Tour card by finishing 10th in Qualifying School B in January. It helped being spurred on by playing partners David and Tom Sloman who shot a two-under-par 70 to be tied fifth alongside Sweden’s Ake Nilsson. Pavan Sagoo, Jamie Rutherford, Luke Joy and Filip Lundell, winner of Q-School B at the same venue, were tied seventh at one-under-par 71.

“I have not played too well around here, so I had a slightly different mindset this week to go and shoot the best that I possibly can and I am lucky I played with good guys – David and Sloman – and they played well as well,” said Waite.

“I had a decent start today, went a bit quiet in the middle and kept playing well on the back nine. I hit two good shots into the 18th but ended up with a bogey. It’s just one of those things, and I have got to take the positives from this. I was five-under-par through 17 and shot a 68 which was a good round.”

The Felton Golf Club member has started working with Liam James in Belfry as his coach and his friend Will Donald as a mental coach.

“I have come out this year with a better mental frame and probably better technically. I did not have any status and just played on invites in 2019. But it was a slow year and I did not get going. I have worked on all departments of the game and very much looking forward to what 2020 has in store.”

In the race between David Langley and David Hague to secure the Trophee Hassan II start on the European Tour as the leader of the Journey to Jordan Order of Merit at the halfway stage of the 2020 MENA Tour season, Hague was slightly ahead of his rival, even though both players had a start to forget. Hague opened with a 75 and Langley shot 77.

India’s Arjun Gupta was the best-placed amateur in the field, tied 20th after a round of two-over 74.

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By Kent Gray
Bailey Gill planned to tee it up at the $75,000 Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open next week. Instead he’ll be rubbing shoulders with the likes for former world No.1 Martin Kaymer at the European Tour’s Oman Open, an event with a cool million extra greenbacks on the line. Amazing, potentially life-changing things like that happen to good players on the MENA Tour by Arena.

The 22-year-old Englishman was trying to get his head around the sudden change of plans after capturing the $13,500 winner’s cheque at the Ghala Open on Wednesday.

The Worksop lefty birdied his last three holes and five of his last six in a bogey-free 65 to get to -15 and win by one from overnight leader and room-mate David Langley. Scot Craig Ross, who briefly owned the lead by two strokes at the turn, settled for third at -12, a shot ahead of impressive Dubai-based Indian teen Arjun Gupta who signed for a bogey-free 66 and his best MENA Tour result. Gupta played his final 36-holes in 11-under-par to seal his second amateur title on the regional development circuit after he shared that honour with pal Josh Hill at last November’s Tour Championship.

CHAMPIONS!!
England’s @baileygill1997 (16-under par) and India’s Arjun Gupta are the Professional and Amateur winners of the Ghala Open.
Gill’s reward, apart from the $13,500 cheque, is a spot in next week’s Oman Open on the @EuropeanTour. pic.twitter.com/Ko88ScAd8z

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 19, 2020

But this was Gill’s day, a scarcely believable pro breakthrough after he wasted a golden opportunity at the inaugural NEWGIZA Open last week.

The southpaw started the final round in Cairo just a shot out of the lead but faded to a share of 12th. They say you learn most not from your victories but your disappointments and that clearly proved the case after Gill signed for a closing two-over 74 at NEWGIZA Golf Club, the equal worst score of anyone who finished in the top 40.

“This is fantastic,” said Gill. “I have been waiting for some time now for this to happen. It did not happen in Cairo, but I am glad I could hang on and win here in Oman.

“I was disappointed last week, but I came here knowing I was playing solid. I have been playing good golf for some time now, just struggling to get everything together and I am glad I managed to do that.”

Get it done he surely did, but not without a few nerve-jangling moments down the stretch. Twice on the last two holes weak, pushed drives looked to have cost the Lindrick Golf Club member but he recovered both times with a pair of spectacular chips to tap-in range. Check them out:

With this exquisite chip to less than 2 feet, @baileygill1997 has taken a one-shot lead at -15 going into the final hole of the Ghala Open. pic.twitter.com/928YvaYwVR

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 19, 2020

That brilliant chip by @baileygill1997 left him with his short putt to make a birdie and edge ahead of a fast-charging @DavidLangley59 by one shot… pic.twitter.com/aMI7p7tLlh

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 19, 2020

“Those two were tough shots on the last two holes. I hit a horrible tee shot on the 18th hole and there was a lot of pressure when David holed his putt for a birdie on the last. David really played great despite the poor start he had, especially on that back nine.”

“I’m delighted to win the Ghala Open and I can’t wait to get going next week at the Oman Open at Al Mouj Golf. It will be my first European Tour event so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of playing with some of the best golfers in the world.

“I have only been a professional now for around five months so I’m really happy this opportunity has come to me so soon and I hope I can take advantage of it.”

Langley, seeking a second MENA Tour title inside three weeks, was left to rue a double-bogey start in a topsy-turvy closing 67. The 25-year-old Marlow rookie bounced back immediately with a birdie two but bogeyed the par-5 3rd before reaching the turn in 38 strokes, two over. He triggered a charge by driving it just short of the 375-yard par-4 10th and coolly holing the eagle putt before rattling off five birdies in his final seven holes for a homeward nine played in 29 strokes.

One of our spectators took this video of @DavidLangley59 driving to the edge of the 375-yard par-4 10th green and sinking his eagle putt to get back to even par for the round. pic.twitter.com/fxExKMJtzn

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 19, 2020

Sadly for Langley, the brilliant back-nine left him just shy of playoff although he does have the consolation of a near $10,000 lead over Gill in the Journey to Jordan money-race heading to Bahrain.

“I am gutted, but after that finish, if I had to lose to someone, I’d rather it be Bailey,” said the 25-year-old, also playing his first full season as a professional.

“I was rooming with him last week in Cairo and I know how upset he was after the finish there and credit to him for getting it done.

“I hit a perfect tee shot on the first and made a poor swing with my second. Obviously, the adrenaline was pumping a bit. That double affected me on the fourth hole, which is a par-5 and I could not make a birdie there. Being two-over after four on an easier stretch was not ideal, but I stayed patient and went on a roll on the back nine.

“A win here would have possibly got me two European Tour starts [Oman for winning Ghala Open and Hassan Trophee II for topping the Journey to Jordan at the halfway stage], so there was that pressure. Good to see Bailey getting the Oman spot and I am in a nice position to get into Morocco after this.”

Gupta, who turns 16 in May, showed once again why he is considered one of the brightest prospects in the region as he notched his first top-five on the MENA Tour and came to within one shot of earning his first-ever Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

Arjun Gupta played his final 36-holes in 11-under-par.

“I am happy with my finish. The whole week my short game and my putting was very good. I could have probably driven the ball a bit better, but I can’t complain after such a finish,” said the Dubai-born Gupta, who is coached by Jamie McConnell at the Claude Harmon III Performance Golf Academy in Dubai.

“I want to win the Amateur Journey to Jordan this year and this is a good step in that direction. I also want to win a tournament on the MENA Tour and this gives me confidence that I am close.”

Final scores from Ghana Open:

-16 – @baileygill1997
-15 – @DavidLangley59
-12 – @CraigRoss64
-11 – Arjun Gupta (Am)
-10 – @alf1e_p, @PavanSagooo, Curtis Knipes, Benjamin Jones (Am), @PaulMcBride0

Full scores here:https://t.co/970IwPtaoz pic.twitter.com/ZKEmYkFP5u

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 19, 2020

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A stunning seven-under-par 65 Tuesday propelled Langley to -10 through 36 holes and to the summit of the $75,000 Ghala Open leaderboard and will see the 25-year-old Englishman take a one-stroke lead into Wednesday’s final round over a gaggle of five players.

After winning the season-opening Journey to Jordan #1 Championship and backing his dream debut up with a T-8 finish at the inaugural NEWGIZA Open in Cairo last week, Langley’s impact on the regional development tour has been instant and mightily impressive. Victory in Muscat would add to the fairytale and hand the rookie Marlow professional a scarcely believable start in the European Tour’s $1.75 million Oman Open next week.

It would also give Langley a sizeable lead in the season-long Journey to Jordan race which promises precious 2021 European and Asia Tour starts to the eventual Order-of-Merit title winner.

“I feel confident. I am swinging it really well,” said Langley who leads by one from 2017 Open Championship silver medallist Alfie Plant (68), fellow Englishmen Pavan Sagoo (67), Jake Ayres (68) and Bailey Gill (67) and Scotland’s Craig Ross (67).

“I think I have gained strokes in driving every day this season on the MENA Tour and yesterday was probably the only round when I did not gain strokes in putting. I played so well in the final round in Egypt, but I guess I was trying too hard over there and shot just two-under when I had a very low one in me that day. A tied eighth finish is pretty good, but I learned a lot from that round, and from Jordan. So, hopefully, we can get the job done tomorrow.”

Let’s just say England’s @DavidLangley59 is on a roll. He won in Jordan and finished inside the top-10 in Cairo. On Tuesday, he shot a seven-under par 65 to currently lead the Ghala Open by one shot.

We asked him what was he doing particularly well to enjoy this purple patch… pic.twitter.com/eOubmltJLr

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 18, 2020

Starting from the 10th tee, Langley’s round was highlighted by a spectacular slam-dunk eagle when he holed a wedge from 84 yards on the par-4 11th. His only bogey came soon after on the 14th hole, but with 16 greens in regulation, he was never in any major trouble after that and also picked up shots on all four of Ghala Golf Club’s par-5s.

“It was a pretty good day. When you start with an eagle like that, it’s always good,” said Langley who improved to No. 1187 in the world rankings after his win in Jordan.

“I flew it straight into the hole and I feel sorry because I damaged the cup a bit. Made a silly error on the 14th, and missed a short birdie putt on the 17th, but apart from that, it was solid golf.”

NEWGIZA Open winner Sebastien Gros lurks dangerously after a second straight 68, leaving the Frenchman alone in eighth place at -8, while countryman and overnight leader Antoine Schwartz (71), Scot Sam Locke (70), the 2018 Open Championship low amateur, and England’s in-form David Hague (68) are three behind the leader at -7.

India’s Dubai-based Arjun Gupta is the leading amateur courtesy a splendid round five-under-par 67 that took him up to tied 16th place, two ahead of Russian 16-year-old Ivan Striganov (74).

There was also a proud moment for Saudi golf as all three players in the field – professional Othman Almulla and amateurs Saud Al Sharif and Ali Alsakha – made the cut, which fell at two-over-par.

Such an amazing moment for Saudi golf!! All three players in the field at @theMENATour’s Ghala Open – professional @o_almulla_golf and amateurs Saud Al Sharif and Ali Alsakha- have made the cut!!

Great progress and well done to @SaudiGolf! pic.twitter.com/YBC8BG071T

— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) February 18, 2020

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Having qualified as an amateur, the English teen’s simmering plans to turn pro were only emboldened after rounds of 72-79 for a +9 total left him in a tie with, among others, Masters champion Adam Scott, a solitary shot shy of Phil Mickelson and a shot better than another former Open winner, Tom Lehman.

“Playing the Open Championship gave me a lot of confidence that I can compete with the best,” Knipes said ahead of the 9th MENA Tour by Arena season a fortnight ago.

Fast-forward to Wednesday at the $75,000 NEWGIZA Open on the outskirts of Cairo and Knipes continued to walk the bold talk. A second-round 68 moved the 19-year-old to -10 at the second event of the new regional development circuit season, a shot clear of countryman Bailey Gill who roared up to solo second with a fine seven-under-par 65.

After earning amateur honours in three MENA Tour events last season to finish runner-up to Dubai 15-year-old Josh Hill in the season-long Journey to Jordan, Knipes now has pole-position to seal what would be a wire-to-wire his maiden victory in just his second start as a professional.

“Tomorrow is obviously a big day for me. First time leading the MENA Tour and being in the final group of the day. I will just try and approach it as I have done every other day. I can’t control what others are doing. I am just going to go out there and shoot the lowest round that I can.”

It’s would be the stuff dreams, a priceless confidence boost worth far more than the winner’s cheque, not that Knipes would sniff at a cool $13,500. But he isn’t there yet, even if he’s recorded just one bogey in his last 36 holes and is a collective 14-under-par for his last four rounds.

Swede Niclas Weiland and Frenchman Sébastien Gros will start Thursday’s final round just two strokes adrift of Knipes and Weiland has the advantage of knowing what it takes to win on the MENA Tour after capturing the Ras Al Khaimah Open late last year.

Just four back in a gaggle of four players in a share of 6th place is Englishman David Langley who won last week’s season-opening Journey to Jordan #1 Championship. At -5, five off the lead, two-time MENA Tour winner Luke Joy can’t be discounted either.

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