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.

By Kent Gray
George Groves lived up to his world No.1 billing and felt like it too, praising the organisers for their tour-level hospitality after capturing the inaugural European Disabled Golfers Association (EDGA) Dubai Finale title on Saturday.

Played on the sidelines of the 11th DP World Tour Championship at JGE, the Englishman backed up his opening 77 on Earth with an 82 in the final round. Groves’ 159 aggregate was 15 over par for the 36 holes, three strokes better than Chad Pfeifer who applied some final-round pressure with a best of the day 79.

Englishman Mike Browne, two shots back in second place overnight, was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score. It was the only blight on an otherwise memorable championship, especially for Groves, the leading playing in the USGA and R&A sanctioned World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) ratings.

“It’s fantastic. I’m going to go home very proud of myself, celebrate with my friends and family. It will be really good,” said Groves who has Erb’s Palsy which leaves him with 20 percent strength in his left arm after a medical accident during birth.

“The putts went in. The greens are very, very hard to read. They are very quick. They are the quickest greens I’ve found all year, and I knew it would be a struggle coming in today and yesterday. Feels incredible, and I’m just happy to get the win.

Winner by three strokes ?@georgegroves21 is the @edgagolf Dubai Finale champion!#DPWTC pic.twitter.com/GimlUukHFY

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 23, 2019

“Being in Dubai and playing in the final was unbelievable, I wouldn’t mind coming here and playing golf again, that’s for sure. The European Tour has been fantastic with us and given us all immense support. They have treated us like true professionals like they would with the big stars on the tour. It’s incredible that they invited us over to play on the same course and same conditions, it was a very good experience.”

George Groves with Ismail Sharif (left) and Khalid Al Awar (right) at the prize-giving.

Danny van Otterdijk, SVP Group Communications at DP World said: “Congratulations to George for winning the EDGA Dubai Finale and well done to the rest of the field who really animated the tournament this weekend.

“We’ve seen some fantastic golf and DP World, together with the European Tour, are privileged to have hosted the EDGA players alongside the pros competing in the DP World Tour Championship this year.

“Inclusion sits at the heart of DP World’s values and is integral to both our business and our sponsorships. One of the main objectives of our golf programme is to inspire people of all ages, backgrounds, genders and abilities to get involved in the game. We believe this tournament has done exactly that.”

The post Englishman Groves after winning EDGA Dubai Finale: ‘I’m going to go home very proud of myself’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
World No.1 George Groves will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the inaugural EDGA Dubai Finale which is being played alongside the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The Englishman, who has had a medical condition since birth called Erb’s Palsy which caused paralysis to his left arm, fired an impressive five-over 77 in his opening round on Earth Friday.

The World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) No.1, fresh from winning the 2019 English Disability Open over the Gainsborough course at Stoke by Nayland, was two shots clear of countryman Mike Browne (79) in the eight-player field. American Christopher Biggins occupied solo third after an 80 on the same layout being used by the field for the European Tour’s Race to Dubai decider.

There were some impressive shot-making in the opening round of the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) administered championship, including the championship opening tee shot from Swede Joakim Bjorkman. Check it out:

Flushed! https://t.co/JxGVdCujFq

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) November 22, 2019

Bjorkman, who has Achondroplasia, a bone growth disorder that causes disproportionate short stature, trails the field after eventually signing for a 91. And how about this shot from Browne, a former Royal Artillery Gunner who had 22 (unsuccessful!) limb salvage operations after badly breaking his leg in a training exercise:

It wasn’t anywhere else ?️@edgagolf #DPWTC pic.twitter.com/fhbiZdX8rO

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 22, 2019

While you mull over Browne’s 79 – have you ever shot that off the back tees at Earth, or any course for that matter – consider his explanation of his injury on the EDGA website: “I was training in a place called Longmore in the UK. All I did basically was break my leg. I was on a training exercise and my leg collapsed…if you could imagine a bamboo stick when you crush it from the bottom up, well it was like that with my leg when I landed. I just thought that was it, you know, I’ll be back in six weeks, not a drama, back in the job doing what I was doing.”

It turns out it was far worse. A bad infection, which specialists are unsure whether he picked up in hospital or from the metalwork in his leg, consumed all the muscles around his knee.

“They actually took the knee joint out and tried to fuse my Tibia plateau to my Fema. So they had to break my shinbone, and stretch it about seven centimetres.” Ouch.

After two years in an Ilazarov frame with 52 wires running through his leg and daily one-millimetre adjustments to stretch his shinbone, the amputee now calmly says, “In hindsight – luckily it didn’t work.”

The final round of the 36-hole event is scheduled for early Saturday ahead of ‘moving day’ at JGE.

The WR4GD is administered by the USGA and R&A.

EDGA’s @BrendanLawlor97 meets @RCabreraBello ahead of the EDGA Dubai Finale.pic.twitter.com/9QTd9xTnL6

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 21, 2019

The post Groves fires 77 on Earth, leads inaugural EDGA Dubai Finale by two appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.