Played over three consecutive days the event had the added attraction of World Amateur Golf Ranking points with four ranked players in the field including Ruwan Jayasinghe, the winner of the first Oman Amateur Series event, and Azaan Al Rumhy, Oman’s leading amateur golfer.

Having recently returned from Australia, where he was competing in the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, Alkaabi opened with a steady 73 to share the first round lead with local Junior National Team Player Adam Al Barwani.

In the second round Jayasinghe found the form which secured him a win in the first Oman Amateur Series event earlier in the year with a fine 73 to close the gap on Alkaabi to just one stroke heading into the final round.

However, as the adage goes, a tournament is often won over the closing nine holes, and in this case no-one could match Alkaabi’s blistering closing back nine of five under par 31 which included three birdies and an eagle to post a final round score of 69 and a winning total of 217.

Qatari Saleh Alkaabi – Oman Amateur Series

In runner up spot was Bahrain National Team regular Mohammed Diab Alnoaimi, with Jayasinghe coming in third, and Al Rumhy in fourth.

In the net division Ghala Golf Club member George Alfonso took the top spot finishing an impressive -10 net for the 54 holes.

The Oman Amateur Series has been created by the Oman Golf Association to provide playing opportunities for elite amateur golfers based in the Sultanate. 

The events will be accredited with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points, the WAGR listing is managed by the R&A and the USGA and is used as a global measure of the elite amateur competitive game. Currently Oman has one player, Azzan Al Rumhy, listed with WAGR status, through these events the Oman Golf Association endeavours to see this number increase. 

As the series develops it will attract more elite players from wider afield which will strengthen the event and the WAGR points available, it will also allow players based in the Sultanate to measure themselves against the best in the region.

The Oman Amateur Series has been made possible by the support of Ghala Golf Club, the R&A, Asian Tour, and the Oman Golf Associations partners Sohar Aluminium and Moore Stephens. The Oman Golf Association also thanks the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth for their ongoing support and guidance.

Images: Oman Amateur Series

The post Saleh Alkaabi claims second Oman Amateur Series event at Ghala Golf Club, Muscat appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
It’s back to Middle East golf’s ultimate finishing school for Josh Hill after the teen has spent the past month absorbing some eye-opening European Tour lessons before burying his nose in some proper course books.

After sitting out the first two events of the 2020 MENA Tour by Arena season to catch up on his GCSE course work, the 15-year-old Trump Dubai member will tee it up in the $75,000 Ghala Open on Monday.

RELATED: MENA Tour welcomes golfers with disabilities Into regional circuit fold

The circuit’s reigning amateur champion has been grouped with his professional Journey to Jordan counterpart, MG Keyser, and Englishman Ben Hutchinson for the opening round at Ghala G.C. Four-time European Tour winner David Horsey, using the event as a warm-up to next week’s $1.75 million Oman Open at nearby Al Mouj Golf, is also in Muscat, along with defending Ghala Open champion Nick Marsh – like Hill making his season bow – and the winners of the first two events of the season in Aqaba and Cairo, David Langley and Sebastien Gros respectively.

But it will be Hill’s return that captures the early attention after his breakout 2019 when he won the Al Ain Open to claim the world record as the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking event in October. That led to the amateur Journey to Jordan title and a start at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. The England Boys’ rep also qualified for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. While an un-co-operative driver saw him miss the cut at both Desert Swing events, he’s fizzing to get back into the MENA Tour swing of things.

“Playing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai was a most wonderful experience. I learned so much. I am already practicing differently for events having seen how well and how detailed the leading pros practice,” said Hill.

Jordanian 19-year-old Shergo Al Kurdi has dominated the early amateur narrative in 2020, highlighted by his runner-up finish at the season-opener at Ayla Golf Club a fortnight ago. Al Kurdi isn’t in Muscat but Hill, who recorded his first MENA Tour top 10 at this event last year, has ample amateur rivalry with pals Toby Bishop and Arjun Gupta among those just as determined to take advantage of the absence of the current amateur Order-of-Merit leader Al Kurdi.

“I love the layout of the Ghala Golf Club. I played well here last year, and I want to play well again and make a good start to my season,” said Hill. “Even though I am not playing the full schedule on the MENA Tour this year, I still aim to win the Amateur Order of Merit and get back to the Omega Dubai Desert Classic next year.”

Defending champion Nick Marsh.

Marsh is also hoping to renew his love affair with Ghala after winning last year’s title by two stokes from now Challenge Tour star Robin Roussell. Marsh triumphed on 18-under and 14 of those gained shots came on the Ghala’s inward nine.

“Just feels great to be back at Ghala Golf Club. It’s my first event of 2020 and I’m really looking forward to get back playing again,” said Marsh who once reached 14th in the world amateur rankings.

“Last year, winning here was amazing, shooting 18-under for three rounds was awesome. I still don’t know why I have such a love affair with the back nine, maybe it just suits my eye…I don’t know. But I hope it continues this week.”

And added motivation for the players this week is that the Ghala Open champion will also receive an invitation to participate in next week’s Oman Open on the European Tour.

“It’s a huge motivation, not only to win on the MENA Tour again but the rewards you get for that. A start in a main European Tour is a money-can’t-buy experience, to be able to test yourself against the best players in the world… However, I will take it one step at a time,” Marsh said.

The post After some tough European Tour lessons and two weeks actual study, Josh Hill returns to golf’s ultimate finishing school appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
It will still be known as the ‘Journey to Jordan’ but that’s about where the similarities between the current MENA Tour by Arena season and new-look 2020 schedule end. 

New events in Oman and the UAE – the latter an Alfred Dunhill Links Championship-style Pro-Am over 54 holes – two multi-venue tournaments (albeit at familiar courses) and a $25,000 increase in the purse for the season-ending tour championship headline next season’s schedule unveiled today.

RELATED: Arena become ‘umbrella sponsor’ of MENA Tour

Also gone for 2020 are the current spring and autumn swings, replaced instead by a condensed four-month season, again encompassing a two-stage Qualifying School at Ayla G.C. in late January. Q-School is immediately followed by the first event of the season proper, the Journey to Jordan #1 Championship, also at Ayla Golf Club.

With Aqaba in Jordan back as the tour’s destination partner, Ayla G.C. will again host four events (Q-School and three main season stops) including The Arena (Tour) Championship. The April 19-23 Journey to Jordan decider will be 72-holes for the first time since the 2017 Tour Championship, features an increased prize fund of $125,000 and becomes a full-field event for the first time in what will be the eighth season of the MENA Tour.

The increased playing opportunities and increased Official World Golf Ranking points (five OWGR points to the Arena Championship winner as it has become a four-round event) are by design, not necessity. David Spencer, Strategic Advisor to the MENA Tour, explains the rationale behind the radical rejig.

“There are two very good reasons why we decided to have the Tour schedule packed in one continuous stretch rather than have two legs in Spring and an Autumn,” said Spencer.

“Most development Tours do not start until the end of April, mostly because of the playing conditions in Europe. We are fortunate to have perfect weather in the Middle East during that period. This gives our players a solid run of tournaments, which is great preparation for them going into the summer. Also, it just simplifies things logistically for our players and makes the cost of ‘life’ on the Tour more affordable.

“With the multitude of playing opportunities we provide on European, Asian and the Challenge Tours, the new-look schedule dovetails perfectly with the other Tours.”

RELATED: MENA Tour breakthrough a ‘massive” confidence boost for Allan

The first of the circuit’s new events, the Muscat Open, is to be hosted by at Muscat Hills from Feb. 10-13. The Muscat Open is the first of back-to-back events in Oman ahead of The Ghala Open at Ghala Golf Club (Feb. 16-19).

Muscat Hills G.C.

Troon International venues will feature prominently in the circuit’s new multi-course events. The first, the ‘Triple Crown’ in March, will be co-hosted by Yas Links, Saadiyat Beach G.C. and Abu Dhabi G.C. while Al Hamra has joined forces with existing host venue Al Zorah in Ajman to co-host the Northern Emirates Open.

In another first, the MENA Tour by Arena Invitational Pro-Am will be modelled on the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. A venue and purse for the MENA Tour’s iteration has yet to be announced but it will be staged in the UAE and is in the schedule for Mar. 22-25, the week after Abu Dhabi’s Triple Crown.

A minimum of 30 players from each stage of Q-School will secure their cards for the season.

MENA TOUR BY ARENA – 2020 SCHEDULE
Jan. 20-23: Qualifying School A – Ayla GC, Aqaba, Jordan ($6,000)
Jan. 26-29: Qualifying School B – Ayla GC, Aqaba, Jordan ($6,000)
Feb. 2-5: Journey to Jordan #1 – Ayla GC, Aqaba, Jordan ($75,000)
Feb. 10-13: The Muscat Open – Muscat Hills GC, Muscat, Oman ($75,000)
Feb. 16-19: The Ghala Open – Ghala GC, Muscat, Oman ($75,000)
Feb. 23-26: The Bahrain Open – Royal GC, Bahrain ($75,000)
Mar. 1-4: Journey to Jordan #2 – Ayla GC, Aqaba, Jordan ($75,000)
Mar. 15-18: The Triple Crown – Yas Links/Saadiyat Beach GC/Abu Dhabi GC ($75,000)
Mar. 22-25: MENA Tour by Arena Invitational Pro-Am – UAE TBA (Purse TBA)
Mar. 29-April 1: Ras Al Khaimah Open – Tower Links GC, RAK ($75,000)
April 5-8: Northern Emirates Open – Al Hamra GC, RAK/Al Zorah GC, Ajman ($75,000)
April 12-15 TBA – Venue TBA ($75,000)
April 19-23 The Arena Championship – Ayla GC, Aqaba, Jordan ($125,000)

The post Innovative events and new venues highlight ‘condensed’ 2020 MENA Tour schedule appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

A virus that has lingered since early January has made the 25-year-old German’s start to the new MENA Tour season a misery as he missed the cut in both Jordan and Ajman with respective 12 over totals. 

As such, Leitmannstetter understandably enters the third of the MENA Tour’s 10 events with subdued expectations although he does have pedigree at this week’s venue having finished runner-up to England’s Lee Corfield in 2015 and champion in 2016, the last time the $75,000 Ghala Golf Club Open was played.

He certainly won’t mind if his happy memories at the Oman oasis ends up giving him a shot at the US$13,500 winner’s cheque and the champion’s invite to the European Challenge Tour’s Andalucia– Costa del Sol Match Play (May 17-20).

“I love this golf course and I feel very comfortable here. I don’t know why, but the golf course seems to suit my eyes,” the Munich-born, Dubai-based Leitmannstetter said.

“It is a golf course where you have to be very smart with your golf. The wind can be a huge factor and the greens are very tricky. It is also a tight course. You need to know where to hit your shots, and more importantly, where to miss them.”

BITE-SIZE INTERVIEW
(With Aaron Leitmannstetter before the Ghala Golf Club Open)
He is the ‘defending champion’ here, having won when the Tour visited Muscat last in 2016 and runner-up in 2015.
Find out how he is feeling ahead of this week’s tournament…#HBFS #JourneyToJordan pic.twitter.com/BvLH6TE9l3

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 24, 2019

Thankfully Leitmannstetter is starting to feel brighter after struggling through the season-opening Journey to Jordan with rounds of 75-81 before scores of 76-80 at the Troon Series- Al Zorah Open.

“It all started at the beginning of the year and I picked up some virus that just kept lingering on,” said Leitmannstetter who is off at 9:30am in his opening round on Monday with Englishman Robbie Busher and Swede Oliver Jacobsson.

“I played the last two weeks on the MENA Tour but I was never 100 percent. There were days when I could play, and there were days when I just could not because of high fever and pain in the limbs.

“I decided to just sleep for two days after the tournament at Al Zorah Golf Club in Ajman. I must say I am feeling a lot better. I don’t have high expectations this week, and that could be a good thing.

“I changed my clubs to Wilson earlier this year and haven’t been able to put a lot of time in the range with them because of my illness. However, I can feel that my game is getting back in the groove.”

A noted name among the 114 starters this week is the former Abu Dhabi HSBC Champion Gary Stal. Dubai amateur Rayhan Thomas and Journey to Jordan-1 winner Matthew Baldwin are notable absentees but newly crowned Al Zorah Open champion Daniel Gaunt will tee it up at 11.20am in the company of Spain’s Leo Lilja and South African Teagan Moore.

There are 10 amateurs in the field including current order of merit leader Curtis Knipes (T-10 in Jordan and T-13 in Ajman) and Dubai-based 14-year-olds Josh Hill, Toby Bishop and Arjun Gupta. Hill has been the most successful of the “Three Musketeers” thus far, finishing T-32 at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba and T-39 at Al Zorah last week. 

This is how @theMENATour makes a difference. The latest @WAGRank is out and our leading amateurs from the Journey To Jordan-1 have all made a big move. pic.twitter.com/cVUb672KZm

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 24, 2019

The post Beware Aaron Leitmannstetter at this week’s MENA Tour stop in Oman? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.