By Kent Gray

With a major champion returning for his second start in three weeks, the current order-of-merit leader winging his way to Malaysia and the return of a perennial title challenger from Austria, this week’s Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open doesn’t lack for preview fodder.

But as inevitable as it is that former Open champion Darren Clarke, MIA South African MG Keyser and confidence-bruised Englishman Luke Joy will dominate the early narrative at Yas Links, there is an intriguing amateur subplot that has MENA Tour chairman Mohamed Juma Buamaim just as excited.

At the summit of the battle within the battle is Englishman Todd Clements who will look to extend his lead in the circuit’s amateur OOM. Clements, who moved up to 64th in the amateur world rankings on the back of his joint second placing with Rayhan Thomas at the recent Dubai Creek Open, takes a 27 point lead into the 12th of the tour’s 15 regular season events over countryman Sam Hobday.  UAE-based Swiss international Michael Harradine, third overall 41 points adrift, will also hope to have some say at Yas Links.

But the presence of UAE nationals Ahmed Skaik, Khalid Yousuf, Sohail Al Marzooqi and Abdalla Al Musharrekh among the 24 amateur entries is especially welcomed by Buamaim.

It is a particularly important time for Skaik who won the individual title at last year’s 21st GCC Golf Championship in Bahrain. The left-hander is counting down to the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in New Zealand (Oct. 26-29) and the Nomura Cup (Asia-Pacific Amateur Teams Championship) in Malaysia (Nov. 9-12).

Skaik will have promising 17-year-old Mohammed Al Hajeri for company at Royal Wellington next month where the individual winner earns a start in the 2018 U.S. Masters. Abdalla and Hassan Al Musharrekh, meanwhile, will fly with Skaik to Jordan’s AYLA Golf Championship, a new stop on the MENA Tour next week, as part of the on-going prep for the Nomura Cup.

“It’s great to see UAE national team members, in particular, sign up for the event,” said Buamaim.

“The experience that the region’s amateurs gain from competing alongside professionals will hold them in good stead for their future regional and international engagements.”

Clarke, the 2011 Open Champion and the MENA Tour’s increasingly hard-working patron, has returned to Abu Dhabi of his own accord, partly to push the circuit’s agenda with the Emirates Golf Federation but also in the hope of rekindling some old magic ahead of teeing it up on the Champions Tour in the U.S. next year.

The 49-year-old, who spent time practicing under the watchful eye of Butch Harmon School of Golf director of instruction Justin Parsons at The Els over the weekend, finished T-16 at the Creek with scores of 68-69-74. Clarke will be hoping his putter co-operates a little more at Yas Links as he looks to go one better than his T-2 finish in his MENA Tour debut at the 2015 Ras Al Khaimah Classic.

Great to spend some time with Darren Clarke this week. His instinct (strike) and artistry (shape) are about as good as anyone. Good two days work @the_els_club_dubai @bhsgdubai #teamtitleist #titleist #golfer #golf #golfing

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Sep 23, 2017 at 2:31am PDT

Joy hopes to quickly rebound from a missed cut at the KLM Open and the “crushing blow” of failing to advance from the first stage of European Tour Q-School in Austria last week. At fourth on the Pro OOM, the 29-year-old still has much to play for and especially so around the links layout to which he is attached.

Related: Joy “absolutely deflated” after failing, by a stoke, to advance at European Tour Q-School 

After back-to-back Dubai Creek and Golf Citizen Classic victories, Mathiam Gerhard, or “MG “, Keyser, is opted to chase a return to the Asian Tour which means Joy, Swede Fredrik From and former Challenge Tour winner Jamie Elson will resume their battle for top honours as the circuit quickly zeros in on its flagship $100,000 Tour Championship at Al Zorah from Oct. 23-26.

Dubai-based Keyser begins a three week stretch on the Asian Development Tour in Malaysia at this week’s PGM EurAsia Sabah Championship at Sabah Golf and Country Club but has vowed to return to MENA Tour duty in 2018.

“I would love to play the rest of the Mena events and try finishing first but I have commitments in Asia and have to focus on getting my main tour card back for next year,” Keyser told Golf Digest Middle East.

“And then I can hopefully schedule the Mena Tour in for 2018 and try and play enough events to be able to play tour champs.”

Order of Merit standings thru Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Classic at The Els, Dubai:
Professionals
MG Keyser (South Africa) – 18,774 points
Fredrik From (Sweden) – 18,397
Jamie Elson (England) – 17,453
Luke Joy (England) – 16,420
Andrew Marshall (England) – 16,171

Amateurs
Todd Clements (England) -181 points
Sam Hobday (England) – 154
Michael Harradine (Switzerland) -140
Tiago Lobo (Brazil) – 121
Rayhan Thomas (India) – 118

The post UAE lefty Ahmed Skaik leads intriguing amateur subplot at Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.