On Wednesday at the Greg Norman-designed Ayla Golf Club, the London-based Lumsden made a double bogey six on the tough 18^th hole, but he had done enough good work before that to post a two-under par 70 final round. That took his tally to eight-under par 208 for the tournament, one better than Knipes, who closed with a four-under par 68 for a seven-under par total.

There was a five-way tie for the third place with Sweden’s Ake Nilsson (69) reaching six-under par 210 alongside the English quartet of Jamie Rutherford (65), Mitch Waite (68), Tom Sloman (70) and Benjamin David (70).

England’s David Langley secured himself a start at the Trophee Hassan II on the European Tour by topping the Journey to Jordan at the halfway stage. He shot a two-under par 70 in the final round to finish in tied 35^th place. David Hague, the only other player who could have overtaken Langley this week, was tied 30^th and could not surmount the difference in earning between the two.

However, the star of the day was the 23-year-old Lumsden, who is expected to move to inside the top-1000 of the OWGR with his triumph.

The Northwestern University star, who will start in the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic in May on the PGA Tour for winning the Byron Nelson Award in US collegiate golf last year, was fast off the blocks with birdies on the first, fourth, fifth and sixth holes. He then missed birdie chances on the seventh, eight and ninth holes to make the turn at four-under par and ahead by three shots over Sloman.

His first bogey of the day came from the greenside bunker on the par-3 12^th hole, and he was lucky not to get wet on the par-3 13^th when he hooked his tee shot way off the mark. Lumsden made a crucial par save from 20 feet on the 15^thbefore a clutch birdie from the bunker on the 17^th gave him the necessary cushion going down the 18^th hole with Knipes having already finished on seven-under par.

Curtis Knipes (Photo by Joy Chakravarty)

Lumsden found the fairway bunker on the 18^th, took three shots to get to the green and three-putted for a six on the final hole.

“Don’t ask me about the 18^th, but I am delighted to get the win,” said Lumsden.

“I felt really good about my game the whole day. Got off to a good start and was four-under through six holes. I then made great putts that barely missed on the next two holes. On the ninth, I hit a wonderful drive and had just about 200 yards, but it was at the bottom of a divot and I could not risk the water on the left so had to lay up and the birdie putt lipped out.

“Went through a little bit of a rough patch on the back nine, but I was able to make some good swings after that. I will think back about the 18^th hole and process what I did wrong there, but very happy to get the job done and hopefully, we can carry it on from here.

“There wasn’t one defining or key moment today. The par save on the 15^th was great, but so was the up-and-down for birdie on the 17^th. I just played solid golf throughout.”

The 19-year-old Knipes, who turned professional this year, recorded his best ever finish on the MENA Tour by Arena. The 68 included just one bogey, which came on the fifth hole when he chunked a wedge shot from the middle of the fairway, but that was the only mistake he made.

“I played pretty well today. The conditions were very fair and I did have a number in mind for the final round. I wanted to get to 10-under par, so a 65. That was not to be, but I am very happy with the runner-up finish,” said Knipes, who qualified for the Open Championship last year as an amateur.

“Very happy with the way I have started as a professional. I had four top-10s in five starts and even though I felt I let go a couple of chances to win, I know my time will come. I just have to be patient.”

The post Ryan Lumsden wins his maiden MENA Tour title in Journey to Jordan #2 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Williams’ runaway victory at the $100,000 Journey to Jordan-2 Championship on Wednesday was indeed Tiger-esque. Not only did the Peterborough player close out his final round 66 at Ayla Golf Club with five successive birdies to become just the third amateur to win on the regional Pro-Am circuit, he equalled the tour record for the biggest winning margin in a 54-hole event, set by Matthew Baldwin in the season-opening Journey to Jordan-1 event.

With rounds of 68-66-66, the Junior Ryder Cup rep gapped another English amateur, Jack Floydd, by eight shots to become the 20th player to win wire-to-wire and the 25th to win with three sub 70 scores. It was the first amateur one-two in MENA Tour history while Williams’ -16 aggregate of 200 was just three strokes outside the tour’s 54-hole record score – 197 established by MG Keyser at the Dubai Open in early March.

Just remember that name!

T.I.G.E.R.

Amateur Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams is our Journey To Jordan-2 champion. pic.twitter.com/F5MzeD3N9K

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 2, 2019

For the record, Keyser finished tied third at Ayla with Australian professional Daniel Gaunt. Keyser leapfrogged from third to the top of the season-long Journey to Jordan standings with the $15, 061 he and Gaunt each banked. The South African now has $39,531 in season earnings heading into the $75,000 Abu Dhabi Open by Arena starting Monday (Oct. 7-9), $5,235 ahead of now second-placed Gaunt.

In what was a memorable week for the amateurs, Curtis Knipes finished T-5, albeit 10 strokes adrift of Williams. Frustratingly for Knipes who has played six events, he has surrendered his lead atop the amateur Journey to Jordan standings to Williams who earned 18,000 points – it would have been a cheque for $18,000 if he were a professional – for his victory. Floydd is second on 15,802 points with Knipes down to third on 11,522.

Dubai-based English teen Josh Hill, who missed the cut at Ayla, is fourth but a distant 13,988 points adrift of Williams. Arjun Gupta was the best of the “Three Musketeers” – Hill, Gupta and Toby Bishop – in Ayla, finishing T-31 on four-over-par alongside Jordanian amateur Shergo Al Kurdi. Bishop also missed the 36-hole cut.

But the story of the week was clearly Williams who is set to soar from his current position of 100th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). His previous best was 75th. The teen is also set to enter the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) for the first time.

Currently without any @OWGRltd points, @IAmRobinTiger wins three precious points for his @theMENATour triumph. He should be checking in around the 1,250th place when the new rankings are released next Monday.#HigerBetterFasterStronger pic.twitter.com/jnYUC5EQZU

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 2, 2019

The post Amateur Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams wins (by a record-equalling eight strokes) in dream MENA Tour debut appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams will take a one-stroke lead into the penultimate round of the Journey to Jordan-2 event after headlining a day for the amateurs as the MENA Tour season resumed after a six-month summer hiatus on Monday.

The South African-born, Peterborough-based England age-group representative fired a 68 at Ayla Golf Club in his first MENA Tour round. The four-under circuit of the Aqaba layout saw the 18-year-old edge a group of five players on 69 for the overnight lead, including Order-of-Merit (OOM) contender Daniel Gaunt (Australia) and fellow English amateur Jack Floydd.

His name is Robin Williams.

Everyone calls him ‘Tiger’.

But can he be England’s next @JustinRose99?

South Africa-born England amateur @IAmRobinTiger leading Journey To Jordan 2 in Aqaba after a -4 first round!#HarderBetterFastefStronger pic.twitter.com/uR36BQiDGU

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 1, 2019

Amateur OOM leader Curtis Knipes shares seventh-place on 71 alongside Miguel Jimenez Jnr, the son of the European Tour legend, and Dubai-based South African MG Keyser who needs a top-five finish to leapfrog from third in the ‘Journey to Jordan’ OOM race to first.

Jordanian Shergo Al Kurdi had the honour of hitting the tournament’s opening tee shot and 71 strokes later had signed for a 72 and a share of 11th to continue the red-letter day for the amateurs.

Arjun Gupta was the best of the Dubai-based amateurs with a 75, three shots better than Josh Hill (78) while Toby Bishop carded a 79.

Williams, currently rated 100 in the official World Amateur Golf Ranking, has been as low as 76. The Peterborough Milton Golf Club member, who was born in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, shares the same middle as Tiger Woods but was not named after the late comedian Robin Williams as he is frequently asked.

In September 2017, at age 16 and one week, Williams emulated Rory McIlroy by making his debut in a professional event at the same age and tournament, the British Masters, as the Northern Irishman. He played in last year’s Junior Ryder Cup. 

The post Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams’ is off to a flyer in his MENA Tour debut as amateurs shine in Jordan appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Jordanian amateur Shergo Al Kurdi has been given the honour of getting the MENA Tour’s Journey to Jordan back on track at his home Ayla Golf Club.

After the circuit’s six-month summer hiatus, Al Kurdi hit the opening shot in the Journey to Jordan 2 event in Aqaba earlier today.

And the second half of the @theMENATour 2019 season is underway!
Quite aptly, the Jordan Open champion @SHERGOKURDI kickstarts the proceedings with this tee shot on the first at @AylaOasis today!#JourneyToJordan pic.twitter.com/8XY3Kjaa8f

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) September 30, 2019

The $100,000 tournament launches the MENA Tour’s five-event Autumn Swing which culminates with the Tour Championship, also at Ayla, from Nov. 24-28. In between time Yas Links, Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club and Tower Links will host the Abu Dhabi Open (Oct. 6-9), Al Ain Open (Oct. 19-23) and Ras Al Khaimah Open (Oct. 26-30) respectively.

With current Journey to Jordan Order-of-Merit (OOM) leader Matthew Baldwin focused on the European Challenge Tour as well as the Englishman’s nearest challenger, Frenchman Robin Roussel, this week’s event presents a big opportunity for MG Keyser.

The Dubai-based South African is third in the OOM, just $3350 adrift of Baldwin, so can assume pole-position with a top-five finish come Thursday’s final round. Fourth-placed Daniel Gaunt (Australia) and fifth-placed Nick Marsh (England) will also be hoping to take advantage of the absence of Baldwin and Roussel. There will also be interest in Luke Joy’s performance after the Yas Links-attached pro’s recent EuroPro Tour win.

 

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First time to @aylagolfclub in Jordan ?? Really looking forward to being back playing on the @themenatour #Golf #MenaTour #ViewGoals ??‍

A post shared by Nick Marsh (@marsh_nick94) on Sep 29, 2019 at 6:31am PDT

Amateur OOM leader Curtis Knipes was due off at 8.20am in his opening round. His nearest challenger, Dubai-based England boys’ rep Josh Hill, was to set out 70 mins later while there will also be interest in the opening round performances of Hill’s pals Toby Bishop and Arjun Gupta.

Hill and Bishop recently celebrated international call-ups.

Massive congratulations to our amateur members Josh Hill and Toby Bishop.

Josh selected for England Boys’ squad for 2019-20.

Toby gets into the Wales High Performance Squad.

And oh! They are both just 15!! pic.twitter.com/elcjlniT57

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) September 25, 2019

The post Keyser looks to take advantage of Journey to Jordan absentees as MENA Tour resumes in Aqaba appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.