By Kent Gray
In November 2017, we ran the inspiring story of Luke Joy’s victory at the 10th King Hamad Trophy, quoting from the refreshingly honest online blog the Abu Dhabi-based English professional pens.

Fast forward to last week and the 31-year-old was at it again, except this time his second victory in three attempts in Bahrain prompted a more solemn, introspective post. 

The first victory produced a bright respite from the mostly warts and all account of his challenging 2017. His latest post, however, has put his improved golfing fortunes, and the love of his life, sharply in focus.

RELATED: Joy confident MENA Tour lessons can (finally) help him crack European Tour Q-School

Luke and Lauren Joy

Joy takes up the personal story which both he and wife Lauren hope might help other couples: “This year has been probably my hardest to date. My performance [he also won on the EuroPro Tour] and golfing ability has been getting better and better thanks to the guys I have around me, but I didn’t quite realise how my golf would mean absolutely nothing to me with Lauren, my wife, being sick.”

After twice having her “horrendous” stomach and back pain misdiagnosed in the UAE, Lauren Joy sought a third opinion from a London specialist over the summer. She had a laparoscopy and was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis, a painful inflammatory condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found outside the uterus.

“My wife is a personal trainer, fit, in great shape and when she could barely walk for three to five days a month, horrendous stomach and back pain, we knew that the advice and pills we had been given [in the UAE] were wrong,” said Joy.

“We found out that it is very common but vastly misdiagnosed and often put down to period pain. Lauren’s case is slightly different as she is riddled with it, hence stage four, and the MRI showed it had spread to her bladder so she is having bladder surgery alongside removing the endometriosis.”

“She has had two injections in her stomach to limit the pain but the side effects bring on symptoms conducive to menopause. For a 27-year-old, going through all of this… it has been a tough year for Lauren and without the surgery happening now it would also make it almost impossible for us to start a family, something we both really want.

“I can’t heap more praise on Lauren for how she has dealt with it all. I’m so proud of her and if this helps one person/wife of a reader of this magazine then she will be happy opening up about it.” 

Lauren is due to have surgery in London this week. The long term outlook for her husband has vastly changed too.

Luke and Lauren Joy in FFA (“Forced Festive Attire”) during their Abu Dhabi Christmas last year.

“We’re in the process of getting her better with surgery but when I saw her in so much pain this summer it put things in perspective really quickly. I have dedicated half my life to golf but when we found out the severity of things in the summer and how much it would cost to put right, I was ready to throw in the towel to get a normal job to pay the medical bills.

“If it wasn’t for Lauren and my family being totally against the idea and supporting me, I would have stopped playing in a heartbeat and I think this week’s performance was a good way to cement that the wife is always right.

“It’s always great to get back in the winner’s circle and playing with something on the line, it’s the reason I get up in the morning and practice. This win was great and it’s a huge relief to get a cheque that will help take care of some of the bills that will be coming up.”

For golfing prosperity, Joy carded rounds of 71, 68 and an impressive eight-under 64 around Royal Golf Club to storm from six shots back starting the final round to -13 and into a playoff. He then edged fellow Brit Sean Towndrow in overtime to be crowned the 12th King Hamad Trophy champion.

Luke Joy | Blog https://t.co/EGte6RoUT1 @YasLinksGC @RemedyOak @mboltpga @KingHamadTrophy pic.twitter.com/ERun9aef9y

— Luke Joy (@JoyBoy59) December 6, 2019

“To say it was a bit of a whirlwind trip is quite the understatement,” said the MENA Tour regular who also plays on South Africa’s Sunshine Tour and the EuroPro Tour.

“I wasn’t actually going to play the event this week, as to be honest funds are pretty limited at the moment and I had my brother in Abu Dhabi visiting for the F1. As it turned out I flew to Bahrain on the morning of the opening round as I had played the course many times before and when the organisers kindly offered to sort out my hotel for the week to keep my costs down and as a past champion, I wanted to support the event, even if my preparation was not exactly going to be ideal. It turned out to be a good decision.”

The post Joy tempered as pro reveals wife’s illness after second King Hamad Trophy win in Bahrain appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Howells, formerly of the Butch Harmon School of Golf at the Els Club in Dubai, commended Thomas for his golf, noting 17 under through 54 holes at The Royal Golf Club was impressive given the Bahrain course’s sometimes “quirky” nature. He followed up with a question for which he already knew the answer: “So I’m guessing the putting is working?”

Thomas’ retort? “Putting was solid son, still needs work though”.

Related: Dubai prodigy Rayhan Thomas wins second pro title in Bahrain

Having just turned 19, Thomas has every right to over hype his five storke victory at the 11th King Hamad Trophy, a sensational follow up to his Dubai Creek triumph on the MENA Tour two seasons ago. A professional career, after a stint at one of collegiate golf’s ultimate finishing schools, Rickie Fowler’s old Oklahoma State University, beckons but Thomas is able to put the win into longer term context, as excited as he inevitably was in the moment.

“I’m not sure people know how hard he works but it really is something special about the kid,” Howells told GolfDigestme.com afterwards.

“He’s always looking to improve and it [the WhatsApp exchange] just gives you a nice insight into his mind. Credit to his Mum and Dad [Neena and John] and to [his swing coach] Justin [Parsons].

“He’s going places that guy. His attitude is brilliant.”

The past 12 months have been topsy-turvy results wise for Thomas but he’d dedication to improving has never waned. But for a slow start to October’s 10th Asia Pacific Amateur Championship, a four-over 74, he could have won invites to next year’s Masters and Open at Royal Portrush but was still quietly chuffed with his second placing in Singapore. His game was coming back, as it was there for all to see in Bahrain in what he described as a “very clinical” display.   

“The last win was at the Creek in the MENA Tour so it’s been a while since the last big win. I’m just proud of myself that I was able to keep a very clean and crisp job over the last three days,” Thomas said.

“I had two bogeys all week and both in the first round, I was bogey free the last two rounds so just very clean, very tight, I didn’t really make many mistakes which is essential.

“The only way anybody was going to beat me is if they caught up to me. I just felt if I kept doing what I was doing, keep it clean, it was going to be very hard for anybody else. So very happy with the way I played and it’s good to see my game is progressing nicely.”

Thomas’ victory is further validation for the Middle East’s very own finishing school, the MENA Tour which will resume in the New Year after a 15-month restructuring hiatus. Yas Links-atached Luke Joy, a regular contender on the regional development circuit, won the King Hamad Trophy last year and finished his defence T-19 on -2, 14 shots adrift on Thomas, while the MENA Tour’s first life member, 10-time winner Zane Scotland, earned a share of 15th place alongside former European Tour player Jamie Elson on -3.

Thomas was toying with teeing it up in the Indian Amateur Championship but is now unlikely to do so as he knuckles down to his studies in the final year of correspondence school. He will play as many of the new MENA Tour events as possible before heading to college in the United States next summer.

“Hopefully I can keep this form up and take it into the next events, probably next year. I’m not too sure what I’m in playing next, probably won’t be playing anything for a while.

“So a lot of prep work, keep this form going and hopefully keep winning.”

There are no guarantees in golf but as Howells points out, it certainly won’t be for the lack of effort.

The post Text exchange after Thomas’ King Hamad Trophy triumph gives insight into the teen’s steely focus on the future appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Dubai golf prodigy Rayhan Thomas has sensationally won his second professional title as an amateur, turning the tables on South African rival Mathiam Keyser at the 11th King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain.

The Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club-attached Indian, who turned 19 earlier this week, fired a closing four-under 68 at the Royal Golf Club on Saturday to finish the 54-hole event on -17, five shots clear of Keyser.

After rounds of 66 and 65, Thomas came from a shot back overnight with the help of an eagle on the par-5 9th as 36-hole leader Keyser stumbled home with a 74. Englishman Josh White finished third, a further shot adrift on -11.

The victory enabled Thomas to extract a measure of revenge over Keyser who edged him by two shots in his defence of the 2017 Dubai Creek Open, the MENA Tour title he famously captured in September 2016 aged just 16.

Thomas, who is coached by U.S.-bound Dubai coach to the stars Justin Parsons, mightn’t have defended at the Creek but he did create global headlines by rattling off a world record equalling nine successive birdies in an opening round of 61, a course record tying round on his home course.

Related: Watch Rayhan Thomas seal world record equalling MENA Tour round at 2017 Dubai Creek Open

Thomas, who finished runner-up at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Singapore last month, will follow in the footsteps of PGA Tour star Rickie Fowler when he plays collegiate golf for the Oklahoma State University Cowboys next year.

Related: Thomas eyes the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush after sensational run to joint second at Asia-Pacific Amateur

The post Dubai amateur Rayhan Thomas, just 19, wins second pro title by five shots in Bahrain appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It started with a DQ for inadvertently signing an incorrect second round scorecard at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February. There followed a series of near MENA Tour misses (five top 3 finishes in all), frustration that spiralled downward dramatically when he contracted a “savage” bout of malaria during the circuit’s South African swing in June and ended up in a Pretoria hospital.

In September, the Yas Links attached 29-year-old was left “embarrassed” after missing the cut at the European Tour’s KLM Open, a performance he described as “absolutely useless”.  The misery (stick with us here) compounded when he failed to advance from the first stage of European Tour Q-School in Austria – by a single stroke – in a “devastating blow” a week later. 

Yet more heartache followed at the MENA Tour Championship in Ajman when, by the equivalent of a measly $121, he dropped to third in the OOM, denying him a shot at KLM Open redemption next year. He did earn a Desert Classic return and full Sunshine Tour status for 2018 although the illness in Pretoria may make a Asian Development Tour pass more appealing.

Ever the optimist, Joy carried on. And on Saturday, we are delighted to report, the perseverance finally paid of as Joy won the King Hamad Trophy at the Royal Club in Bahrain by five strokes from Joshua White.

Here’s the joyous moment via the Bahrain Golf Association’s new Instagram feed:

10th King Hamad Trophy Champion, Luke Joy making a birdie on the 18, well done Luke ??????

A post shared by Bahrain Golf Association (@bahraingolf) on Nov 18, 2017 at 4:39am PST

“Absolutely buzzing to get the job done today and get over the line first and want to thank the Bahrain Golf Association for the invite and hospitality, was a really well run event and look forward to returning next year,” said Joy who carded rounds of 67-66-68 despite the tricky greens.

“I think if they had the greens any quicker this week you could miss the green, from the green!”

A post shared by Bahrain Golf Association (@bahraingolf) on Nov 18, 2017 at 7:27am PST

Joy now has a well deserved day off today before the final kick of his season which includes a two-day Pro-Am in Dubai before his final event of the year in Equatorial Guinea next month, the 3E Actuaries Open in Mongomo.

“It’s always an event I look forward to playing and always seems to provide great entertainment.”

Much like Joy’s blog has all season. Here’s to a stellar finish to 2017 in Africa.

Final round results, 10th King Hamad Trophy 2017

A post shared by Bahrain Golf Association (@bahraingolf) on Nov 18, 2017 at 9:28pm PST

The post Finally some Joy as Luke wins King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.