Countless golfers go a lifetime without a hole-in-one, much less a professional title but Kyle Barker needed just a single afternoon to tick off those two bucket-list milestones on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old South Africa sealed an impressive two-shot, wire-to-wire victory at the MENA Tour’s Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open with a closing 68 at Yas Links, highlighted by an ace at the fourth.

Todd Clements pushed Barker to the limit with a closing 66, the day’s best score, but the South African had a counter jab to everything thrown at him by the English Amateur champion, as well as a couple of his own scorecard upper cuts.

Barker, playing on a special invitation, started the final round par, birdie, par, ace, birdie but then bogeyed the 6th and tripled the ninth. His topsy-turvy quest for a maiden pro title continued when he eagled the par 5 11th only to bogey the 16th and once again give Clements a sniff. But a birdie-birdie finish, including sinking an improbable 50-footer on 17, finally sunk Clements’ challenge.

“I am really so happy. Words can’t really express it,” said Barker after collecting the silverware and the champion’s US$9000 cheque from Yas Links general manager Howie Roberts.

“Feeling a proud South African at the moment, proud because the last two events on the MENA Tour were also won by a South African [MG Keyser at the Dubai Creek Open and Golf Citizen Classic at The Els], so this win is a bit special too.

“When Todd birdied the 13th, 15th and 16th, I needed do something special and hitting my three-wood approach on the final hole to within four feet did the trick.”

Clements, forced to settle for his second runner-up finish in three starts, was again gracious as he came up just short again in his bid to become the third amateur winner on the developmental circuit.

“Kyle played brilliantly all week and deserved to win,” said the 21-year-old Englishman who birdied the 9th to affect a four-shot swing following Barker’s triple. Sadly a bogey on the last blew his chances.

“I tried to be patient out there and stuck to my game plan. Of course, I am a bit disappointed on missing out on victory, but the good thing is that I’m able to take a lot of confidence out of today, a lot of positives.”

England’s Jamie Elson signed for a final round 68 to finish third on -9, one clear of compatriot Christopher Cannon who finished with a flawless 67. Elson’s solid performance sees him return to the top of the professional order of merit, 4432 points ahead of Fredrik From after the Swede finished T-18 at -2 following rounds of 73-71-70. A cheque for $6000 boosted Elson’s season earnings to $19, 471 (AED 71,518) while From has pocketed $17,718.

Scotland’s Paul Doherty carded back-to-back 67s to join Germany’s Georg Schultes in a tie for 5th on -7, one ahead of Welshman Toby Hunt as England’s Zane Scotland took a share of 8th on -5 following a final round 70.

Darren Clarke, the MENA Tour patron, settled for tied 26th on level-par after a final round 73 while UAE national rep Khalid Yousuf closed with a 73 to finish +3 in a share of 39th place alongside, among others, Dubai amateur Michael Harradine.

The MENA Tour’s next event, the new Jordan’s AYLA Golf Championship from October 5-7, unusually starts next Thursday unlike most the circuit’s Monday starts.

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Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open champion Kyle Barker with Yas Links General Manager Howie Roberts and the Abu Dhabi club’s Director of Golf, Kames Ibbetson.

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Rookie South African professional Kyle Barker will take a four-stroke lead over Clements into the final round of the Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open Wednesday after backing up his opening 66 at Yas Links with a bogey-free 68 today to move to -10.

Clements (pictured) added a 70 to his first round 68 to remain in contention at -6, a shot clear of South African Tyler Hogarty, Welshman Toby Hunt and Englishman Jamie Elson who is doing his order of merit ambitions no harm at all with rounds of 70-69 thus far. But it is the 19-year-old Barker, playing on a special invite this week, who is impressing everyone with his ball striking.

“I really enjoyed my day out there. Didn’t really hole that many putts, but managed to keep bogeys off my card, which was great,” said Barker.

“My caddy and I are working as a team and the results are showing on the scores. Again, I struck the ball nicely and created a plenty of scoring opportunities there. I feel like I’m in great position and hoping to pull off my first professional win.”

Kyle Barker

Clements, T-17 at the Els last week after finishing joint runner-up at the Dubai Creek Open earlier in the month, started Tuesday just two back but couldn’t get his putter going.

“I played better than Monday, but just couldn’t hole putts, missed at least four or five from close range. That’s golf. Maybe tomorrow is a better day,” said the 21-year-old who hopes to emulate Indian No.1 Rayhan Thomas and Dutchman Pierre Junior Verlaar as amateur winners after they won the 2016 Dubai Creek Open and March’s Royal Golf Mohammedia Open respectively.

Darren Clarke, the 2011 Open champion and MENA Tour patron, moved into a tie for 20th on -1 after a second round 71, but defending champion Craig Hinton shot back-to-back 74s to miss the cut (which fell at +3, 147) by one, as did Luke Joy (74-74).

Scotland’s Paul Doherty fired a five-under 67 to make the biggest move, up from T-63 to T-13, as the English duo of Lee Corfield (-4) and Zane Scotland (-3) left themselves with work to do.

Elsewhere, Khalid Yousuf carded rounds of 72-74 to be +2 for the championship and in a share of 39th overnight. But his UAE national team-mates had a much tougher time of it on Tuesday with Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship-bound Ahmed Skaik missing the cut on +8 after rounds of 75-77 as Abdalla Al Musharrekh finished +23 (84-83). Ahmed Al Musharrekh, who played the opening round in the company of Clarke, was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury while no second round score was posted for Sohail Al Marzooqi on the MENA Tour website after he opened with a 19-over-par 91 on Monday.

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Buamaim’s long-term dream for the tour is, of course, to unearth young, Olympic Games-quality Arab stars, but he couldn’t grumble at the quality of Barker’s golf Monday, a sizzling 66 helping the 19-year-old South African open up a two shot lead at the Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open.

MJB will also be heartened by the hot streak Todd Clements is currently riding after the English amateur eased into second place with a 68. Eight players share third after 69s, the tour’s most decorated player in Zane Scotland and the producer of Monday’s shot of the day, South African Wayne Stroebel, among them. Stroebel holed a wedge on the 141-yard par 3 13th for his first career ace.

But the day belonged to Barker who opened his round with three successive birdies, was five under through seven and added further gains on the 13th and 16th to cancel out a lone bogey on the 10th.

“Everything flowed quite smoothly out there. I struck the ball beautifully, putted nicely and my approaches were relatively close, creating plenty of birdie opportunities,” said Barker, a professional barely a year who is playing Yas Links on a special MENA Tour invitation.

“I had a lot of fun playing on this course, which is in great condition and look forward to having some more good times in the next two rounds.”

Jamie Elson, meanwhile, made the early move in the all-important pro order of merit race. The Englishman signed for a two under 70, three shots better than Swede Fredrik From, the only man above him in the points standings save for South African MG Keyser who has abandoned his OOM hopes to chase a Asian Tour card in Malaysia.

Yas Links-attached Luke Joy has ground to make up after an opening 74 while English compatriot Andrew Marshall remains in the OOM conversation after a 71.

Playing in his second MENA Tour event in three weeks this season, former Open champion Darren Clarke carded a solid 70.

After finishing tied second with Rayhan Thomas at The Dubai Creek Open and 17th at last week’s Golf Citizen Classic at The Els, Clements needs another strong week to zero in on the top 50 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The 21-year-old Essex lad, currently ranked 64th, has started his mission strongly by mixing five birdies with a solitary bogey on the 15th.

“I started off well, making four birdies in the first seven holes and that set pretty much the tone for the round,” Clements said. “I played good, solid golf and made no major mistakes which was the key.”

Clements leads the amateur battle by two shots from Kenyan Agil Is-hag (70). Englishman Taylor Carter (71) is third while and Saudi Arabia’s Othman Almulla, England’s Robert Horridge and the UAE’s Khalid Yousuf shared fourth after even par 72s.

Ahmed Skaik was the next best of the UAE national team players with a 75 but the remainder of local contingent now have a very clear line in the sand with regards the level required to compete on the MENA Tour.

Ahmed Al Musharrekh, playing in the company of former Ryder Cup captain Clarke, left himself a mountain to climb after dropping six shots in his last five holes en-route to a six-over 78 while Abdalla Al Musharrekh carded an 84 (+12) and Sohail Al Marzooqi a 19-over 91.

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