For the record, this nine-hole playoff was one hole shy of matching the tour’s all-time longest extra hole affair.

IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! @celineboutier's winning putt in the ninth playoff hole! ? pic.twitter.com/ktThJNKJpC

— LPGA (@LPGA) October 29, 2023

Boutier’s win makes her the first four-time LPGA Tour winning in a single season since Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko in 2021 and jumps her past Lilia Vu by three points in the Rolex Player of the Year race.

As for 54-hole leader Rose Zhang, who was trying to grab a second career LPGA title in only her 12th start in an event as a pro, the former amateur phenom couldn’t get any momentum building, making three early birdies offset by three mid-round bogeys, to post a 71 and fall two shots shy of playing extra holes.
The victory was also worth a first-place prize money payout of $450,000 for Boutier from an overall purse of $3 million. Here’s the prize money payouts for all golfers in this no-cut limited-field event.

Win: Celine Boutier, -21, $450,000
P-2: Atthaya Thitikul, -21, $275,072
T-3: Jasmine Suwannapura, -19, $176,954
T-3: Rose Zhang, -19, $176,954
5: Peiyun Chien, -18, $124,246
T-6: Nelly Korda, -17, $87,097
T-6: Brooke M. Henderson, -17, $87,097
T-6: Gemma Dryburgh, -17, $87,097
9: Megan Khang, -16, $67,018
10: Gaby Lopez, -15, $60,993
T-11: Lydia Ko, -14, $54,591
T-11: Nasa Hataoka, -14, $54,591
T-13: Pajaree Anannarukarn, -13, $47,890
T-13: Chanettee Wannasaen, -13, $47,890
T-15: Allisen Corpuz, -12, $42,468
T-15: A Lim Kim, -12, $42,468
T-17: Ruoning Yin, -11, $37,450
T-17: Minami Katsu, -11, $37,450
T-17: Hannah Green, -11, $37,450
T-20: Maja Stark, -10, $29,986
T-20: Yuka Saso, -10, $29,986
T-20: Olivia Cowan, -10, $29,986
T-20: Cheyenne Knight, -10, $29,986
T-20: Stephanie Meadow, -10, $29,986
T-20: Jin Young Ko, -10, $29,986
T-20: Xiyu Lin, -10, $29,986
T-20: Emily Kristine Pedersen, -10, $29,986
T-20: Sei Young Kim, -10, $29,986
T-29: Alexa Pano, -9, $22,740
T-29: Hye-Jin Choi, -9, $22,740
T-29: Jodi Ewart Shadoff, -9, $22,740
T-29: Ayaka Furue, -9, $22,740
T-29: Gina Kim, -9, $22,740
T-34: Lauren Coughlin, -8, $18,900
T-34: Sarah Kemp, -8, $18,900
T-34: Grace Kim, -8, $18,900
T-34: Leona Maguire, -8, $18,900
T-38: Yuna Nishimura, -7, $16,641
T-38: Ariya Jutanugarn, -7, $16,641
T-40: Jennifer Kupcho, -6, $14,458
T-40: Perrine Delacour, -6, $14,458
T-40: Sarah Schmelzel, -6, $14,458
T-40: Madelene Sagstrom, -6, $14,458
T-40: Linn Grant, -6, $14,458
T-45: Hae Ran Ryu, -5, $12,575
T-45: Yu Liu, -5, $12,575
T-47: Dottie Ardina, -4, $11,024
T-47: Narin An, -4, $11,024
T-47: Ashleigh Buhai, -4, $11,024
T-47: Moriya Jutanugarn, -4, $11,024
T-47: Maria Fassi, -4, $11,024
T-52: Natasha Andrea Oon, -3, $9,638
T-52: Esther Henseleit, -3, $9,638
T-52: Mi Hyang Lee, -3, $9,638
T-55: Andrea Lee, -2, $8,885
T-55: Patty Tavatanakit, -2, $8,885
T-57: Jeneath Wong, -1, Amateur
T-57: Amy Yang, -1, $8,434
59: Stephanie Kyriacou, E, $8,132
T-60: Hinako Shibuno, +1, $7,581
T-60: Jenny Shin, +1, $7,581
T-60: Albane Valenzuela, +1, $7,581
T-63: Linnea Strom, +2, $7,153
T-63: Aditi Ashok, +2, $7,153
T-65: Eun-Hee Ji, +3, $6,852
T-65: Ashley Lau, +3, $6,852
T-67: Matilda Castren, +4, $6,552
T-67: Danielle Kang, +4, $6,552
T-69: Nanna Koerstz Madsen, +5, $6,174
T-69: Ryann O’Toole, +5, $6,174
T-69: Celine Borge, +5, $6,174
72: Yan Liu, +7, $5,950
73: Alyaa Abdulghany, +9, $5,872
74: Jing Xuen Ng, +11, Amateur
75: Kelly Tan, +13, $5,797
T-76: Amanda Tan, +15, $5,688
T-76: Ida Ayu Melati, +15, $5,688

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 LPGA Maybank Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Leaderboard

Celine Boutier, -21 (64)
Atthaya Thitikul, -21 (68)
Jasmine Suwannapura, -19 (70)
Rose Zhang, -19 (71)
Peiyun Chien, -18 (68)

Quotable

“I knew she wasn’t going to make a mistake, so I had to go for it and give myself the best chances for birdies,” Boutier said of Thitikul. “I feel like she’s an amazing player, and so I feel like it was definitely nerve-racking, but I just feel very happy to have held on for that long.”

What it means

Boutier is now the only player on the LPGA with four wins in 2023. She has surpassed Lilia Vu in the Rolex Player of the Year award race with three tournaments remaining, earning 30 points for the win after starting the week 27 points back of Vu, who did not play in the event as she was participating in the Aramco Team Series event in Riyadh.

“I definitely wanted to win that award at some point in my career. I really did not expect it to be this season,” Boutier said. “I just feel like it’s so hard to just be able to win already and just to be able to have the chance to have this award at the end of the season is something that I definitely don’t take for granted.”

Earlier this season, Boutier earned the title of the most successful Frenchwoman in LPGA history: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli each have two LPGA wins. The Maybank Championship is Boutier’s sixth career LPGA win. She is undoubtedly the best female golfer to ever come out of France. Not a bad milestone to reach before your 30th birthday, which she celebrates on November 10.

How it happened

Like many times in 2023, this tournament needed a extra holes to find its victor. This was the 12th playoff of the LPGA season, and it was the longest at nine holes. (Back in 1972, Jo Ann Pretince and Sandra Palmer went 10 holes at the Corpus Christi Civitan Open, so though the Maybank Championship was close, it wasn’t an LPGA record.) The playoff was made even longer by a weather delay after the first playoff hole.

During the delay, Boutier found a quiet spot in the locker room and did her best to stay in her own “bubble”. She needed to conserve her energy. She had started the final round five shots back and shot her second 64 of the week to vault up the leaderboard. She would’ve won it during regular play, too, if one last birdie try on 18 hadn’t lipped out.

After 92 minutes of waiting, Boutier and Thitikul went back out on the course, trading birdies and pars. On the ninth playoff hole, both players had put their approach shots to within 10 feet, Thikikul missed and Boutier made her birdie putt to win the championship.

Boutier is now two-for-two in playoffs in 2023: She defeated Georgia Hall at the LPGA Drive On Championship in March. That playoff was settled in a more timely fashion, lasting only one hole.

Best of the rest

A few spots down the leaderboard, Rose Zhang finished T-4. It’s her first top-five finish since winning her pro debut in June. That first victory was the stuff of legend, and the type of storyline we dream about. Who wouldn’t want to root for the amateur star turned pro sensation? But the tricky thing about winning your first pro tournament is that it makes people wonder, Could she win them all? The expectations for Zhang have been high — and appropriately so, she has the game and potential to warrant it. But a lot of expectation was heaped on her when she had only been a professional for a few moments. In the months following that win, she’s had a couple missed cuts, three top-10s, her Solheim Cup debut (0-2-1) and has travelled the world. In Malaysia, she got herself in contention again and found confidence there.

“I felt like it was a really incredible week for me,” Zhang said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in contention, in the top 10, and I just feel really lucky to be in that position. I still have lots to learn, lots to improve on, but I feel like it’s all up from here.”

The post Celine Boutier, France’s greatest LPGA player, wins Maybank Championship in epic nine-hole playoff appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The European Tour is the latest golf circuit to postpone events in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, the European Tour, in conjunction with the Asian Tour, decided to push back two tournaments: the Maybank Championship and the Volvo China Open.

The Maybank, originally scheduled for the week after the Masters and played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was postponed by request of the title sponsor, while the Volvo, which was supposed to follow the Maybank, was delayed in consultation with the China Golf Association, the tournament promoters and the government. The Volvo’s host city, Shenzhen, is currently facing restrictions in hopes of containing the virus.

As the disease continues to spread—CBS reported Friday morning that infections have surpassed 55,000 and more than 1,370 have died—the possibility of a delayed or postponed start to the Euro Tour’s Asian swing existed. Discussions are ongoing with all parties looking into the possibility of rescheduling both tournaments later this season.

“The well-being of our players, spectators and staff is always our absolute priority,” said Keith Pelley, chief executive of the European Tour. “While it is therefore regrettable that the Maybank Championship and Volvo China Open have been postponed, we feel this is the correct course of action at this time. We are currently investigating alternative dates for both events.”

Earlier this week the LPGA postponed two more Asian events set for the next month after previously postponing a tournament in China. That followed the R&A’s decision to cancel the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, scheduled for Feb. 12-15 at Siam Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand. The PGA Tour China series also postponed its qualifying tournaments and first four tournaments of the season.

The post European Tour postpones two events due to coronavirus outbreak appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
A breakthrough European Challenge Tour victory on home soil has MENA Tour rookie Robin Roussel eyeing promotion to the European Tour in 2020.

The 25-year-old Frenchman played the final 36 holes of the Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open bogey-free to continue his dream start to the season in Europe’s second tier; the €30,400 victory at notoriously tricky Aa Saint-Omer Golf Club was his fourth top-10 in six starts.

Roussel is now up to fourth in the Challenge Tour standings and on track to secure one of the 15 places in the Order of Merit standings that guarantee automatic graduation to the European Tour next season.

“It’s a very special feeling, I don’t have the words right now,” Roussel told said afterwards. “I just enjoyed the moment so much and the crowd so much. They’ve been very, very supportive all week long. It’s such a great feeling. No bogeys all weekend, I didn’t think about it, but I feel like I just played perfectly.”

Congratulations to @RobinRoussel, winner of our Troon Series – Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open, who played bogey-free over the weekend at the tough Aa Saint-Omer Golf Club to win his first title on the @Challenge_Tour. Well done Robin and here’s wishing you many more in the future. pic.twitter.com/iklfNOvyAv

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) June 17, 2019

Roussel is clearly determined not to waste the lessons learned during the MENA Tour’s spring-swing earlier this year, including a breakthrough victory at the Troon Series-Royal Golf Bahrain Open in March which secured an invite to the European Tour’s Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Currently second on the MENA Tour OOM behind Matthew Baldwin, the Paris-born, Cannes-based Frenchman talks to Golf Digest Middle East about how his wary entry to the regional developmental circuit has made way for respect and awe at the opportunities offered by the those tasked with making it the best little mini-tour in the world.

[divider] [/divider]

A friend told me about the MENA Tour last season but it was too late to get in the 2018 season so I just decided to wait until the 2019 tour. I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest. I was a little nervous because it was the first time I would travel in this part of the world and I did not know the organisation of this tour. But now I know that MENA Tour team is absolutely perfect from A to Z and I’m 100% confident in playing in a MENA Tour event now.

You can’t really compare it with the other mini-tours. It’s totally different. I’ve been playing only for a year on the Alps Tour but what I can say is that the MENA Tour is closer to European Tour / Challenge Tour conditions than any other mini-tours. On the MENA Tour, you’re playing for more money, the courses are better and in a better shape, greens are way faster. The field of players is tougher. The organisation is bigger with official hotels, deals for accommodation, food and travel companies. But most importantly, this tour has big opportunities. You can get many invites on the Challenge and European Tours. That reality has been a fantastic surprise compared to what I thought this journey would be.

Before the win in Bahrain, as a pro, I’ve never been able to close a tournament when I had the opportunity to win it. This win proved me that, yes, I’m able to hold a 3-4-5 shot lead going into the last round. Now I know I’m able to get over the pressure of being at the top with some lads chasing me. It was a great feeling heading into the start of the Challenge Tour season.

I’m so grateful to the MENA Tour for the opportunity to play at the Maybank Championship, my first full European Tour start. It was such a great experience competing in one of the biggest fields on the European Tour schedule but also in the best field of the Asian Tour season. Even if conditions were really hard and I was a little tired from my five past weeks on the MENA Tour, that week in Malaysia was great. I learned a lot from other players, from this tough course, but also about myself. I didn’t play my best golf and I missed the cut by one stroke so next time I’ll be competing on the main tour I can trust myself and start the tournament with the same goals and expectations as I had at MENA Tour events.

It has been a great start to the Challenge Tour season so far but I must stay very careful because this game can be so cruel and crazy. I know that three top-10s to start is a good start [made better by his win this past weekend] but I also know that it is still a long way to reach main tour next year. But this start pushes me to work harder and harder.

It’s clear and obvious that my winter on the MENA Tour put me on this great dynamic. I just had to keep the same routine and attitude at my Challenge Tour events. I just feel like my season has started three months and nine tournaments ago [including the five MENA Tour starts]. The dynamic is so much easier to catch.

Making the top-15 of the Challenge Tour is the final goal, yes, especially after my week in Malaysia. On the European Tour, everything is put together to push you to show the best of you. This is such an amazing feeling, the great atmosphere when you’re on the range or the putting green, working with Ernie Els right next to you. You’re just telling yourself ‘ok this is where you want to be and this is where you have to be in the future’.

I don’t really know how many MENA Tour events I’ll play in the second half of the season. It depends on which tournaments clash with Challenge Tour events. But what is sure is that anytime I’m able to get back on the MENA Tour, I’ll be there. I loved it.  Really.

The post Roussel after Challenge Tour breakthrough: “It’s obvious that my winter on the MENA Tour put me on this great dynamic” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
A lot of people talk about the Golf Gods and the cruel and peculiar ways they wreak havoc, mentally and physically, on unsuspecting lugs just trying to get their ball in the hole in as few a shots as possible. (That doesn’t include me, mind you, as I don’t dare directly talk about the sport’s mystical overseers, least they punish me with a case of the yips or the shanks. I instead refer to them indirectly, and strictly in the name of journalism.)

It wasn’t the Golf Gods, however, that necessarily got Nacho Elvira on Sunday at the Maybank Championship. More like Mother Nature. Elvira, seeking his first career European Tour win, had led heading into the final round at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Kaula Lumpur but was now one stroke back of Scott Hend, the 45-year-old Aussie competing with Elvira in the final group, as they were playing the 569-yard par-5 closing hole. Under ominous skies, the Spaniard was set to hit his third shot on the 18th, a short pitch just shy of the green. Yet just in the middle of his swing, a loud clap of thunder rolled through, distracting Elvira and causing him to leave his ball a disappointing 30 feet from the hole.

The European Tour originally had a video of the unfortunate coincidence posted on Twitter (which we embedded when we originally posted this story this morning), but the tour has since, disappointingly, taken it down. If you didn’t see it earlier this morning, it was pretty amazing how precisely as Elvira is about to hit the ball, you can hear the boom.

After that thunder, tournament officials, as John Huggan wrote in his piece about the conclusion of the final round, had no choice but to halt play and wait out the electricity in the area before letting them finish up. Hend was facing a 20-foot birdie try himself that could have ended the affair in regulation.

And wait they did … for 1 hour and 40 minutes. The delay could have rattled Elvira, but impressively the 32-year-old didn’t let it. When he returned to the course and face the crucial putt, he stepped up and created a jolt of his own.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!@nachoelvira87 has drained it! pic.twitter.com/O1lfYU5FHQ

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 24, 2019

Hend could not top it, and the pair went to extra holes, the first playoff of the 2018-’19 European Tour season. But Elvira could not keep the momentum going, hitting into a greenside bunker on the playoff hole, a return to the 18th, and making a bogey to Hend’s birdie. Elvira will have to wait for the maiden victory some other day. In the meantime, we don’t blame him if he takes the Golf Gods Mother Nature’s name in vein.

The post Watch how this European Tour pro recovers after some horribly timed thunder hits in the middle of his swing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
He had to wait to claim the title at the Maybank Championship. Twice actually. But, in the end, it was worth it for Scott Hend. First, after a one-hour, 40-minute delay because of “dangerous weather” on the 72nd hole, the 45-year-old Florida-based Australian had returned to the 18th green at the Saujana Golf & Country Club in Kaula Lumpur to complete what looked like a fairly straightforward victory.

Maybe 25 feet away from the cup in three on the 569-yard par 5, Hend was 15 under par and one-shot clear of his playing partner, Nacho Elvira. The Spaniard was 30 feet or so out, also putting for birdie. And in it went. Two putts from Hend later, the European Tour had its first playoff of the 2018-’19 season.

The second test of Hend’s patience was a bit shorter. One hole to be exact. Bunkered off the tee on that same 18th, Elvira could do no better than par. And when the Aussie got up-and-down for birdie from a greenside bunker, he had his third career European Tour win.

“I had my mind on the job the whole time,” said the champion, who had lost two playoffs since his last victory at the 2016 Thailand Classic. “Nacho holed a magnificent putt to tie, which just shows that anything can happen in golf. I had to think he would hole it. But I still had a chance to win. I’m just glad it went my way.”

RELATED: Scott Hend purposely plays shot off grandstand, setting up an easy par

For the record, Hend shot a closing 67, overnight-leader Elvira 70. Jazz Janewattanond of Thailand was third alone on 13 under, with Oliver Fisher, the first and so far only man to shoot 59 on the European Tour, T-5 alongside Max Kieffer of Germany. Four-time major champion Ernie Els was one of a six-strong group tied for seventh. It was the 300th top-10 finish of the 49-year-old South African’s long professional career.

Of all the contenders though, Elvira was initially counting himself most unfortunate. Pitching to the 72nd green in what had rapidly turned into a torrential downpour, a loud clap of thunder disturbed the Spaniard’s backswing—the natural prelude to the lightning that left the tournament director with no alternative but to halt play—the ball coming up well short of its intended target. No matter. The putt that led to the playoff was never going anywhere else but the bottom of the cup.

Earlier, the leading pair had indulged in quite a battle. Elvira’s initial advantage was gone by the seventh green, the result of the big-hitting Hend’s four birdies to that point. One more birdie at the ninth saw the eventual champion out in 31 and ahead for the first time. Both men dropped their only shots of the day at the 10th, before another—predictable—Hend birdie at the par-5 13th established a two-shot edge that was halved by Elvira’s birdie at the penultimate hole.

He's done it!@hendygolf wins the 2019 Maybank Championship! ? pic.twitter.com/qZwGgSnIb3

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 24, 2019

The post Euro Tour veteran Scott Hend hangs on through thunderstorm, playoff to grab first title since 2016 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Hend, who had just birdied the par-3 17th to get to five under on the day, hit his second shot at Saujana Golf & Country Club’s par-5 18th well right and into some trees, leaving him with a tricky third shot into the green. With the pin in a position where he’d need to hit a high shot to get close, Hend was in trouble, because a lofted shot likely would have clipped some tree branches and/or possibly come up short in the bunker. He had to go low, which gave him no chance of getting the ball close. Or so we thought.

The two-time European Tour winner got very creative, pulling out a low iron and hitting a line-drive punch that caromed off the grandstand like a baseball off the right-field wall. The ball rolled back toward the pin and set up an easy two-putt par. Check it out:

He meant that! Off the backboard.

Amazing creativity from @hendygolf. pic.twitter.com/MNlxGl1BS5

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 23, 2019

Judging by Hend’s cheeky reaction, this was absolutely planned, something Hend confirmed on Twitter when asked:

Played that way…. 121m to base of grandstand….. play a 140m shot low into the boards and see if it will bounce back…. ??‍??‍??‍ seemed to work out ok. My caddie bounced many balls off the stand testing the bounce during practice.

— Scott Hend (@hendygolf) March 23, 2019

As you heard one of the announcers say, players had been practising this shot earlier in the week, but to see it done in tournament play and executed as well as Hend executed it is pretty wild.

Hend’s par capped off a third-round 67 that vaulted him up the leader board into a tie for fourth at 10 under. He’ll begin his final round on Sunday in Malaysia three back of Spain’s Nacho Elvira. If he can catch him, Hend could win for the first time since the True Thailand Classic in March of 2016. We’re guessing he’ll remember this bold play for a long time if he’s able to pull off the comeback.

The post European Tour pro purposely plays shot off grandstands behind the green, setting up easy par appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Matthew Baldwin’s week away from the MENA Tour couldn’t have gone much better.

Playing the European Tour’s Oman Open as reward for winning the MENA Tour’s season-opening Journey to Jordan-1, the 33-year-old Englishman pocketed €6,919 for a T-45 finish following a tough, weather-impacted week at Al Mouj Golf.

After a 70 to share 15th place following the opening round, the former European Tour regular would have eyed a higher finish in Muscat but wasn’t grumbling with rounds of 75-71-77 given the blustery conditions. He eventually finished on +5, 12 shots behind impressive American winner Kurt Kitayama.

Perhaps best of all, Baldwin has maintained pole-position in the race within the MENA Tour’s season-long Order of Merit (OOM) race to keep alive hopes of another European Tour start at the end of the month. But only just; the $18,000 he’s won from two starts to top the moneylist is a narrow $275 advantage over Australian Daniel Gaunt.

The leader of the MENA Tour OOM after the five-event ‘spring swing’ concludes in Bahrain next week will earn an invite to the $3 million Maybank Championship (March 21-24). That is all the motivation Baldwin needs on the eve of the $75,000 Troon Series – Dubai Open presented by Turkish Airlines at Dubai Hills Golf Club

With $13,500, three precious Official World Golf Ranking points and an invite to the Challenge Tour’s Slovakia Challenge (July 4-7) also up for grabs to the champion at this week’s 54-holer at Dubai Hills, Baldwin and co have much to play for.

Another great week for @OmanOpenGolf at Al Mouj Golf Club. Thanks very much to @theMENATour for the opportunity to play. Looking forward to pegging it up again this week at Dubai Hills! #OmanOpen #europeantour #menatour

— Matthew Baldwin (@mattbaldwin26) March 3, 2019

Gaunt, who finished solo fifth at Ghala after his emotional win in Ajman a fortnight ago, brings impressive form to the region’s newest course while Baldwin’s countryman Nick Marsh ($14,006) has also thrown his name into the Kuala Lumpur equation by winning last week’s Ghala Golf Club Open.

It’s not just the Malaysia Open invite that will have the leaders on tenterhooks; the top five players at the end of the spring swing will be rewarded with the second placed player headed to the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco (April 25-29), third to the new Jordan Mixed Open at Ayla G.C. (April 4-6) while Asian Tour invites to the Indonesian Masters (July 4-7) and Indonesian Open (Aug. 15-18) await the fourth and fifth-placed players respectively.

As well as the inevitable OOM snakes and ladders this week, there will be much interest in the performance of U.S.-bound Dubai amateur Rayhan Thomas who will make his second start of the season after a T-9 finish at the Troon Series-Al Zorah Open.

The 19-year-old, headed to Rickie Fowler’s old Oklahoma State University later in the year, described his golf in Ajman as “mediocre” despite the top-10.

“I am happy to be the leading amateur, but I obviously wanted to win the tournament. I know I could have contended for the title this week. It would have been nice to start the season with a win in your third tournament of the year,” Thomas said.

Thomas will undoubtedly serve as a marker for Englishman Curtis Knipes who leads the Amateur Order of Merit with 4442 points – 1667 points clear of Dubai-based 14-year-old Josh Hill.

Just like for Baldwin, the MENA Tour is also working for the Knipes and Hill given the World Amateur Golf Ranking points on offer.

Following the Troon Series – Al Zorah Open, Curtis Knipes and Josh Hill have achieved their highest-ever ranking on the @WAGR

And we are sure this is just the start of a long journey for these two talented amateurs.
#HarderBetterFasterStronger#JourneyToJordan pic.twitter.com/ertTETC7Y6

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) March 1, 2019

A total of 11 amateurs will tee it up in the Dubai Open which begins Tuesday with a 120-strong field.

Our #JourneyToJordan (Order of Merit) right now:
1.@mattbaldwin26
2.@Gauntgolf
3.@NickMarshgolf
4.E Jonasson
5.@RobinRoussel

These are the invites waiting after Bahrain.
1.Maybank C’ship
2.Trophee Hassan II
3.Jordan Mixed Open
4.@IndoMasters
5.Indonesian Open#HBFS

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) March 1, 2019

The post After making the cut in Oman, Baldwin eyes quick European Tour return as MENA Tour heads to Dubai Hills appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After what will be a near 16-month hiatus, the remodelled 10-tournament regional development circuit will be re-launched at Ayla Golf Club in Jordan from February 9-11.

But there are three key dates before the US$100,000 season opener which fronts a five-tournament spring swing in Jordan, Kuwait and Dubai (the five remaining events in an Oct.-Nov. autumn window will be announced along with the tour’s first naming rights sponsor and a major co-sanctioning agreement soon).

Key among the three pre-season events is a 36-hole qualifier in January from which the top three players will go on to contest the 30th Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club from Jan. 24-27.

The ‘2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic Shootout’, to be held at Dubai Hills on Jan. 20-21, is a coup in that will not only assist in rekindling stalled public interest in the MENA Tour but ensures the tour’s membership more than the clichéd “stairway to stardom” peddled in the new season PR. In another nod to regional development, the top-10 players on the second tier UAE PGA Tour will be invited to play the shootout alongside the top-60 players exempted from the 2017 MENA Tour order of merit (OOM) and the first 50 players who signed up for January’s Q-School.

Related: WIN a four-ball at Dubai Hills Golf Club!

There will also be an invite to the European Tour’s Maybank Championship at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur from March 21-24 for the OOM leader after the five spring events. Indeed, the top five players on the money list at the halfway stage of the 2019 MENA Tour season will be rewarded; the second placed player will tee it up in the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco from April 25-29, the third-placed player earns automatic entry into the new Jordan Mixed Open at Ayla G.C. from April 4-6 while the fourth and fifth players will be headed to the Asian Tour’s Indonesian Masters from July 4-7.

Increased prize funds for every event, on-going Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status, perfect weather and the prime conditioning of courses on the schedule has ensured there has been no drop-off in interest from budding touring pros despite the season-long hiatus.

So much so, an oversubscribed entry list for Q-School has prompted organisers to arrange two separate qualifiers at Ayla immediately proceeding the 2019 season bow at the same club – from Jan. 29-Feb. 1 (category A) and Feb. 2-5 (category B) – to accommodate the overflowing, global entry list.

After Q-School, the tour will bounce around the region for five events in a month – at Ayla G.C. (Feb. 9-11), Al Zorah G.C. in Ajman (Feb. 19-21), Dubai (course TBC; Feb. 26-28), Sahara Kuwait Resort (March 3-7) and Dubai (course TBC; March 12-14).

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Henric Sturehed won the last MENA Tour event, the tour championship at Al Zorah, in October 2017. The Swede and since gone on to contend on the European Tour.

The minimum prize fund on offer each week will be $75,000, an increase of 50 per cent from previous $50,000, with at least three tournaments to boast $100,000 purses.

“We have listened to our members on various issues and used this hiatus of one year to ensure that we not only have a strong, financially viable Tour with streamlined operation and logistics, but also one that makes it easier for our members to participate and excel,” said new MENA Tour general manager Robbie Williams.

“The Qualifying School at Ayla Golf Club is our first step in a new journey, one which is going to be very exciting for the players and the industry in the region. The response so far has been fantastic. Even before we announced any dates, we have had over 600 registered interests by golfers from across the globe about our plans for 2019 and beyond.”

The MENA Tour’s new 2019 logo.

Established in 2011 by the Sheikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the MENA Tour is one of 20 global Tours recognised by the OWGR. It global recognition makes it a genuine pathway for players in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond to events like the Olympic Games and other major championships.

Rayhan Thomas, who became a poster-boy for the MENA Tour when he won the 2017 Dubai Creek Open and last weekend secured his second professional title as an amateur, has committed to playing much of the spring schedule before taking up a scholarship at Rickie Fowler’s alma mater, Oklahoma State University.

For more information on Q-School, the ‘2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic Shootout’ and new-look spring schedule, visit menatour.golf

The post Dubai Hills-Desert Classic prelude to new-look MENA Tour schedule; another European Tour opportunity for UAE PGA brethren  appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
It is not a name many golf fans outside Asia are familiar with. Not yet anyway. But the time has surely come to take note of Shubhankar Sharma. Only 13 events into his European Tour career, the 21-year-old Indian now has two victories—one more than his number of missed cuts.

Just two months on from his first win at the Johannesburg Open, the man who is likely golf’s best-performing vegetarian added the Maybank Championship to his suddenly burgeoning resume.

He did it in some style, too. After surviving the halfway cut at the Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur by a single stroke, Sharma shot 66-62 over the weekend to reach 21 under par and achieve a two-stroke edge over runner-up Jorge Campillo of Spain. Ryan Fox of New Zealand and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal tied for third, three shots behind Sharma.   

The best of Sharma's winning round in 90 seconds.#MaybankChampionship pic.twitter.com/u81jDovhp0

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 4, 2018

For his trouble, Sharma collected $500,000 and, by way of bonuses, clinched a place in the upcoming WGC-Mexico Championship as well as moving to the top of the Race to Dubai rankings. Heady stuff for a golfer who, only three weeks before his maiden victory, finished T-68 at the European Tour Qualifying School.

Sharma’s closing round on Sunday—four strokes better than anyone else in the field managed over the closing 18 holes—included 10 birdies, no dropped shots and set an early target none of the previously more prominent contenders came close to matching. Understandably, Sharma was more than excited—and talkative—at the close.

“That win in Johannesburg [which guaranteed him a spot in this year’s Open Championship at Carnoustie] helped me a lot today,” he said. “The way I played there gave me a lot of confidence. I was not under any pressure. I was a few groups ahead and no one was really watching me. The way I finished [five birdies in his last eight holes] was fantastic. Nothing went wrong.

“I played pretty solid and it wasn’t easy because it was windy. I kept pushing the whole day. I knew I had to make a lot birdies to catch the leaders. I made a lot of birdies on the front nine and just continued on the back. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about the leader board. I wanted to set a target in my mind and try to achieve it.

“On the 13th, I knew I was somewhere near the leaders, but on 16 I knew I had a two-shot lead. I told myself if I can make two more birdies, that would give me a good chance to win. The last two months have changed my life. Even playing in the Q-school gave me confidence, although I didn’t get my card. And, having made the cut in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, I have made a good start to this year. I really wanted to make the WGC-Mexico. I knew I needed a good week here. A lot of doors will open for me now.”

The post With two wins in 13 starts, meet the European Tour’s latest 21-year-old prodigy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.