Dubai-based Joe Heraty has already tasted success on the golfing scene recently — and now he is targeting bigger things.

The Englishman made history as he claimed the win in the first-ever Mena Tour event held on Malaysian soil earlier this month — and now he has set his sights on the upcoming ‘home’ Challenge Tour double-header in Abu Dhabi.

Heraty went into the final day at the The Els Club Desaru Coast Mena event with a one-stroke lead and turned on the style to close out a nine-under, three-stroke victory over Malaysian Paul San and Italian Arron Zemmer.

Next up is the two events back-to-back in the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Challenge at Abu Dhabi Golf Club (April 27-30) and the UAE Challenge at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club (May 4-7), and Heraty goes into the Challenge Tour fortnight in Abu Dhabi with a renewed sense of confidence and ambition.

“I used to live in Abu Dhabi and cut my teeth here as a player assistant at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on an internship many years ago and it is great to be back on home soil for the Challenge Tour events,” Heraty told Golf Digest Middle East.

“I don’t actually have a status on the Challenge Tour and I will be competing on an invitation from Emirates Golf Federation and representing my Dubai club, the Montgomerie.

“But I am coming in with great confidence after my win in Malaysia on the Mena Tour and have played many Asian Tour events.

“My goals are to gain full status on the Asian Tour and possibly go for my DP World Tour card through Q-School and get my world ranking [currently 1,186] down.”

While Heraty turned professional seven years ago, this is something of a new beginning for the 31-year-old as he is starting out again after an extended break due to Covid.

“I moved back to the UAE, this time Dubai, from England last August and I am getting back into things again,” he explained. “I had something like a three-year break and I was actually caddieing on the DP World Tour and on the Ladies European Tour. Then I thought, I’m ready to play again, and got back out there, and it has gone from strength to strength. My win in Malaysia shows I can still compete and I have been given a lot of support.

 

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“I have kept quite calm. I said to the guys I was rooming with before the final round in Malaysia that I wasn’t nervous, and I put in a great round. I went into the final day with a one-stroke lead and, while there weren’t any leaderboards on the course — you had to just focus on your own game — I kept tabs on those closest to me and knew towards the end I could get over the line.”

Heraty has tasted success in the Middle East before, winning the inaugural Sahara Kuwait Championship in 2016, but the golfing scene in Asia and the Middle East is much changed now from when Heraty took his break, with massive investment in the game from Golf Saudi raising the Asian Tour off its knees to elite level, with much-improved purses on offer and bigger, better global destinations on the schedule.

“My game is much more suited to Asia and the Middle East than Europe so I love playing out here,” he said. “It is great what LIV Golf Investments have done with their investments. The standard of courses has got higher, the fields are stronger and the prizes are bigger. The Asian region as a whole has been massively boosted over the past 12 months or so.

“To get my full card on the Asian Tour would be brilliant so I can compete in all the events and get to play in all the destinations now on offer.”

The post Heraty sets sights on new Challenge at ‘home’ as double-header comes to Abu Dhabi appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Four-event ‘Beautiful Thailand Swing’ takes place in May in Phuket after Covid-enforced hiatus

By GolfDigestME.com
After 25 challenging months and a pair of unavoidable false starts, the MENA Tour is back with a brighter than ever outlook.

The Middle East and North Africa developmental circuit will return to post-pandemic action via a four-event ‘Beautiful Thailand Swing’ next month with each of the 54-hole, US$75,000 tournaments to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

The Laguna Phuket Challenge (May 3-5), Laguna Phuket Cup (May 8-10), Blue Canyon Classic (May 13-15) and Blue Canyon Open will conclude the MENA Tour’s now rejigged 2020+ ‘Journey to Jordan’ season which will eventually span nine events, six countries and more than two years.

Incentives are available to MENA Tour members who tee it up in Phuket, chief among them an invite to one of the Asian Tour’s 10 new marquee US$1.5 million-plus International Series events in 2022.

That opportunity will be awarded to the overall Journey to Jordan Order-of-Merit champion at the completion of the Blue Canyon Open, the ninth and final event of the season. The top 10 available Oder of Merit players will also earn invites to the next two ADT events, after which the ADT will conduct its own re-ranking — meaning potential promotion to the main Asian Tour. In addition, the top 10 players in the Journey to Jordan rankings will also be exempted to the final stage of Asian Tour Q-School for the 2023 Asian Tour season.

Co-hosted by Laguna Golf Phuket and Blue Canyon Country Club, the Beautiful Thailand Swing is the first tangible outcome of the strategic alliance announced by the Asian and MENA Tours in December. A full merger of the MENA Tour and ADT is mooted from 2023.

Blue Canyon Country Club

MENA Tour Commissioner David Spencer said the Beautiful Thailand Swing incentives, especially when coupled with impending changes to the Official World Golf Rankings, underline the importance of the alliance with the Asian Tour.

“The OWGR changes [which come into effect in August] are particularly important to development tours because there will be no minimum OWGR points awarded to any tour. This will make pathways to the top tier tours more difficult for players in the lower positions on the OWGR,” said Spencer.

“We believe that the new OWGR regulations are fair but we are also very cognisant of how a player progresses. This vital progression very simply boils down to playing opportunities on OWGR tours and once we were made aware of the new OWGR regulations, we felt compelled to further align ourselves with one of the top tier tours.”

A MENA Tour player could conceivably tee it up in Phuket, secure an International Series start and eventually find themselves playing in one of the eight new $25 million prize purse LIV Golf Invitational Series events, the recently announced Saudi-backed league fronted by Greg Norman.

“We will continue to work more closely with the Asian Tour as there is absolutely no doubt that our combined vision will provide players with the clearest and most defined development pathway in the world of professional golf outside of the USA,” said Spencer.

Ryan Lumsden won the last MENA Tour event, the Journey to Jordan 2 Championship held at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba in early March, 2020. The $13,500 pay day propelled the Scottish professional up to third in the 2020+ Journey to Jordan standings behind a pair of Englishmen, David Langley and David Hague.

Attempts were twice made to restart the circuit in a bio-secure bubble at Ayla Oasis, the MENA Tour’s destination partner. However, on-going travel restrictions made a resumption impossible until now.

To further assist players starved of playing opportunities since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MENA Tour has dramatically reduced entry fees to $50 for each of the four Beautiful Thailand Swing events. The Phuket swing has also been confined to a compact three-week window to help players contain costs.

2022 and Beyond

Spencer has also outlined plans for the 2022 MENA Tour season with an initial October-December schedule featuring a “strong focus in the MENA region” to be released in due course.

All current MENA Tour members will be automatically eligible to re-join the tour for the 2022 season with the OWGR confirming traditional Q-School requirements have been waived this year due to the impacts of COVID-19.

“Obviously, the world is a different place since the pandemic began and we have had to try and figure out how to best adapt and pivot the MENA Tour,” Spencer said.

“At times we know this has been frustrating but I know all our members will be buoyed by the fact we have always been working to try and improve the tour we created back in 2011.”

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The post MENA Tour returns to action in Thailand alongside Asian Development Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 35-year-old MENA Tour regular visited Riyadh’s Tarbiyah Namouthajiyah School in December with the Saudi International trophy and turned teacher as part of Golf Saudi’s push to introduce children to the game. Other star players will tag in at other schools in the countdown to the Asian Tour’s new $5 million flagship event from Feb. 3-6.

“I hope to see a new generation of both male and female golfers representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia across the globe,” said Almulla who led SNAG (‘Starting New At Golf’) lessons.

“We had a great opportunity today to share insights about golf, and particularly the important role that the Saudi International plays in promoting the sport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is just the first step in many big steps coming to tell the community about the sport that I love.

“I think the sport of golf is unique because it gives you an experience to test yourself every day. It teaches you patience, perseverance in tough conditions and resilience. While most sports do that as well, the tests that you see on the course are very similar to the ones these students have to get past in life.”

The innovative and globally accepted SNAG certification programme includes all the basics of golf, helping beginners build skills. It can be played both indoors and outdoors, ensuring anyone can learn, play, and teach golf – alongside the sport’s core values.  

Golf Saudi is spearheading one of the world’s most progressive golf development strategies, with its Mass Participation programme forming the cornerstone of this strategy. The programme remains a top priority for the organisation as it seeks to attract and inspire the next generation of Saudis to take up the game and develop future homegrown champions. Ahead of 2025, Golf Saudi has targeted the creation of 2,200 jobs and developing approximately 29,000 new golfers.

“Our goal is always to bring golf to as many Saudis as possible,” said Golf Saudi CEO Majed Al Sorour.

“We want to give young people an opportunity to develop skills and highlight golf’s unique values that can aid their development – both in future careers and their everyday lives. Excitement is building towards our biggest ever Saudi International that will continue to impact the golfing landscape here and inspire more nationals than ever to engage in this amazing sport.”

The post Golf Saudi target schools in dual mission to grow game and raise awareness of Saudi International appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Based on a collective desire to consolidate their respective platforms, this new alliance will see the Asian Tour’s popular tier-two circuit, the Asian Development Tour (ADT), align with the MENA Tour ‒ with the ultimate goal of merging in 2023.

Next year will be a season of transition with the intention to stage a number of ADT and MENA Tour co-sanctioned tournaments before the end of Q2, which will provide equal playing opportunities to both sets of Members.

And, in 2023 the ADT and MENA Tour will then unify to become a single and formidable platform from which players can graduate to the main Tour. Competitors will be able to access the new development tour through the Asian Tour Qualifying School.

“We want to create an amplified pan-Asian development pathway by 2023 feeding directly into the Asian Tour,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour.

“The Asian Development Tour has always been an intrinsic part of our ecosystem and this new partnership with our friends at the MENA Tour is a forward-thinking statement of intent to build a combined property for the betterment of professional golf across the length and breadth of our region.”

Earlier in the year both Tours announced plans to increase dialogue on ways of working together but as tournament golf in the region has slowly started to return, they felt the time was right to accelerate their co-operative plans.

“This is the most significant development for the MENA Tour since its inception in 2011,” said David Spencer, Commissioner, MENA Tour.

“As the only Official World Golf Ranking Tour based in the Middle East our goal has always been to encourage, identify and nurture talent from all corners of the world to experience golf in the region which we are so proud of. We have worked closely with the Asian Tour, Cho Minn Thant and his team to create an alliance that underpins a unique and strong pathway for our members. We are intensely proud of our new alliance with the Asian Tour, and I look forward to seeing it flourish over the coming years.”

The Asian Development Tour is hoping to stage 10-12 events in 2022 ‒ an important number of these with the MENA Tour. Dialogue and strategic planning will now continue at pace with the objective to optimise opportunities for all players and where possible try to minimise the amount of travel between tournaments to make it cost-effective and safer for competitors.

The Asian Tour restarted last month with back-to-back events in Phuket which saw invitations to MENA Tour members at the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship and Laguna Phuket Championship.

Further invitations have been extended to MENA Tour members for next month’s The Singapore International ‒ the penultimate event of the 2020-21 season.

The post Asian Tour and MENA Tour form strategic partnership with aim of full merger in 2023 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It was a fittingly dramatic finish to the second edition of the WAGR-sanctioned event but not half as clutch as the wild par the 17-year-old conjured up on Thursday to capture the 54-hole title for a second time in three years and book his return to the $8 million DP World Tour event next month.

It was all tied up at -9 with Denmark’s Frederick Birkelund heading down the last at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club when Hill’s title hopes seemed lost courtesy of a tugged drive left that his father Russell described as “…so wide and dead”.

And then the Trump International Golf Club, Dubai member produced this miraculous recovery shot from the desert. Check. It. Out. (we suggest going to full-screen mode and urge you to wait for the ball to emerge, seemingly from thin air) :

 

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Anyone who has ever played golf in the UAE knows how difficult shots are from wasteland, much less from the particularly gnarly lie that confronted Hill. And don’t forget all that wetness beyond that demanded absolute pin-point accuracy. Russell Hill provided a proud father commentary on his Instagram feed.

“Josh hit one of the most incredible golf shots I have ever seen today, SEVE Would have been proud of it himself,” Hill Snr wrote.

“Was tied for the lead going up the last hole, from the tee he left himself so wide and dead, he was in the desert behind a grass lump had about 25 yards to clear, of desert, cart path and rough and he had to land it in the fringe on a knuckle. If it landed left side it would have gone 15 yards away from the hole, to far right it would have kicked into the water and if to long it could have been wet… he landed it in a foot window and it rolled past the hole to eight foot, absolutely friggin stunning! It was so clutch it won him the title!”

Indeed, while Birkelund bogeyed, Hill two-putted for par to sign for a closing 72 to go with earlier rounds of 66-69 and a championship-winning 207 aggregate. His -9 total edged the Dane by a stroke with India’s Yash Majmudar third on 210 while Dubai-based Welsh international Toby Bishop and Victor Svendsen (DEN) finished T-4 a shot further back.

The victory sets up a third DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) start for Hill who will rub shoulders with the likes of Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy at the 17th Abu Dhabi Championship, a Rolex Series event to be hosted by Yas Links Abu Dhabi for the first time from Jan.20-23.

Hill has coincidently finished T-117 in both his previous DP World Tour starts, carding rounds of 74-76 around Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National layout in 2020, a week before a pair of 77s also saw him miss the cut at the Dubai Desert Classic. He earned the invite to ‘Major of the Middle East’ after topping the MENA Tour’s amateur Journey to Jordan OOM title during a stellar 2019. Hill became the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking event that season when he captured the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open and has since gone on to gain selection to the senior England amateur team for the coveted Home Internationals.

The post With ‘Seve’-Esque par from ‘dead’ lie, Josh Hill is the epitome of clutch and on his way back to the DP World Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joy Chakravarty
Freshly-minted Hero World Challenge champion Viktor Hovland has given a glowing appraisal of Dubai-based amateur Rayhan Thomas.

The 24-year-old Hovland is an Oklahoma State University alumnus and remains a regular at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, the home base of the OSU Cowboys, even two years after turning pro. The Norwegian, who climbed to world No.7 following his win in the Bahamas, also has his residence there.

Thomas, who became the first amateur to win on the MENA Tour (2016 Dubai Creek Open) and was tied second at the 2018 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, joined OSU in 2019. But he struggled with his swing for more than a year and spent most of his time in the driving range and sidelines watching his teammates continue to add to the legacy of such stars as Hovland and Matthew Wolff.

RELATED: Dubai prodigy Rayhan Thomas reveals ‘mental and physical’ toll of his return from rock bottom

In his quest to get back his swing, the 21-year-old decided not to come home to Dubai in the summer of 2021, playing tournaments and putting in the reps in the US. He played several rounds with Hovland over the period, feeding on the experience of the three-time PGA Tour champion, and forging a strong bond with the Norwegian.

The move is now paying dividends as Thomas has had several encouraging outings in the past couple of months. He played a key role in OSU finishing second at the season-ending East Lake Cup and was second in his last individual event – the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate. Having dropped down close to 2,000th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, his recent form has helped him climb to No. 951.

Thomas believes his best in college golf is yet to come, and from what he has seen, Hovland has complete faith in the Indian.

Photo by Joy Chakravarty.

“I think he is having a good year, and I think he has a really good future,” said Hovland speaking exclusively to Golf Digest Middle East during the Hero World Challenge in Bahamas.

“He is such a fun guy to be around and he has got a very good head on his shoulders. He is still very young, but speaks very eloquently and thinks about everything that he does. He goes about his business with purpose, and he is pretty smart.

“You know, he struggled a little bit early in his first year in college, but it was really nice to see him kind of get into a rhythm and start playing well at the end of this year.

“I think he is pretty motivated too. He keeps working hard and I see no reason why he should not have a great year.”

Having spent his years with coach Alan Bratton and his team at one of the most successful college golf programmes, Hovland says he completely understands what Thomas has gone through in the first couple of years.

“He is not the only player at Oklahoma State to have struggled. Karsten Creek is a tough place. It is one of the most prestigious golf programmes in the State. There are a lot of things that put pressure on you. When you are part of such a team, you just want to play well so badly. And there are times when it just doesn’t work out. We have had a lot of success, but unfortunately, we also have a lot of experience of players struggling as well,” explained Hovland.

“But then again, our struggles help us kind of know more about ourselves. It’s all about the team telling him the right things and making him comfortable, making him relaxed. He is very well-liked by Coach Bratton and he is working on good things, and eventually, his game is gonna turn around.”

Thomas had earlier told Golf Digest Middle East that Hovland had become a mentor for him and he seeks a lot of advice from the PGA Tour star.

“Yeah…that’s one thing I like about him. He keeps asking questions. We speak a lot, but it’s not like just golf stuff. Swing advice is probably not the best advice I can give, but it’s things like asking about how life on tour is, how do you think mentally in a certain situation. The small things. He seems like he listens and asks more questions. And that’s good,” said Hovland.

Thomas is back in Duba for his winter break.

The post Viktor Hovland backs fellow OSU Cowboy Rayhan Thomas to have ‘great year’ in 2022 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Golf’s worst-kept secret has finally been confirmed, at least partially, with Greg Norman formally linked to a Saudi investment fund with still largely guarded but seemingly well-advanced plans to revolutionise the pro game worldwide.

Norman was unveiled on Friday as the CEO of LIV Golf Investments in a media release promising a series of “momentous developments” in the wake of the company’s formation.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds which came into sharp focus with its recent acquisition of English Premier League club Newcastle United, is the majority shareholder in the new company.

While there was no reference to the rival circuit that Norman has long been linked to, sources have confirmed to Golf Digest Middle East that the former world No.1 and World Golf Hall of Famer will also be Commissioner of a pioneering league with bold and global ambitions.

Rory McIlroy rebuffed Saudi overtures with a “For me, I’m out,” quote in Feb. 2020.
(Photo: Christian Petersen)

Whether there is enough commercial gravitas and emotional hooks in the plans to change the mind of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and/or Brooks Koepka – all of whom have previously rebuffed Saudi overtures – remains to be seen. But sources understand the league will go ahead regardless with Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Paul Casey and Koepka previously linked to formal offer letters worth “hundreds of millions of dollars”. Be sure that Liv Golf Investments firming plans will have further heightened blood pressures at the PGA and European Tours HQs and undoubtedly further roused their respective legal eagles.

Sources have also linked the stagnant Asian Tour to the still highly secretive league, no great stretch given the circuit was confirmed on Friday as the first major benefactor of the Saudi cash injection.

The retort to Friday’s announcement from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and European Tour counterpart Keith Pelley will be fascinating.
(Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

A series of 10 “marquee” events will be bolted onto the Asian Tour schedule from 2022 courtesy of a 10-year, $200 million investment from the Liv Golf Investments. The new events will be broadcast globally in an effort to “stabilise” the professional game in the Asia-Pacific region and “unlock” the region’s “untapped potential”.

RELATED: The Asian and MENA Tours are planning a joint development circuit to rival PGA Tour’s Korn Ferry feeder

“This is only the beginning,” Norman said in the statement before an attempt to position the company’s formation as no threat to golf’s traditional stakeholders.

“LIV Golf Investments has secured a major capital commitment that will be used to create additive new opportunities across worldwide professional golf,” Norman continued.“We will be a cooperative and respectful supporter of the game at every level, and today’s announcement alongside the Asian Tour is the first example of that.”

“We will be a cooperative and respectful supporter of the game at every level.” – Greg Norman.

There has been widespread speculation that the now-named Saudi investors might purchase the Asian Tour outright but Golf Digest Middle East understands that total acquisition was never on the table and that Liv Golf Investments will seek only to position themselves as promoters of the 10 events. While further detail is to come via the Asian Tour, simple math points to a series of 10, $2 million events annually, a boon for a tour Norman regularly graced throughout his career and now describes as a “sleeping giant” of the global game. Before the pandemic stalled the Asian Tour in March 2020, there was only one tournament dating back to 2019 with a prize purse north of $1.75m– the $3 million Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

“I have been a staunch supporter and believer in playing and developing golf in Asia for more than four decades. The Asian Tour is a sleeping giant and we share ambition to grow the series and unlock what we believe is significant untapped potential,” the Australian said.

“We see our promotion of these new events as a vital first step in supporting emerging markets, creating a new platform, rich with playing opportunities that create valuable player pathways.”

Dustin Johnson has won two of the thus far three Saudi International events in KAEC near Jeddah. The event has switched from the European Tour to become the Asian Tour’s new “flagship” season-opener in 2022.

The exciting news for Middle East fans is that the region will host at least one of the new Asia Tour events. Surprisingly, it won’t be the Saudi International which was announced as the Asia Tour’s flagship event and 2022 season-opener with a $5 million purse last month. That landmark 10-year deal with Golf Saudi is separate from the 10 new “marquee” events although the Saudi International will embrace the same open eligibility category, one that will ignore tour affiliation so that “opportunities are available to the broadest cross-section of players.”

RELATED: Saudi International aligns with Asian Tour in seismic 10-year deal

Tournaments in Asia and Europe are also promised among the 10 new events which will count towards the overall Asian Tour order of merit.  They will be weaved into new 25-event schedule to bolster a “backbone” of already established events. It is understood the new schedule will represent a record-breaking combined prize-fund in 2022.

Friday’s media release said further detail, “including a reveal of the brand and series name” would follow in the “near future”.

“This is the single biggest development in the history of the Asian Tour and a major milestone for professional golf,” said Cho Minn Thant, the Asian Tour’s Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer.

“The opportunity will secure unprecedented new playing opportunities, establish new player pathways, allow us to compete commercially with other sports, and enhance our social agenda.

Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour/Asian Tour via Getty Image
Asian Tour chief Cho Minn Thant

“We are particularly excited at the prospect today’s landmark announcement brings to the amateur game, providing new inspiration to aspiring players through a new level of top-flight professional competition in the region.”

The Asian Tour’s suspended 2020/21 season will be reignited in Thailand in November and December with the staging to of two tournaments, before two additional events in Singapore scheduled for January.

Friday’s media release also said LIV Golf Investments “has been established with group companies in the USA, UK, with Asian offices to follow. Several high-profile C-Suite executives have already been appointed, with further announcements to follow in due course.”

“I am pleased that the investor base is 100 percent commercially driven by the opportunity to improve golf for all involved. I am happy to partner with this group of investors to bring the significant resources to bear that are necessary for the fundamental changes required for the greater good of the sport,” Norman said.

“Plans are in place to introduce further investment partners, who share the passion and belief in how new opportunities in professional golf can create widespread benefit for fans and players.”

The post Saudi investment company confirm Greg Norman as CEO, plough $200m into revitalised Asian Tour with promised Middle East events appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After more than a year of behind-the-scenes collaboration, MENA Tour Commissioner David Spencer confirmed on Wednesday the regional developmental circuit is close to finalising a game-changing partnership with the Singapore-based Asian Tour.

The blueprint is to “mould” the MENA and the Asian Development Tours into the “most comprehensive and innovative development tour in men’s professional golf, outside of the United States”.

Just as the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour is the feeder circuit to the PGA Tour, the MENA/Asian DT offshoot will provide a pathway to a re-energised Asian Tour, the details of which are soon be revealed after the circuit was put on ice following the outbreak of COVID-19.

While the PGA Tour’s historic strategic alliance with the European Tour (announced Nov. 27) has been the most significant development in the world of golf since the outbreak of the pandemic, the quiet manoeuvrings of the Asian Tour should not be underestimated.

Sources continue to hint at a link to Golf Saudi and more loosely with the cash-rich, Kingdom-backed Super Golf League, the demise of which appears to have been hastily reported.

The MENA Tour, via the Asian Tour partnership, has decided to back the ambitious Saudi plan to reinvent the professional game. A major powerbroker in the shake-up is young Asian Tour Commissioner and CEO, Cho Minn Thant. He was promoted to the top job in July 2019 after more than a decade working several key roles with the organisation, most recently as Chief Operating Officer.

“I’ve long been keen on seeing golf harness some younger administrators. Cho has clearly articulated his vision for the Asian Tour and I believe in his vision,” Spencer said.

“I’ve always wanted to find the MENA Tour the right home and partner and I believe this is it. And this is just the beginning.”

Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour/Asian Tour via Getty Image
Asian Tour chief Cho Minn Thant tees off in the Pro-Am ahead of the 2019 Panasonic Open India in Gurgaon.

Spencer is convinced just announced changes to how the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) will be calculated from August 2022 will make it harder for players to graduate from the Korn Ferry and Challenge Tours to the PGA and European Tours respectively and could even kill off many smaller development circuits around the globe. The PGA-European Tour alliance is also likely to limit playing opportunties, further narrowing the pathway to the elite level for the game’s next generation. That double-whammy has the Thai-based Australian administrator convinved a combined MENA-Asia Development Tour will be a boon for the region’s best up and coming talent.

“Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make the perfect omelette,” he said.

Golf Digest Middle East understands a schedule of between 12-15 events, including tournaments in the Middle East, is likely in 2021-2022 and could build to a maximum of 25 events over time. The goal, as opposed to a packed schedule, is richer prize purses than previous US$75,000 MENA Tour events, cheaper entry fees and more opportunities at the elite level, firstly on the Asian Tour and, presumably, the Super Golf League if it takes flight.

“To be clear, what we are putting together is not going to be perfect straight away, especially not in what is something of a transitional year as we mould the tours together,” Spencer said. “But as we’ve always strived to do, we’ll eventually get to perfect or as close as we possibly can.”

Wednesday’s announcement comes after two failed attempts to reschedule the five 2020 events postponed when the MENA Tour shut down on March 4 last year, and to play a full 2021 schedule after that. The first plan included a lock-in at the tour’s destination partner, Ayla Resort in Aqaba, Jordan, the second a wider travelling bubble taking in Jordan, Oman and the UAE.

David Spencer

Now it seems likely events as early as December are on the cards as part of a new, more powerful joint tour. What Spencer did guarantee is that all members of the MENA Tour in 2020/21 will be able to renew their membership for 2022 and there will not be a Q-School until later in the 2022 calendar for the 2023 season.

“Cho has been working tirelessly since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect his tour and create an even better future for his players. He realises that a tour must demonstrate and invest in a clear pathway to attract players and provide them with a future.

“It is because of this vision and set of beliefs that the MENA Tour and the Asian Development Tour will escalate dialogue to create the most comprehensive and innovative development tour in men’s professional golf, outside of the United States, to inspire the next generation and to be an expanded development pathway to the Asian Tour and beyond.”

The post The Asian and MENA Tours are planning a joint development circuit to rival PGA Tour’s Korn Ferry feeder appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Chalk it up as a tough but invaluable learning experience even if you know Josh Hill would have taken it a little more personally than that in the moment.

The 17-year-old Trump Dubai member’s Jacques Léglise Trophy debut ended in galling fashion on Saturday, a 1down loss to Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy proving the title-clinching point for Team Europe in the annual U-18 international matches.

Europe eventually waltzed away to a 16½-8½ victory at Falsterbo Golf Club in Sweden, an emphatic defence of the title after leading by a single point after the first day. While you win as a team and lose as one as well, the ever-competitive Hill won’t be happy to have played in the match which proved a point of no return for Great Britain & Ireland. That instinct is what makes Hill one of the players of his generation.

There was minor consolation earlier on Saturday when the MENA Tour winner combined with England teammate Jack Bigham for a half against Tiger Christensen and Yannick Malik. That followed a 2&1 loss to the same European duo in Friday morning’s foursomes.

 

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But with Englishman Harley Smith and Scot Cameron Adam the only GB&I players to win their final afternoon singles matches (Irishman Joshua Hill secured a half), it was Europe’s day.

The win followed Europe’s 15½-9½ victory at Aldeburgh Golf Club in 2019 (the 2020 matches was postponed due to COVID-19) and narrows the overall Jacques Léglise Trophy ledger 29-14 in GB&I favour with one match halved.

Hill now returns to the UK to prepare for his senior international debut, having been selected in an 11-man team for England’s defence of the open Home Internationals title at Hankley Common Golf Club in Surrey from September 15-17.

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By Kent Gray
Josh Hill’s already memorable UK summer has gone for good to great with his call-up to the full England national men’s amateur golf team for the first time.

The 17-year-old MENA Tour prodigy has been selected in the 11-strong side for England’s defence of the senior Home Internationals title at Hankley Common Golf Club in Surrey from September 15-17.

It comes after the Trump International Golf Club, Dubai member helped England capture the U-18 Boys’ Home Internationals with 5½ of a possible six points at Woodhall Spa earlier this month before capturing U-20 honours at last weekend’s Brabazon Trophy (England Open Strokeplay Championship) where he eventually finished T-12.

Hill’s proud father summed up the Dubai-based family’s excitement in a social media post: “Another great honour for Josh being asked to represent England in the Men’s Home internationals! Was unexpected but it’s friggin awesome! Congratulations Josh!”

 

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Hill Jnr. won’t have long to dwell on another career-high as he prepares for the Jacques Léglise Trophy starting at Falsterbo Golf Club in Sweden on Friday. He’s one of nine Great Britain and Ireland players hoping to prevent Europe from winning the coveted annual U-18 matches for a second successive edition.

The England senior team features newly crowned Brabazon Trophy winner Sam Bairstow, Amateur champion Laird Shepherd and English Amateur champion John Gough, as well as Hill and Jack Bigham who make the step-up from the U-18 Boys’ team and forming a deadly partnership at Woodhall Spa

Together the pair won all three of their foursomes matches at Woodhall Spa and Hill was only denied a perfect record after being held to a half by Ireland’s Thomas Higgins in his opening singles match.

The full England lineup is:

Sam Bairstow (Hallowes GC, Yorkshire)
Callan Barrow (Royal Lytham & St Annes GC, Lancashire)
Jack Bigham (Harpenden GC, Hertfordshire)
Zachary Chegwidden (Orsett GC, Essex)
Jack Dyer (Boyce Hill GC, Essex)
Arron Edwards-Hill (Chelmsford GC, Essex)
John Gough (Stoke Park GC, Buckinghamshire)
Josh Hill (Trump International Dubai)
Olly Huggins (Frilford Heath GC, BB&O)
Haider Hussain (The Kendleshire, Gloucestershire)
Laird Shepherd (Rye GC, Sussex)

1st Reserve: Jack Brooks (The Mere, Cheshire)
2nd Reserve: Joe Harvey (The Kendleshire, Gloucestershire)

Hill’s graduation to the senior England team caps a fine summer highlighted by a share of 4th at the St Andrews Links Trophy where he narrowly missed a playoff, as well as his George Henriques Salver win at the Brabazon Trophy as the top GB&I player under the age of 20, a prize he shared with England colleague Frank Kennedy.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a loss of form saw Hill miss England Boys’ selection last summer following his amateur career-defining win at the MENA Tour’s Al Ain Open in 2019 where he became the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking event. But he’s more than made up for the temporary blip during a summer campaign where’d he’s churned out impressive results despite often not bringing his A-game to the table.

He’ll hope to repay the England selectors’ faith at Hankley Common G.C. where Wales, Ireland and Scotland await. The Home Internationals are played in a round-robin format over three days with each match comprising five-morning foursomes and 10-afternoon singles.

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