Interview by Kent Gray
After more than a year in a restructuring hiatus, the MENA Tour has come back better than ever before in 2019. You must be delighted with how the season has panned out?
Absolutely! I’m thrilled with the progress of the tour. Especially this season with all the new young talent. It has been exciting to follow.

• • •

There have been some compelling storylines in 2019 but clearly the wins by amateurs Robin Williams and Josh Hill stand out. It’s been great for the teens and the tour as a whole hasn’t it?
I am very proud of Robin and Josh; they have both had a tremendous season thus far and we are all looking forward to how the final goes in Jordan. It’s an amazing opportunity for amateur players to join the tour for this exact reason.

• • •

What has been the standout moment for you as a sponsor and also from a personal viewpoint?
The standout for us has to be the international media attention that the tour has generated – obviously, this has been fantastic for us from a brand awareness point of view and it was completely unexpected.  The success of Josh Jill and Robin Williams has been fantastic for the tour and the sport in general.

We’re also really pleased that we’ve been able to increase the tour’s sustainability with a new ‘No single-use plastic bottles’ policy, and by providing stainless steel bottles to each of the players. This was a very proud moment for us and we’ve enjoyed seeing the players using them during the tournaments.

• • •

Many fans who enjoy the world-class European Tour action on offer in the Middle East each year mightn’t know Arena’s already close connection with the game here. Tell us more about Arena and it’s connection with the game:
Arena Middle East and Asia has a history of designing and delivering structures for the most exclusive public, corporate, private and sporting occasions in the event calendar, and we have been heavily involved in golf globally.  Over the years we have been proud to deliver structures for a host of major international tournaments including the Presidents Cup, the Ryder Cup, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, BMW PGA Championship, CJ Cup, Maybank Championship, CIMB Classic, and the Hong Kong Open to name a few.

Our continued promise and delivery of quality over the years has resulted in long-standing relationships and multi-year contracts with some of the most prestigious events in the world. Arena has been an integral part of the growth of golf in the Middle East, having provided infrastructure to almost every big tournament here since their inception. Golf forms a major part of our portfolio regionally including, the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championships, Omega Dubai Desert Classic, and the Saudi International.

• • •

What makes golf a strong sponsorship proposition and why the MENA Tour in particular?
In addition to golf being a growing sport in the region and Arena being involved in so many iconic tournaments we wanted to give something back to the industry that has been very kind to us. Golf was the obvious choice.

• • •

Tell us about your own golf?
I am a social player with no handicap.

• • •

Who is your favourite player?
Seve Ballesteros. Although he is no longer with us, he was a genius on the course.

• • •

What is your vision for the MENA Tour, in tandem with strategic advisor David Spencer and his team?
I see the Mena Tour becoming the No.1 feeder tour in the world. David and I are also very confident that Arena’s partnership with the Tour will help play a massive role in nurturing a home-grown champion very soon.

The post MENA Tour matters appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Meet the other teen sensation tearing it up on the MENA Tour

With Kent Gray
His namesake is the late, great and sadly missed American actor Robin Williams but the teen version from England insists he’s no comedian himself. He also shares the same middle name as golf’s GOAT but Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams, the 18-year-old junior Ryder Cupper from Peterborough, insists that’s where the similarities with Tiger Woods begin and end.

Don’t be fooled by the plus-four handicapper’s modesty though. Williams’ record-equalling eight-stroke romp to victory in the Journey to Jordan #2 Championship last month, sealed with a Tiger-esque five straight birdies to close out his final round 66 at Ayla Golf Club, was the MENA Tour debut dreams are made of.

Williams, who followed in the soft-spike marks of Dubai’s Rayhan Thomas (2016 Dubai Creek Open) and Dutchman Pierre Junior Verlaar (2017 Royal Golf Mohammedia Open in Morocco) and proceeded Josh Hill (Al Ain Open) as an amateur winner on the the regional Pro-Am circuit, talked to Golf Digest Middle East after his wire-to-wire runaway in Aqaba.

yeah, yeah, I’ve watched most of his [Robin Williams] films. And yeah, I love them to bits. I watched the thing he did, the golf thing about Tiger Woods, stuff like that, the Scottish accent one about golf, yeah I love comedy. I think it’s just Mrs. Doubtfire I haven’t watched, which apparently is the best one so I need to watch that one.

Do I have any comedic ability? No, definitely not. I’m definitely not the person to make a lot of jokes. I don’t like to get too excited, or amped out. I’m just kind of low key. I think my friends will say that I’m very calm and will just keep a low profile. Very low key.

Saying that, there was a little fist pump when I won in Jordan because I knew how much it meant to win that tournament and to win it by that much was special. Still, I would say I like to keep everything level on and off the golf course, but I probably get more excited on the golf course.

When people call me Tiger I don’t really see there’s many similarities between us two, except our middle name. Because he’s got different parents, different ethnic background, different culture, different beliefs and stuff like that. I think the only thing me and him share is a middle name and the love for the same sport. So, yeah, I can take it as kind of motivation but I like to always see myself as an individual. Robin Williams. I think Tigers just a name that I have.

The Junior Ryder Cup near Paris last year was a great experience. Because golf is such an individual sport, there’s not many times that you get to play team sport, and I’ve represented England at a national level and to represent Europe at the biggest stage for junior golf is very cool,  just to walk inside the ropes and to chat with most of the [senior Ryder Cup] guys and see them warm up and how they play. I think the biggest thing was how they dealt with the crowds and everything, to just keep going and keep their patience. It was quite cool to see.

The Ryder Cup, that’s on the bucket list, definitely. It was an experience that I want to have again and hope fingers crossed, one day if everything goes my way that will happen, but time will only tell.

it was nice to spend some time with Tommy Fleetwood and his caddy Ian Finnis at the British Masters, pick their brains. Tommy’s just such a down to earth guy and just ask him how it was when he was an amateur and when he turned professional, and the struggle that it was and how he got to the stage where he is now. It was cool picking his caddy’s brains on what they do week to week… little secrets.

Growing up in South Africa was good because I had, basically, all my family there. But I didn’t play golf there, I didn’t even really know about golf there. You can imagine I played all different kind of sports as you do when you’re seven, eight years old and I did a lot of school stuff. We came to Aberdeen because of my dad’s work. One day the golf bug bit me and I just fell in love with the game and I’ve been in love with the game ever since.

That very first shot I hit, I just said ‘Yes’, this is something I really enjoy and this is something I just want to keep doing almost every day.  And as you are a little kid growing up, if you find something you just keep going and you have the energy. I just did it from before school, then when I went to school, and straight after my parents would pick me up and I would practice until it was dark and the next day I would just do the same. It just happened like that.

That first shot? It only went about 40, 50 yards because I was eight years old, but it felt amazing to feel that contact.

I’d definitely say my strengths now would be my long game, especially my driving. I’ve worked very hard and it’s something that each round that goes by I’ll always expect that my driving will be up there. I’m not the longest off the tee but I’m very accurate and it will always set up my game from there.

On the MENA Tour you always have the weather on your side and great golf courses, and great competition so it’s kind of the perfect way, when the weather is bad in the UK and in Europe, that you can come over here and keep your game sharp and use facilities that you might not have in the UK. It’s another path that I can take if Q-School doesn’t go my way.

I was definitely surprised by my win in Ayla and especially that I won by eight strokes. I knew coming into the week that my game was kind of close to hitting a point where it needed to be and, as I said, my driving is one of my strong points and it was very good that week. The wind was quite strong on that first few days and I knew if I could post the score and just keep it going that I could go on with it. I just rode that confidence as much as possible, especially those last five holes. I just really stepped on the gas and just said “Let’s try and win this by as many as possible.”

I know I’m leading the amateur Journey to Jordan race but I’m not really thinking about the spot in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic that goes to the leading amateur at the end of the MENA Tour. I’m just trying to take it tournament by tournament. I’ll be doing [European Tour] Q-School so I’m not sure if I’ll will play enough [to hang on to top spot]. I’m just trying to do the best that I can and if the comes that I do get in, then it’s just a great bonus.

I have a dog at home, Simba. He’s a little pug. I love to spend a lot time with him. He’s turning three, so he’s still small. It’s just something that I’ve always wanted growing up, to have a dog. We didn’t want a big dog, we wanted a small one and I think that it’s amazing how dogs just creep into your life and they creep right into your heart, and we think he’s like my little brother. No, not really, but I enjoy it because it’s definitely nice out there. I remember when my dad would finish work that we’d take Simba out on the course and when there was no one around, we’d let him go and he would run around and we’d play golf, and it’s just nice to have that family environment as well.

I think I was nine years old. I was playing with my dad and it was when I made my first eagle, that’s the best shot I can remember hitting. It was a par 5 at my home club, Peterborough Milton, and I hit driver, three wood and then another three wood. It was a blind shot where you hit over a hill and I hit it and we were looking for the ball for like five minutes and then my dad said ‘let’s check around the green’ and as I went to go pick up the balls next to the hole, my ball was in the hole. We just figured out from there how I made my first eagle.

The post Meet the MENA Tour’s other teen sensation, Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Josh Hill can’t wait to let his golf clubs do the talking again.

The Dubai teen’s life has been a whirlwind of media appointments since his historic Al Ain Open triumph last Wednesday when he eclipsed Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa as the youngest winner of an Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) event. He finally returned to his natural habitat for a practice round at Tower Links yesterday ahead of the $75,000 Ras Al Khaimah Open by Arena and it was clearly a relief after the hectic week that was.

RELATED: Hill creates world history as MENA Tour’s fourth – and youngest – amateur champion

“It just feels great to be back on a golf course. It feels like I am back home,” said Hill on the eve of the MENA Tour’s final regular-season stop.

“The last few days have been pretty crazy. I have been asked for interviews quite a few times. But I guess you have got to do them, keep level-headed and keep playing golf. I just can’t wait to get back there tomorrow.

“I did not think much of it until BBC and Sky Sports started showing it and then I thought ‘Wow, it was a pretty big achievement’. It was all over social media, so it must have been good.”

Social media has been abuzz with Hill’s achievement, the latest virtual doff of the cap coming from Japan’s ‘Bashful Prince’ himself during the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in his homeland. Ishikawa previously held the record at 15 years and eight months before Hill fired a -17 total to win at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club aged 15 years, six months and 27 days.

RELATED: Sir Nick Faldo, Danny Willett lead tributes to new world record holder Hill

‘Oh wow! Congratulations!!’

Japan’s ‘Bashful Prince’ reacts to Josh Hill breaking his world record of the youngest player to win a @owgr_ltd event at Al Ain Open by Arena.

Video courtesy: @Swinging_Swamy from the Zozo Championship in Japan. pic.twitter.com/Yl2l7UyU3B

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) October 27, 2019

In a mouth-watering trio, Hill has been paired with the Journey To Jordan amateur Order of Merit leader Curtis Knipes and the another Englishman, Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams, who won the Journey To Jordan #2 a few weeks ago at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, Jordan.

Hill with countryman and fellow amateur MENA Tour winner Robin ‘Tiger’Williams. Photo: Joy Chakravarty/MENA Tour.

“I am really looking forward to this week. I have got a great group tomorrow in Robin and Curtis. What happened in Al Ain is now in the past. I am just looking forward to staying humble, playing some good golf and enjoying myself this week,” he added.

At the end of the Ras Al Khaimah Open by Arena, the ‘Penultimate Four’ incentive – a spot at the Panasonic India Open and the Thailand Open on the Asian Tour next month – will be decided. Amateur Williams leads the standings going into the week but it will be a close battle with South African professional MG Keyser, Australian journeyman Daniel Gaunt, Hill and Knipes all in the hunt.

The 54-hole tournament at Tower Links starts Monday, with the first tee time scheduled for 6.50am UAE time. The cut will be applied for the top 48 pros and ties after the second round.

‘PENULTIMATE FOUR’ STANDING (Top Five, after Al Ain Open by Arena)
1.            Robin ‘Tiger’ Williams (Am, ENG) 18,918
2.            MG Keyser (SA) 17,424
3.            Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 16,039
4.            Josh Hill (Am, ENG) 15,700                                         
5.            Curtis Knipes (Am, ENG) 15,250           

The post History-maker Hill focused on ‘staying humble’ ahead of Ras Al Khaimah Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.