By Kent Gray
Shergo Al Kurdi had the honour of striking the very first shot of the 9th MENA Tour by Arena season at Ayla Golf Club on Monday. A nice touch perhaps, letting the promising 16-year-old Jordanian amateur lead the way on the course to which he is attached before the big guns got down to the serious business of dominating the front page of the Journey to Jordan #1 Championship leaderboard?

Except Al Kurdi had other ideas, a two-under 70 earning the England-born teen a share of the first-round lead in Aqaba alongside professionals Alex Belt (England) and Sam Locke (Scotland).

Keep this up and Al Kurdi might just be in a position to play one of the last, and perhaps defining, shots of the $75,000 season opener. Whatever transpires over the next 36-holes, it’s not bad for a lad diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder, six months ago.

Less than 3 months ago, @SHERGOKURDI had to be hospitalized while playing the Journey to Jordan Tour Championship and was diagnosed with Krohn’s Disease.

He was joint leader today after a brilliant two-under par… pic.twitter.com/s0CNcT4Qcf

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 3, 2020

Al Kurdi book-ended his memorable 2020 bow with bogeys at the 1st and 18th but found four birdies in between on a windswept Greg Norman design which yielded just five sub-par rounds (in a field of 87) with England’s David Langley and Swede Per Langfors the only other players in red, tired 4th after 71s.

Indeed, it was one of those funny old days for Al Kurdi that most golfers can readily identify with, a round when the easy seemed strangely impossible and the unlikely surprisingly achievable.

The frustration came as he missed birdie putts from inside five feet on the 9th and 10th, the bonus three monster putts for a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th.

“It’s funny how this game can be at times,” said the two-time Jordan Open champion who has made the cut in seven of his 11 MENA Tour starts before this week and has a best finish of 32nd at last September’s Journey to Jordan #2 Championship.

“After missing those two putts, I made two putts from 20 feet, and the one on 13th was from 25 feet. And a little later, I drove the par-4 15th green and three-putted to make a par.”

“It really could have been a very low round for me today. It’s never fun to finish with a bogey, but I am very happy with my score given the tough conditions.”

Al Kurdi admitted he had been fortunate to go out early before the wind really whipped up. Mind you, it’s funny how golf goes some times.

“The wind really picked up when we were on the 5th hole. Interestingly, those five holes I struggled with my game and settled down only from the sixth hole onwards,” Al Kurdi said to sum up his topsy-turvy day.

Joy Chakravarty/MENA Tour
Sam Locke mixed four birdies with two bogeys like the other co-leaders.

Locke, who recently turned pro after a notable amateur career, qualified for the MENA Tour with three successive rounds of 71 in the Qualifying School B at Ayla last week. He went one better after grinding on Monday.

“I am really surprised that two-under-par is leading the tournament,” said the 21-year-old Scot who won the Silver Medal for low amateur honours at the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie.

“I did not play particularly well today but the conditions were very difficult, and I had to work hard to hang in there. I have been struggling a bit with my short game here. But I managed myself well, hitting a lot of knock-down shots which I have grown up hitting on Scottish links. Hopefully, I get calmer conditions in the morning tomorrow and capitalise on this round.”

Co-leader after the opening round of Journey to Jordan #1 at 2-under par, @samlockegolf was surprised to find himself in that position.

A few Scottish links-like shots were instrumental in the Scotsman’s good start at @AylaOasis golf club… pic.twitter.com/RLsu7XFLTk

— MENA Tour (@theMENATour) February 3, 2020

Yorkshireman Belt, 34, was playing on the PGA Tour China but has decided to concentrate more on tournaments in Europe and Middle East.

“We did have this kind of wind during the Q School here, so I am used to it. I don’t think I did anything very well, but I did not do anything drastically wrong on the course today. More than the birdies, I made a few pars saves that were crucial,” said Belt, who, like the other co-leaders, made two bogeys and four birdies in the opening round.

Eleven players, including former European Tour stars Scott Henry of Scotland and Jamie Rutherford of England, were tied for the sixth place at even-par 72.

Arjun Gupta is the next best amateur behind Al Kurdi, a one over 73 moving the Dubai-based Indian teen into a share of 17th place a third of the way through the 54-hole event.

The post Jordanian amateur Shergo Al Kurdi headlines tough opening to 2020 MENA Tour season in Aqaba appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
The last time the Open Championship was at Carnoustie, a doughy-cheeked 18-year-old amateur from Northern Ireland introduced himself to the world with an opening-round 68 to sit in a tie for third just three strokes off the lead in what was the only bogey-free score of the day. Rory McIlroy, who earned the silver medal as the low amateur that year with his tie for 42nd, has since gone on to win four majors, including an Open at Hoylake in 2014.

Sam Locke can only dream of that kind of that kind of success. The more immediate concerns for the 19-year-old amateur from nearby Stonehaven Golf Club, an hour up the eastern coast, are how to make a latte and, this week, finding his way from the driving range to the putting green and eventually the first tee.

Locke, who when he isn’t honing his future craft, works as a barista in the coffee shop at the Paul Lawrie Academy, punched his ticket to the Open by winning a qualifier two weeks ago at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian, a couple of hours to the south. Locke’s only other round at Carnoustie prior to this week was during a sponsor’s day. Needless to say, things look a little bit different—major championships are big productions with large stages in a literal and metaphorical sense.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Locke, a slender boy-next-door type with a shy smile and enough game to have won last year’s Scottish Amateur at Prestwick in a 9-and-8 whitewashing. The last player to win by the wide a margin in the event was Colin Montgomerie 30 years ago. His career worked out pretty well, too.

“I’m trying to treat it as another event but obviously enjoying it,” Locke said. “I’m trying to take everything in. Getting asked for photos and autographs and interviews, I’m not really used to that. You’re treated like royalty. That’s what it feels like for me, anyway.”

Contributing to that feeling is being mentored by one of Scotland’s greatest sporting heroes, Lawrie, the 1999 Open champion and eight-time European Tour winner, whose foundation Locke has come up through.

RELATED: A baked-out Carnoustie makes an unpredictable Open even more unpredictable

Though Locke is coached by his dad Andrew, Lawrie has proved a beneficial hand and mind. On Monday, the teenager played nine holes with Julian Suri and another nine by himself. Joining him the whole way around was Lawrie, who due to foot and back injuries aren’t playing in the championship. Nonetheless, he was more than happy to show his young protégé around.

“It’s important when he finishes his practice round to just get out of there,” Lawrie said. “Not hang about and not hit too many balls and take it in too much. That’s what normal tour players do.”

“It was him helping me deal with everything, say where everything is, telling me how to prepare properly for people and interviews,” added Locke, one of four amateurs in the field along with Nicolai Hojgaard, Yuxin Lin and Ernie Els’ nephew Jovan Rebula. “Also course strategy in the way that best suits my game, not necessarily how he would see it. I got to enjoy it but he told me that on Thursday I need to switch on, that it’s a golf tournament then.”

Locke, who was introduced to golf at age 3 by his father, a PGA professional who also used to coach Lawrie, wasn’t yet a month old when Lawrie raised the claret jug here in 1999. He has seen clips of it, though.

“You forget how good Jean van de Velde played the whole tournament,” Locke said. “A lot of people say Paul was given it, but he played really well and in the playoff as well.”

More impressionable memories came from attending the 2013 Open at Muirfield when he followed boyhood idol McIlroy around and later watched Phil Mickelson outlast Henrik Stenson to claim the claret jug.

Locke has memories of Tiger Woods, too, though not the Tiger in his prime save for some YouTube clips, and more recent ones of last year’s winner Jordan Spieth.

Whether he can come close to having even half the success McIlroy or any of the aforementioned names have had, time will tell. It would be a lot to ask. But Lawrie likes what he sees so far.

“Tee to green he’s very strong, he swings it well, hits it high and a long way,” Lawrie said. “He’s prepared to do the work. He’s not scared to do that. I like that. I don’t see any reason he can’t be a good tour player. It’s just letting him get there and have to be careful not to get ahead of himself. It’s going to be a huge week. Let’s see how he handles it.”

Still, Locke couldn’t help soak in some of the atmospheres. Making lattes can wait.

“The first hole tee shot is pretty cool,” he said, noting the new grandstands that have been installed. “Going down 18 as well. It makes you feel excited to play.”

And perhaps mark the beginning of something much bigger.

The post The Open 2018: Paul Lawrie’s Carnoustie legacy lives on in an amateur protégé, Sam Locke appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.