MENA Tour No.1 Luke Joy has been forced out of the final event of the developmental circuit’s South African swing after being hospitalised with a vicious bout of malaria.

The 29-year-old Abu Dhabi-based Englishman blamed altitude sickness after struggling through last week’s Jo’burg City Masters and hoped to be right for ‘The Roar” which starts at Waterkloof Golf Club in Pretoria Tuesday. But his self-diagnosis sadly proved wildly inaccurate.

“Unfortunately that little bug I thought I had was malaria. I’ve been in to hospital and been on some savage drugs these past few days. It’s been horrendous,” Joy told Golf Digest Middle East.  “I just hope the drugs have worked to clear it.”

Joy’s health nosedived in the early hours of Friday morning after he missed the cut in Jo’burg. He admitted at the time that he “didn’t really have any control of body” and couldn’t “recall much of my last nine holes.”

RELATED: Joy unveils ‘weird’ mystery illness after missing Jo’Burg City Masters cut

A high fever and a night of vomiting convinced him to take the worrying symptoms to a doctor near his accommodation in Pretoria.

“I was put straight on a drip and a given a bunch of drugs to try and bring my temperature and heart rate down before some blood tests to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. The tests didn’t come back too great and showed that somewhere on my travels in the past few weeks I had picked up Malaria and was on the struggle bus. Luckily they found it early enough that I could be put in medication and rest at home in bed.”

Joy described the medley of tablets he was prescribed – antibiotics, immune defence and some anti-malarial pills – as “aggressive to say the least”.

“It was a three day crash course which basically ruined me. Today is the first day off the pills and I do feel better which is nice. I just had another blood test to see if all the parasites are out of my system so I can fly back and get back on the road to recovery,” the Yas Links-attached Dorset man said.

“I think it might take a while as I have not really been able to eat anything or keep anything down for the past five days so fingers crossed the results come back positive so I can get back to Abu Dhabi and then back to the UK at the end of the month.”

Joy said it “pained him” to withdraw from The Roar “but I think getting back to normal is more important than attempting to hit a white ball round a field”.

“Overall it has been a pretty crap four week trip in Africa. Be it the golf, the place or my health, it has definitely challenged me in some interesting ways. All in the learning curve of golf I guess, and let’s hope next time I peg it up I don’t catch any other random bloody viruses that knock me for six.”

With Joy sidelined, countryman Jamie Elson has the chance to take over top spot in the MENA Tour point standings.

Elson led by a shot heading into the final round in Jo’burg before fading to solo sixth. It was an improvement on his T14 finish at the South to East Challenge, the opening event of the MENA Tour’s South Africa swing, co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, and sees him in second place on the OOM standings. But Elson will still be hoping to make more of his strong starts in the MENA Tour safari.

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One back at the start, 27-year-old Prinsloo closed with a 68 to reach 12-under for the tournament, beating Sandys, who carded the day’s low score of a 67, by two shots for his first Big Easy Tour win since 2013.

England’s Jeff Inglis joined the South African duo of Jacquin Hess and Francois Coetzee for a share of third on -7 as the MENA Tour’s Jamie Elson, who led by one shot overnight, returned a final round 75 to settle for solo sixth a further shot adrift.

“It’s been a while since I won on the Big Easy, but, it’s very nice to win the co-sanctioned event with the MENA Tour. It just feels like it’s a step higher,” said Prinsloo.

“The last leaderboard was on hole number 15’s green and I still had a three-shot lead there. I thought ‘OK, this looks pretty simple’, and all of a sudden on 17, Omar (Sandys) was on 10-under and put some pressure on me. But luckily I kept calm and put the ball in the right spaces, and yeah got it done.

“I just had to keep doing the things I have done the last two days and, it’s always a little bit tougher to do that on the last day, a little bit more pressure. But, I managed to stay calm.”

Elsewhere, Sweden’s Henric Sturehed signed for a 71 to finish in a three-way tie for seventh on five under, one ahead of fellow MENA Tour member Antonio Costa of Chile and two better of Fredrik From, the winner of the Pattana Golf Championship in Thailand last month.

England’s Sam Hobday took the honours in the amateur division on +8 after closing with a 78 as Brazil’s Tiago Lobo, who hit the front on day one with a 73, failed to keep the momentum going, missing the cut on Wednesday after a second-round 78.

Next up is The Roar, the third and final co-sanctioned event on MENA Tour’s South Africa swing, which will be played at Waterkloof Golf Club in Pretoria from June 20 to 22.

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The 29-year-old Englishman missed the cut by four shots at Country Club Johannesburg but it his second round 76 Wednesday was a clear struggle as he outlined his latest blog which explored “a very disappointing week but very odd circumstances.”.

“I have been in bed pretty much since I finished my second round yesterday. I woke up yesterday morning with cold sweats and basically all of my joints hurt and my feet were on fire,” Joy said.

“I was first off yesterday at 7.00am starting on the 10th tee and it was freezing cold but I was still sweating so I knew something was not right. I tried my upmost to get round and play but got off to a shocking start and was +4 through nine holes and didn’t really have any control of my body.

RELATED: Elson eyes MENA Tour OOM lead as Joy’s glum Jo’burg City Masters ends prematurely

“I will be honest, I can’t recall much of my last nine holes. I kept battling as was hoping it might only be a random bug and managed to make a few birdies on the front nine but was struggling to walk and was constantly out of breath.

I will be honest, I can’t recall much of my last nine holes.” – Luke Joy

“I was doing alright considering how I was feeling before basically falling over on my final [hole] and smothering my tee shot into a bush and settled for a triple bogey up the last.”

Joy told Golf Digest Middle East Thursday lunchtime that it had been a “challenging 24 hours” during which he had been “sick all night and struggling to keep anything down”. However, the Yas Links-attached Dorset pro said he “feels better today and my joints don’t feel like there on fire [anymore}.

He’s hopeful of coming right to tee it up in the final leg of the MENA Tour’s South African swing, The Roar at Waterkloof Golf Club in Pretoria from Tuesday.

“I really hope I can get back to normal for next week. I have done some research and asked a few of the guys playing and looks like my body has taken a weird reaction to the altitude here in Jo’burg, which even I’m shocked about.

“I have never had this issue before but then haven’t spent all that much time in Jo’burg or at altitude for a long period of time. It was a pretty hilly course this week so I’m really hoping I can start to feel better as it has been a pretty shit 24 hours.”

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Elson carded an equal best of the day 67 Wednesday to come from two shots back to grasp the lead in the co-sanctioned Sunshine Big Easy Tour-MENA Tour event at -9, a shot clear of South Africa’s Jaco Prinsloo.

Joy, meanwhile, was unable to recover from his opening two-over 74, going backwards with a second round 76 to miss the cut but four shots. That means the inconsistent OOM leader, through seven events of the MENA Tour season, is in danger of surrendering his lead atop the points standings, particularly if Elson can kick on to victory at Country Club Johannesburg Thursday.

Golf is a numbers game and those can be tricky when you’re playing at altitude where the ball flies further. Not that Elson, who mixed five birdies and an eagle with two bogeys in his second round, seems to be struggling.

“I played really solidly the past two days. I’m really confident with my iron-game. I got some really good yardages today and managed to hit some pretty close. It’s just a question of getting it in on the green, you know,” said Elson who finished runner-up at April’s Ras Al Khaimah Classic.

“The main thing is just working out the altitude,” he said of what he needs to work on going forward.

“You know, coming from the UK, the ball is flying, I would say, five percent further in the winter time here. I have been to Jo’burg before in the summer time but it was about 10 percent further. So I have got a little conversion thing in my bag that’s been helping me out and it’s been working very well.”

South African Maritz Wessels fired a 67 to climb into solo third as overnight leader Jacquin Hess slipped into a three-way tie for 13th on -4 despite closing his second round 74 with an eagle at the par-5 18th.

England’s Sam Hobday led the amateur division into the final round on +2 as overnight leader Tiago Lobo (Brazil) endured a tough second round, carding a 78 to finish on seven over, leaving himself with a mountain to climb in Thursday’s final round.

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Quite which Luke Joy will turn up at this week’s Jo’burg City Masters is anyone’s guess. The 29-year-old Englishman’s form leading into the second event of the MENA Tour’s three-tournament South African swing has been confounding in its consistent inconsistency.

Sandwiched either side of a missed cut at the Mohammedia Open in Morocco in late March were creditable runner-up finishes at the Casablanca Open and the Mountain Creek Open in Thailand. More recently the Abu Dhabi-based Dorset pro backed up another unwanted weekend off at the Sunshine Tour’s Zambia Open with a third place finish at last week’s South to East Challenge in Benoni.

Joy still wasn’t entirely happy with his game at Ebotse Links, especially not the opening 74 he signed for in the co-sanctioned MENA Tour-Big Easy Tour (the feeder circuit to the Sunshine Tour) event. But closing rounds of 69-68 hinted that recent remedial work with the putter is beginning to pay off.

“Golf is very much about momentum and in Zambia and the start of SA there was none. But the final two rounds last week I holed a few putts to save par and then made a few putts for birdie that kept me going. It was by no means a flawless performance, just well managed,” said Joy who is navigating his fourth MENA Tour season and his sixth year as a pro in total.

“You never show up to lose but some weeks are more realistic than others. Last week I got a lot out of the final two rounds and I’ve done some good work over the weekend so the game is feeling better…the game is close.”

Regardless of what transpires over the 54-holes at Country Club Johannesburg from Tuesday, Joy is at least making progress in his goal to crack the European Tour. He’s improved his Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) 916 slots to 632^nd place since the end of 2014 and is in the mix to capture European Tour and perhaps even a PGA Tour start courtesy of his elevated MENA Tour ranking come seasons end.

Joy already has September’s KLM Open to look forward to courtesy of his second place on last season’s MENA Tour moneylist. It will be a second European Tour start after he was unfortunately DQed from February’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

“I’m looking forward to the KLM Open and just trying to keep improving and moving in the right direction. You never know what can happen in golf, a few good weeks can change your life and take you from struggling to comfortable,” Joy told Golf Digest Middle East.

“The goal is to play on the European Tour and then have the opportunity to play the PGA Tour as I loved my time in the United States from my college days at Drake University.

“I have a three-year plan working with my coach Matt Parker [formerly at Jumeirah Golf Estates] and his team at Prevail Golf. We have a short term and long term goals that I’m working towards to get my world ranking down. I have dropped some 1000 spots in nine months so we’re getting there…slow and steady wins the race.”

Joy is eyeing European Tour Q-School at the end of the year. Before then he would love to end a string of frustrating second place finishes which have followed his two MENA Tour wins – the Dubai Creek Open and ASCOPR Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open at Saadiyat Beach GC, both achieved in 2014.

Along with his current inconsistent form, Joy is also grappling with ever changing course and weather conditions from Morocco, to “hot and humid” Thailand and now Africa. The latest challenge is the thin air of Jo’burg where the golf ball “flies forever”.

An eight iron that normally travels 162 yards for Joy is suddenly going 175 yards at altitude which is a “slight adjustment that gets greater the longer the club”.

In the end though, it all comes down to forgetting some “pretty woeful” putting of late and getting the ball into the hole.

“I have gone back to some drills using Visio putting templates which has helped a lot. It gives you some great feedback and has helped with my confidence seeing the ball go in again. There was little difference in the performance of the two [Zambia and Benoni], I just managed my game better and holed some putts.”

Joy will join a strong 105-player field headlined by last week’s winner, Breyten Meyer, and fellow South African Etienne Bond who currently leads the Big Easy Tour moneylist. Among six other MENA Tour winners playing is defending champion Craig Hinton.

Hinton shot a final round 68 to win the title by two shots over South Africa’s N.J. Arnoldi last year, becoming the first MENA Tour player to taste success on South African shores.

Brazil’s Dubai-based Tiago Lobo, currently second in the amateur order of merit (OOM) standings, just three points shy of Switzerland’s Michael Harradine, will be the player to watch in the amateur division that has attracted six entries including Oman’s Sami Keating and India’s Arkesh Bhatia.

The Jo’burg City Masters is being played on the Woodmead course, one of the two 18-hole layouts at the Country Club Johannesburg.

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As golf tournaments go, this week’s South to East Challenge near Johannesburg is hardly what you’d call big game.

The $30,000 (ZAR 400,000) event is a stop on the Big Easy Tour, a mid-season, garden variety event on the feeder circuit to South Africa’s celebrated but ultimately still developmental Sunshine Tour. It means only the players, their friends and family and serious golf anoraks elsewhere are likely to stay abreast of developments during the 54-holer.

With the U.S. Open to prepare for at Erin Hills in Wisconsin next week, it’s a fair bet the renowned golf photographer David Cannon won’t be clicking away inside the ropes at Ebotse Links in Benoni. But rest assured, the Englishman will have the South to East Challenge in sharp focus.

Cannon’s 30-year-old son, Chris, is one of the players to watch this week as the MENA Tour goes on its annual safari, co-sanctioning three events as part of its South African swing.

After years of graft and a tough start to the season, Chris finally broke through to win the Big Easy Sunshine Tour’s recent Kempton Park title, carding rounds of 67-65 and firing up Dad along the way.

Proud Dad! Today son Chris showing he has it! @BigEasyTourSA great effort! More to come! pic.twitter.com/GQ9dH9dQf1

— David Cannon (@Cannonball63) May 25, 2017

David Cannon has previously told GolfDigestMe.com that his ultimate dream is to photograph Chris playing the Open Championship one day, though we wonder how he’d manage to focus through the inevitable tears of joy.

Chris is still a way off lining up in a major but the sometimes MENA Tour starter can at least see light as he toils away in golf’s lower leagues hoping for that big time break.

“I feel like I have been moving in the right direction and my play is getting better and better,” he told the Sunshine Big Easy Tour.

“I think everything has been improving. I mean, I have certainly been putting well and my wedge shots have been much better as well this week. So, it’s just a general overall improvement and also mentally, I have been very focused.”

Fredrik From, meanwhile, will also take that rare winning feeling into this week having captured the MENA Tour’s most recent event, the rain-shortened Pattana Golf Championship in Thailand.

Fredrik Form

The 27-year-old Swede has set his sights on the MENA Tour order of merit title after signing for a sizzling 63 in the final round and has every reason to set such lofty goals after his breakthrough. The eventual MENA Tour champion earns starts in the PGA Tour’s 2018 DEAN & DELUCA Invitational at Colonial Country Club as well as European Tour starts in Dubai, Morocco, Malaysia and The Netherlands among other incentives.

Cannon and From will have their work cut out with defending champion Bryandrew Roelofsz and current Big Easy Tour money leader and countryman Etienne Bond headlining the South to East Challenge field.

England’s Luke Joy, who will be looking to make amends after missing the cut at the Zambia Open on the Sunshine Tour last week, is one of 37 MENA Tour professionals and five amateurs in the field. He is joined by fellow MENA Tour winners Tyler Hogarty (South Africa), Antonio Costa (Chile) and Cyril Suk (Czech Republic) while Dubai-based Brazilian Tiago Lobo, who is currently second to Switzerland’s Michael Harradine in the amateur order of merit standings, will be watched closely. The 100-strong field will be cut to the leading 50 professionals and ties after 36-holes.

Designed by Matkovich and Hayes Golf Course Architects, Ebotse Links has been described as South Africa’s only “inland links”. It was built to US PGA specifications with a 6,372-metre par 72-rating, features seven holes on the water and is currently ranked the 32nd best course by Golf Digest South Africa.

“We are very excited with our association with the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, which will benefit members of both the tours and help further stimulate the growth of golf. South Africa boasts some of the best and most beautiful golf courses in the world. I am confident our members will have fun playing there,” said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Tour.

The MENA Tour is also co-sanctioning the Jo’burg City Masters at the Country Club from June 13-15 and The Roar at Waterkloof Golf Club in Pretoria from June 20-22.

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The 27-year-old Swede fired a nine-under 63 in the final round in Thailand to finish -13 for the tournament which was reduced to 36 holes after the first two rounds of the tour’s very first 72-hole event were washed out.

Seven of From’s nine birdies came on the back nine at Pattana Golf Club & Resort as he won by three strokes from Venezuela’s Wolmer Murillo.

“Feel really delighted to get the job done this time around after having lost out in a couple of playoffs on the MENA Tour,” said From after receiving the winner’s trophy from Thomas Topken, managing director of Pattana Golf Club.

“Everything worked well for me. I hit all the greens in regulation which was great. This course is my favourite now. There are so many scoring opportunities out there, especially on the back nine.

The MENA Tour now breaks till early June and the three South African swing events co-sanctioned by the Big Easy Tour, the developmental arm of the Sunshine Tour. From will be there as he chases starts in as many as four European Tour events (including the Omega Dubai Desert Classic) and the PGA Tour’s 2018 DEAN & DELUCA Invitational which are awarded to the MENA Tour OOM champion.

“I will be playing in MENA Tour’s events in South Africa and see if I can win the order of merit,” said From who graduated from the MENA Tour’s Qualifying School in 2016.

Murillo reeled off seven birdies against a lone bogey in his closing six-under 66 in Chon Buri to finish solo second, one clear of England’s Jordan Garnish and American Roberto Galletti, who fired two eagles, including one on par-4 6th en-route to his final round 67.

Overnight leader Jose Ignacio Marin Casado of Spain slipped into a three-way tie for fifth on eight-under after carding a level-par 72 alongside the Thai duo of Nakul Vichitryuthasastr and Wanich Petcharit.

Brazil’s Dubai-based Tiago Lobo kept up his dominance in the amateur division, taking the honours on two-under after a final round 73 as India’s Arkesh Bhatia, who is also based in Dubai, and Thailand’s Worathon Zeng shared second four shots adrift.

Elsewhere, playing in his first competitive event in four weeks, European Tour regular Prom Meesawat knocked the rust off his game, finishing tied 9th on six-under after returning a 68, one ahead of England’s Lee Corfield and three off Zane Scotland, a 10-time winner on the tour, as UAE’s Ahmed Al Musharrek settled for tied 60^th on four over 148.

From joins Thai Jazz Janewattananond (Mahasamutr Masters) and Frenchman Lionel Weber (Mountain Creek Open by Golf Citizen) as the MENA Tour’s Thailand swing champions of 2017.

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The dates and venues for the three tournaments, co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, have just been released.

Following this week’s US$50,000 Pattana Golf Championship, the tour’s first 72 hole event at Pattana GC and Resort, a 135 minute drive south-east of Bangkok, the South African swing will start at the South to East Challenge in Benoni.

The $26,000, 54-holer will run June 6-8 at Ebotse Links (pictured above), described as the only “inland links“ course in South Africa. South African Bryandrew Roelofsz is the defending champion.

The swing then moves to the Country Club Johannesburg for the Jo’burg City Masters. Reigning MENA Tour order-of-merit champion, Englishman Craig Hinton, will be out to defend his title at the June 13-15 event which carries a purse of $28,000.

Country Club Johannesburg

“The Roar” rounds out the South African swing. Also a $28,000 event, the 54-hole tournament returns to Waterkloof Golf Club in Pretoria where Riekus Nortje (RSA) carded rounds of 65-68-70 to win last June on -13.

Waterkloof GC in the capital Pretoria. Images courtesy Sunshine Big Easy Tour

The Sunshine Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s development circuit.

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