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.

The post No Joy as ‘savage’ bout of malaria takes The Roar out of MENA Tour No.1 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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.”

The post Joy unveils ‘weird’ mystery illness after missing Jo’Burg City Masters cut appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

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 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.

The post MENA Tour unveils <br> South African <br> swing tournaments appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.