It will be another red-letter day in the fledgling history of golf in the region when the Middle East gets its own Tour starting today.
When the Abu Dhabi Golf Citizen Open tees off at 7.30am at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club this morning, it will make the MENA Golf Tour a reality.
An initiative of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the inaugural MENA Golf Tour will feature four tournaments offering a combined prize fund of $225,000 (Dh826,000).
More importantly, the top three professionals and the leading amateur from the Tour will receive special entry in the 2012 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
A strong field of 72, including 15 amateurs, are in the fray in the 54-hole tournament. The cut will be made after 36 holes with the top 50 and ties making it to the final round.
A delighted Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour, also announced that the organisers of the King Hassan II Trophy in Morocco – another European Tour event – have already agreed to reserve a couple of spots for the top players from the MENA Tour.
Buamaim added: “We are in talks with officials of the Asian Tour and the Indian Tour and they have indicated their desire to invite the leading MENA Golf Tour players to their respective events in the near future. Organisers of the European Tour events in Abu Dhabi and Doha may also come on board to contribute their bit in the development of the game in the region.”
While the enthusiastic response of golfers from across the globe must have warmed the hearts of Buamaim, the man who dared to dream all this, Joel Neale, who was the UAE’s leading amateur but turns professional today, is the ratification that his blood, sweat and tears was well worth the effort.
Buamaim always wanted the MENA Tour to be the second level of a developmental Tour. The Tour has the potential to become a strong incentive for the amateurs in the region to take up the game as a career.
For some established professionals like Ross Bain, Yasin Ali and Simon Dunn, it will be an opportunity to resurrect their careers. The extra cash is always helpful, but the opportunity to play in tournaments like the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and Hassan Trophy, is something they will greatly appreciate.
Yasin, who used to be a regular on the Asian Tour, reflected the collective thought of the professionals when he said: “I think given the quality of golf facilities in the region and the quality of tournaments, this region was crying out for a Tour like this. All you have to do is perhaps look at the Asian Tour or the Indian Tour to see what an organised Tour like this can do for the game.
“Entries to the Desert Classic and Hassan Trophy is just a fantastic motivation for us professionals. On behalf of all of us, I would like to thank Mr Buamaim and all those who have this Tour a possibility.”
Shaikh Fahim bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Arab Golf Federation, will formally inaugurate the Tour at 11am today. Highlights of the four tournaments will be shown on Ten Sports at a later date.
Morocco, the winners of the recent Arab Golf Championship, have the strongest overseas representation in the field with as many as 11 players vying for honours, followed by the UK (six), Kenya and Pakistan (five each) and USA (four), among others.
The field also includes 24 UAE-based players of which five are amateurs, including Emirates Golf Federation’s Order of Merit leader Miki Mirza, Michael Harradine and Vikram Judge. All four events will receive official R&A recognition and carry World Amateur ranking points.
UAE resident Andy Andrews, Australia’s Nabil Abdul and Pakistan’s Shafiq Masih will be the first threeball to tee off.
