A new chapter in the short history of the MENA Golf Tour is about to begin, as the 2016 season of the fastest growing golf tour in the world gets underway with the Royal Golf Mohammedia Open by HLO in the Moroccan city of Mohammedia.
As many as 20 tournaments are scheduled this year, with the Tour travelling to countries like Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Egypt and GCC nations apart from Morocco and the UAE.
It all starts in Mohammedia with 2015 Tour champion Thriston Lawrence as the headline act. The tournament will feature 111 players from 23 countries who will try and step up to the plate and challenge the 19-year-old South African prodigy for supremacy.
This week’s field is packed with potential winners and several rising young stars.
Highlighting the strength of the starting line-up are 10 former winners, including the highly successful English trio of Zane Scotland, Lee Corfield and Luke Joy, who between them, have won 15 times on the tour.
Also in the field is England’s James Allan, who has just turned professional after dominating the amateur division for two years on the trot. Allan will be making his debut in the paid ranks with the tournament.
The presence of defending champion Paul Doherty of Scotland and Miles Tunnicliff, a two-time winner on the European Tour, has further bolstered the field.
Ayoub Lguirati of Morocco will join Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Attieh in leading the challenge in the amateur
division, which has attracted 15 players in what could mark the start of a rivalry for years between the two young Arabs.
The regional challenge in the professional category is led by the Moroccan trio of Ahmed Marjan, Faycal Serghini and Younes El Hassani, along with rising stars Mehdi Sassi and Mustapha El Maouas.
A three-time runner-up on the MENA Golf Tour, Serghini is confident of going one step better.
“I am getting close. I think it is just a matter of time before my time comes. The door will open sooner or later,” said Serghini, who won the 2015 Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation award for being the best player in the MENA region.
Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour, thanked the Royal Golf Mohammedia management and the Moroccan Golf Federation for their support.
“For the overall development of golf, it is important we have significant participation from all countries in the region,” said Buamaim.
“The Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award, which we introduced in 2014, has intensified the competition among the region’s talent, leading to some improved performances, which is great.
“We also appreciate all the hard work the host venues do in preparing the courses which are always in great condition and we can expect some exciting golf ahead.”
Located next to the Atlantic Ocean, the Royal Mohammedia’s course runs through avenues of pine and eucalyptus trees, progressing onto more links-like terrain along the shoreline where the landscape is reminiscent of an old-fashioned Scottish seaside course with small dunes and tumbling fairways.
Multiple European Tour starts, including the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the Hassan II Trophy and the Maybank Championship, in addition to full playing privileges on the Sunshine Tour and exemptions into the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Q-School for the leading three professionals are some of the incentives for the MENA Golf Tour members.
