Sharjah's Al Musharrekh shares RAK lead

Sport360 staff 19:35 07/10/2014
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  • Ahmed Al Musharrekh.

    Ahmed Al Musharrekh spearheaded a determined Arab assault on the Ras Al Khaimah Classic at Tower Links Golf Club leaderboard going into the final round with a career-best 67 to steal a share of the lead.

    Al Musharrekh, the only golf professional from the UAE, reeled off seven birdies in his five-under second round and only a double-bogey on the sixth hole prevented the youngster from taking the solo lead as he joined Spain’s Tony Ferrer, Peter Stojanovski (Macedonia) and Abdulrahman Sihag (Kenya) at the summit of a congested on six-under par.

    Lurking ominously just a shot off the lead is the Moroccan duo of Faycal Serghini and Ahmed Marjane, who shared fifth place with Cennydd Mills (Wales), Craig Hinton (England) and Scotsman Daniel Kay, who is also the highest-placed amateur in the field going into the final day.

    With five shots separating the top 28 players, the prognosis points to an exciting finish to the $50,000 tournament.

    With the Moroccan pair of Amine Joudar and Yassine Touhami (amateur) also making big moves up the leaderboard with matching 68s, it will be interesting to see how the Arab players – with a total of six in red figures – fare coming down the final stretch. But while the scoring was impressive all round, it was Al Musharrekh who took centre-stage with the round of his life.

    “I felt at peace with myself out there. Every part of my game fell into place. Take that double-bogey away when I came up short from 100 yards and failed to get up and down, I played really well,” said the 24-year-old Sharjah-based golfer.

    “I try to be mentally tough in any situation on the course and that’s the key to an overall improvement in my game. There are plenty of scoring opportunities there and if I can hole some putts, I think I stand a good chance of going the distance. But you never know what tomorrow holds.”

    Morocco’s Serghini, who boasts three runner-up finishes on the MENA Golf Tour, put himself in contention for another strong finish with a second round 68.

    “It was a very good day at work, I played solid golf. Made just two mistakes – first when I hit my approach into water on the 5th and then I came up short on the 11th and failed to get up and down, both silly errors thatresulting in bogeys,” said Serghini.

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