Zane Scotland comfortably kept up his dominance to chalk up an impressive three-shot shot victory in the MENA Golf Tour’s Ghala Valley Open yesterday.
Starting the day four shots ahead, the 32-year-old Englishman closed with a four-under 68 to move to 11 under and leave his opponents trailing in his wake.
Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda matched the day’s best score of a 67 to finish runner-up on eight under, two shots ahead of Morocco’s Faycal Serghini and three of England’s Christopher Cannon.
But the day belonged to Scotland, who made a bogey-birdie-bogey start, but had things pretty much in control thereafter as he played the final 15 holes five under to seal his seventh victory on the Tour.
@ZaneScotland wins the @MENAGolfTour #GhalaVelleyOpen by 3 shots!! #GreatPerformance @ArbuthnotLatham @golfindubai pic.twitter.com/2wzSaGLWBk
— MB Partners (@MBPartners) October 22, 2014
“It feels great to win again on the Tour. I played really well on all three days,” said Scotland after receiving the winner’s trophy and a cheque for $9,000 (Dh33,030) from Ibrahim Al Wahaibi, vice president of Ghala Valley Golf Club in Oman.
“I had an up-and-down start, but things started falling in place as the round wore on. When I got to 10-under on the 12th, I knew victory was in sight if I didn’t make any major mistake.”
Spain’s Balmaseda also came alive on the back nine with two birdies and an eagle, but his late rally was not good catch to the runaway leader.
“I think Zane really played well and deserved to win,” Balmaseda said.
Morocco’s Serghini, who finished fourth last year here, carded a final round 69 to take solo third, a creditable performance which also won him the MENA Division for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award, ahead of compatriots Ahmed Marjane and Amin Joudar.
England’s James Yeomans and Scotland’s Daniel Kay shared the honours in the amateur division, both finishing on two under while the Moroccan duo of Karim El Hali and Ayoub Lguirati jointly topped the MENA division in the same category.
