Debutants spice up Mena Golf Tour opener in Rabat

Rising English star Haydn McCullen will join Dominic Foos of Germany in spearheading the challenge of ‘new faces’ when the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam Open, the opening event on the 2015 Mena Golf Tour schedule, gets under way in Rabat on April 4.

With as many as 30 first-timers in fray, the 54-hole event at the Robert Trent Jones-designed course, has already been oversubscribed in a sign of the growing popularity of the tour across the region and beyond.

Fresh from turning professional earlier this month, young prodigy McCullen insists he's ready for the rigours of professional golf after enjoying a successful amateur career, highlighted by winning the prestigious McEvoy Trophy and Carris Trophy in 2014, a year after becoming the first player to win both Lancashire's county and boys’ championships

“I’m really looking forward to getting out there and playing. It’s definitely going to be a step up from what I’m used to but I feel ready for it,” said the 18-year-old Manchester-based youngster who is featuring in the Rabat event at the invitation of Darren Clarke, the Patron of the Mena Golf Tour.

He will join Foos among other debutants in the field which will be spearheaded by England’s Joshua White, the winner of the Mena Golf Tour’s Order of Merit title in 2014, and Morocco’s Faycal Serghini who won the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Award for the best player in the Mena region last year.

A naturally-gifted player from St Leon-Rot Golf Club, near Heidelberg, Foos hit the headlines when he became Germany’s top-ranked amateur golfer and the number one under-15 golfer in the world in 2012 before turning professional on his 17th birthday last year.

“It will be my first time on the Mena Golf Tour, but I have a fair idea of what to expect. I know they have a lot of the players who on their day are as good as anyone on any other tour,” said Foos, who, in 2012, became the youngest player to win the German Matchplay Championship for Men before adding the German and French International Boys titles to his rich cache of trophies in 2013.

With Zane Scotland, the most prolific winner on the tour with nine titles to his credit, in the field along with a slew of familiar faces which includes the likes of Morocco’s Ahmed Marjane, South Africa’s Tyler Hogarty, the English trio of Luke Joy, Lee Corfield and Jake Shepherd, the Mena Golf Tour opener promises to be a close affair.

While the traditional golf powerhouses like England, Spain, Germany and South Africa are well represented in the early list of entries, players from as far afield as Canada, Australia, the US and New Zealand have also signed up, giving the tour truly a global look.

Since its inception in 2011, the tour has seen 16 different winners from eight countries with the English players winning 20 of the last 29 tournaments. It’s no surprise to see players England lead the list of early entries with a count of 27, followed by Spain (13).

"We are absolutely delighted with the early response to the Mena Golf Tour events and look forward to welcoming the players. It’s great to see many new players join the tour, determined to serve notice of his talent," said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the Mena Golf Tour.

“Thanks to an overwhelming response from golfers in and outside the region, the tour has created its own niche in the world of golf in a short space of time, becoming a happy hunting ground for champions-in-waiting. The emergence of a champion from the Arab world has certainly set the ball rolling for the Mena talent.”

Held under the auspices of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the 2015 Mena Golf Tour boasts 10 events on its schedule spread across five countries in the region, including Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE with a total prize fund of $525,000 in addition to $52,000 reserved for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation award.

 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.