Ahmed Markane leads the Mena Golf Tour challenge at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic
Young Moroccan Ahmed Marjane opened with a solid two-under 70 to lead the MENA Golf Tour challenge in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday. The 22-year-old prodigy, starting from the 10th, recovered well from an early bogey on the 12th, nailing birdies on the 13th, second and third to round off a good day’s work as England’s Zane Scotland (one-under 71) made a strong finish after opening with three bogeys in a row.
Marjane, the only Arab player to have won a MENA Golf Tour event, struck the ball well and could have finished even better, but was let down by his putter.
“My putter just wasn’t behaving as well as I would have liked. I hit a lot of good putts, but they refused to go in. I missed at least five birdie chances out there, all from within four yards, which was quite frustrating,” said the fast-improving player.
“I don’t see anything wrong with my game, it’s all a question of stringing together all parts of it. Maybe tomorrow is the day, let’s see.”
England’s Scotland was happy the way he finished his round after a poor start. “I woke with stiffness in my back and it took a while before I loosened up. Take those early bogeys away, I think I played really well and made five birdies.
“The course is just fantastic. There are plenty of scoring opportunities. You never know what tomorrow holds, but I am confident of making some gains in the second round,” said Scotland, who is making his third appearance in the longest-running European Tour event, dubbed the Major of the Middle East,
Joshua White, who topped the 2014 MENA Golf Tour Order of Merit, was left ruing a couple of wayward drives which resulted in double bogeys as he returned a three-over 75 “I was two under after the first 13 holes and things were going well, but two bad golf shots proved costly,” said the Englishman.
Elsewhere, Switzerland’s Michael Harradine and England’s Luke Joy carded matching 75s while English amateur James Allan settled for a 76 as Morocco’s Faycal Serghini had nothing much to cheer about after a first round 82.
In all seven MENA Golf Tour members are competing in the tournament, promoted and organised by golf in DUBAi.
