Dodd and Marmion lead the way on day 1 of the MENA Golf Tour’s Royal Golf D’Anfa Open
Stephen Dodd and Dale Marmion battled tough windy and rainy conditions to seize the early initiative in the first round of the MENA Golf Tour’s Royal Golf D’Anfa Open on Tuesday.
On a day when many players in the field got blown away by brutal weather, the British duo held firm in “home-like conditions” to shoot an identical two-under 70, moving two shots ahead of a five-player group, headed by last week’s winner Zane Scotland.
Wales’ Dodd lit up his steady round with an eagle on the ninth while England’s Marmion had five birdies, offset by two bogeys and a double bogey on the 10th.
“I think I played really well. My mindset was just to try and make par and try to be patient, and I think that strategy worked out,” said Marmion, who hails from Chester.
“I made the turn at turn at three-under, but double-bogeyed the 10th after hitting into the water and then dropped another shot on the 11th which was quite disappointing.
“Take these two holes away, I think I was on top of game. It was great test of golf with course playing completely different in wind,” said Marmion who finished sixth in last week’s Royal Dar Es Salam Open in Rabat.
Like Marmion, Dodd was equally pleased with his effort. “You can’t complain after shooting a two-under in these conditions. This is a great course which offers many good scoring opportunities if you know how to play in windy conditions,” said Dodd, a three-time winner on the European Tour.
England’s Scotland, who is chasing back-to-back wins, also felt conditions were a bit tricky out there. “It was not easy to score,” he said.
“A level-par score is not a bad start to the tournament. I am not thinking too much in terms of results and will take things as they come,” he said.
Spearheading the Moroccan challenging going into the second round is Faycal Serghini, who signed off for a level par.
“Even for us Moroccans the weather today was something unusual. We do experience wind and rain at this time of the year, but not of this intensity,” he said
“I am delighted with my score and it could have been even better, but I missed a couple easy putts out there. It was basically a tense test of nerve and skill,” he added.
“The fact that only two players broke par shows how difficult it was to score.”
Trevor Marshall (New Zealand). Fredrik Quicker (Sweden) and Lee Corfield (England) also carded level-par 72, one ahead of Daniel Wardrop (England), Nacer Makroune (Morocco), Ahmed Marjan (Morocco) and Greg Snow (Kenya).
Marjan, the leading amateur at last week’s event in Rabat, once again played with maturity of a seasoned pro. “I am really pleased with my game. If I can keep the momentum going, I certainly can expect a good finish,” said Marjan, who finished seventh overall last week.
A new initiative by the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the MENA Golf Tour is supported by Omega and Mercedes-Benz. It is affiliated to the Arab Golf Federation and the R&A – golf’s governing body and boasts a combined prize fund of $ 575,000, including $75,000 for the Tour Championship.
Leading scores after first round (par-72):
70 – Dale Marmion (England), Stephen Dodd (Wales)
72 – Zane Scotland (England), Faycal Serghini (Morocco), Trevor Marshall (New Zealand). Fredrik Quicker (Sweden) and Lee Corfield (England)
73 – Daniel Wardrop (England), Nacer Makroune (Morocco), Ahmed Marjan (Morocco) and Greg Snow (Kenya).
74 – Greg Nicolson (Scotland) and Aaron Leitmannstetter (Germany)
75 – Gary Birch Jr (Germany), Matthew Dearden, Mehdi Saossi (AM-Morocco), Mohamed Makroune (Morocco), El Hali Abdelkader (Morocco).
