Leading Oman amateur golfer Azaan Al Rumhy welcomes first ever NBO Amateur final

Oman’s leading amateur golfer, Azaan Al Rumhy, has welcomed the announcement at a recent planning meeting of the National Bank of Oman and the European Challenge Tour of the first-ever NBO Amateur Final, to be played alongside the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final set to take place at Almouj Golf, The Wave in Muscat from Wednesday November 4 to Saturday November 7. The NBO Amateur Final will take place during the last two days of the European Challenge Tour’s season-ending Championship, where the leading 45 players compete for the 15 places on offer to play on the 2016 European Tour International Schedule.
 
The NBO Golf Classic Grand Final will be played over 72 holes (four rounds) beginning on Wednesday, November 4, and concluding on Saturday, November 7. The NBO Amateur Final will run in parallel over 36-holes (two rounds) on the Friday and Saturday respectively.
 
After two hugely successful editions of the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic at Almouj Golf in 2013 and 2014 the tournament earned the honour of hosting the prestigious European Challenge Tour’s season-ending Championship.
In the previous two years of the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic the tournament included an amateur competition for players around the Middle East and several Omani amateurs participated.
 
“It was a wonderful experience for me and the other Omani amateurs to play with the European Challenge Tour stars of tomorrow for the last two years but I appreciate that in hosting the Grand Final the event can no longer be played in the same format,” says Azaan.
 
“To take a positive view, it will be a good thing for the Omani amateurs to have an Omani tournament (the NBO Amateur Final) taking place alongside the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.
 
“It is a credit to the National Bank of Oman and to the Sultanate itself to have been chosen to host the Grand Final of the Challenge Tour season and we all understand that the publicity that golf in Oman, the National Bank of Oman, Almouj Golf and the supporting sponsors will receive as a result is a considerable benefit to our business and tourism.
 
“With the added publicity of the Road to Oman, with the Muscat event being mentioned every week whenever there is a tournament on the Challenge Tour, it is also an ideal way of promoting Oman. I also follow The European Tour’s Race to Dubai weekly podcast which is presented by Ewan Murray and Robert Lee and they were talking about the Oman Grand Final when it was announced. It’s all good promotion for Oman. I’m sure there are lots of people worldwide who follow the podcast.
 
“This is good news for Oman’s amateurs and it will provide a great incentive for them to practice and improve their game in an effort to get into the Omani-only NBO Amateur Final. With the tournament being played off the forward tees it will open up the opportunity for Omani amateurs, particularly the youngsters, to enjoy the course and to play on the same final two days of the Grand Final will be a great thrill.”
 
Alain de Soultrait, Director of the European Challenge Tour, commented: “We are pleased that it has been possible to accommodate the Omani amateurs in the tournament. The NBO Amateur Final will give the opportunity to the best Omani amateurs to gain experience, as they will play the exact same course as the Challenge Tour players. There might be less pressure than in the past two years but surely the competition will be high between them to win this first edition of the NBO Amateur Final.”
 
Azaan Al Rumhy continued: “I’ve been struggling this season with my game so I’ll have to get in good shape in readiness for the big event. It was good to see our Oman Junior team do so well at the GCC Golf Championships in Kuwait. They had a chance of winning the U-18s’ section but lost out on the last day. They love the game and they really enjoy competing at a higher level.
 
“The same can be said for the National Team. It’s good that there are some promising juniors coming through because they need to push the older players. We can’t have the National Team stagnating because there is nobody threatening their place. It’s the same for the juniors – we have four good juniors, but they need competition to push them and make them improve so they can challenge for places on the National Team. “We should encourage youngsters to take up the game in every way we can, with golf being part of the curriculum in the schools and with coaching the juniors at the golf clubs. Oman has a great golfing future and we should encourage people of all ages to take up the game.
 
“We’ve got some big events coming up to look forward to, particularly the Asia Pacific Championship in Hong Kong in October; the Nomura Cup at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi in October and the Pan Arab Golf Championships in November in Tunisia. It’s going to be an exciting year all round for golf in Oman.”