Mena Tour News Information and Results

Mena Golf Tour debutant Manuel Trappel hits the front after day 1 in Rabat

Faycal Serghini, by his own admission, endured a crazy day at work, but still managed to post a good score in the first round of the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam Open, the opening event on the MENA Golf Tour, here on Saturday. The experienced Moroccan carded an eventful three-under 70 to join the English duo of James Allan and Jack Hiluta in second place, just one behind Austria’s Manuel Trappel, who seized the early initiative with a superb four-under back nine.

Ahmed Marjane, the first Arab winner on the MENA Golf Tour, shared the fifth with compatriots Karim El Hali and Ahmed-Reda Rhazali on two-under 71 as four Moroccan players made it to the top seven on the leaderboard.

Playing his first event on the MENA Golf Tour, Trappel wasted no time in making his presence felt with a solid round. He made the turn at level-par, but lit up the back nine with four birdies, including three in a row from the 12th.

For Serghini, who won the 2014 Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award for being the best professional in the MENA region, it was a roller coaster round, which contained four birdies, three bogeys and one eagle.

“I didn’t play well, especially on the front nine, spraying shots all over the pace, but had a few lucky bounces going my way,” said Serghini, who is also a ‘golf in DUBAi’ ambassador
 
“Things were a little better on the back nine,” said the 39-year-old from Casablanca who produced the shot of the day when he holed his approach from 118 yards for an eagle on the par-4, 13.

Among the notables, Joshua White, the winner of the 2014 MENA Golf Tour Order of Merit title, shot one-over 74 while Zane Scotland, who boasts nine wins on the tour, settled for five-over 78.

England’s White was quite pleased with his efforts despite a late stumble. “I was quite patient out there and played some good golf. Every part of the game fell in place though I dropped a couple of shots coming home, which was quite unfortunate,” said White who started with a birdie, but conceded a double bogey on the last after finding the bunker.

Scotland felt he played much better than what his score suggests. “I didn’t putt well, simple as that. Couldn’t make any birdies despite hitting a couple of shots close to the pin,” he said.

England’s James Allan, the winner of the 2014 Order of Merit for amateurs, set the tone of things to come, taking an early lead in his division.

“Overall, I played really well and made some long putts to keep the round going,” said Allan, who has no immediate plans to turn professional.

Making his debut on the MENA Golf Tour, Germany’s Dominic Foos returned a four-over 77, but admitted it was fun playing on the tour. “I may not have scored as well as I would have liked to, but it was fun playing the first event on the tour, which is very well organised.”

Leading first round scores (par-73, 7,376 yards):
69 – Manuel Trappel (Austria)
70 – Faycal Serghini (Morocco), James Allan (England-AM), Jack Hiluta (England)
71 – Ahmed Marjane (Morocco), Karim El Hali (Morocco-AM), Ahmed-Reda Rhazali (Morocco)
72 – Craig Hinton (England), Luke Joy (England), Fernando Garcia Grout (Spain)

Notables:
74 – Joshua White (England)
75 – Haydn McCullen (England)
77 – Dominic Foos (Germany)
78 – Zane Scotland (England)
80 – Lee Corfield (England)

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