MENA Golf Tour to offer new incentives to Arab golfers competing in Tour events
Organisers of the MENA Golf Tour have instituted the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award to honour leading Arab professional and amateur players in a fresh move to spice up the competition and boost the presence of the region’s talent.
Open to MENA nationals, the awards, valued at $51,500 in cash and gift certificates, are in addition to the official prize money of $525,000 on the tour, and are aimed at recognizing the performance of the top three Arab professionals and amateurs from their respective divisions in each of the 2014 events.
Each tournament has been allocated a separate prize fund of $3,000 for the top-3 Arab professionals with the winner of the division taking $1,500 while $1,000 worth of gift vouchers, redeemable at the host club’s golf shop, will be presented to three leading amateurs. The prize fund for professionals will be raised to $5,000 for the season-ending MENA Tour Championship.
The added incentives for the region’s talent also includes a season-long bonus pool which will see the top-three Arab professionals on the overall Order of Merit standings share a purse of $8,500 with the leading three amateurs sharing gift certificates worth $1,500.
At the end of the tour, MENA national champions will be crowned in both professional and amateur divisions and they will be presented with attractive trophies.
“Our main goal is to spread the game across the region and create a competitive environment for Arab players to showcase their skills. The introduction of this special award is another step in that direction,” said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour.
“This will open up a competition within the main competition leading to healthy rivalries, especially among emerging players who may find it a quixotic challenge to beat an experienced international field. The level-playing field in their category, I believe, will help boost the Arab presence on the tour,” he said.
“I am confident that this initiative will receive full support not only from the MENA nationals, but also from our international members.
“Ours is a tour that allows amateurs to compete and benefit from the experience of playing with professionals. And keeping this in mind we have already introduced a new rule that ensures a minimum of 10 players from the amateur ranks qualify for the final round of play,” he added.
“We want to see Arab players play well on the international circuit and make a name for themselves. That’s the overriding goal behind the MENA Golf Tour.”
The 2014 edition of the tour tees off with back-to-back events in Morocco, starting from March 17 before taking a summer break. It resumes with the eight-week ‘Gulf Swing’ which includes four stops in the UAE and one each in Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia before returning to the UAE for the season-ending Tour championship in November at Al Ain Equestrian Shooting and Golf Club.
With each event boasting a prize fund of $50,000 and the Tour Championship carrying $75,000 in prize money besides rolling out a special fund for the Arab talent, the tour is being held under the auspices of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation with support from Omega and Mercedes-Benz.
