Scotland seizes Mena Golf Tour early lead shooting a 68 in round 1 of the Royal D’Anfa Open
Zane Scotland seized the early initiative, shooting a solid four-under-par 68 in the first round of the Royal D’Anfa Open, the opening event on the 2014 MENA Golf Tour.
The Englishman, who has won every opening event on the tour since its inception in 2011 mixed four birdies and an eagle with two bogeys to move one ahead of Italy’s Alessandro Tadini and two off Timothee Briset of France and England’s Ross McGowan.
“It was a pretty good day at work,” said Scotland, a six-time winner on the tour. “I played solid golf, which was nice. I think conditions were pretty good for scoring since there was no wind,” said Scotland, who is also a golf in DUBAi ambassador.
“The course is in great condition and greens are rolling nice,” said Scotland, who eagled the 16th when he drilled a five iron to within 20 feet and holed the ensuing putt.
Playing in his first MENA Tour event, Tadini also made a good start and could have done even better but missed some easy putts from close range.
“My long game was pretty good, as always, but I just played fantastic from 130 metres to the pin,” said the 40-year-old Italian, who was the first to strike the ball early in the morning when it was a wee bit foggy. “My putting was so so as I missed at least four easy putts, all from within three meters.
“The course is in great condition, but things will become interesting if the wind picks up when it won’t be easy to go low,” said Tadini, whose best finish on the European Tour being a top-5 at the 2005 Welsh Open.
“I am feeling good about my game, but it will all depend on how I fare on the greens in the next two days,” said the Italian, who believes a score between 8 and 10 under could be the winning one if the weather stays calm and five or six if it doesn’t.
England’s McGowan, who started and finished with a birdie, felt his round was pretty interesting. “I started off well, but made many mistakes in the middle. My putting was pretty average. I four putted three times which wasn’t a good thing,” said the Englishman, who won the 2012 Abu Dhabi GOLF CITIZEN by a record six-shot margin.
“The course is just fantastic. If you are accurate off the tee, you can create plenty of scoring opportunities. I think I need to improve if I aim to capitalize on those opportunities,” said the 2009 winner of the Madrid Open.
Defending champion Stephen Dodd of Wales settled for a 74 while Younes El Hassani led the home challenge with a fine 71 as many players were still finish their first round.
It was England’s Ben Russell who produced the shot of the day when he aced the par-3, eighth with a six iron from 175 yards for his career’s second hole in one.
Pic caption:
Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour, with Mohamed Fettah, president of Royal Golf D’Anfa Mohammedia, Abderrahman Bouftas of Dar Es Salam Golf Club, Mustafa Zine of Royal Morocco Golf Federation, and other senior golf officials
