Mena Tour
Hi everyone…
I now have three weeks playing on the MENA Tour in the Emirates, starting with a week in Dubai playing at Al Badia Golf Club.
Check this out for a clubhouse….
You may remember back in June I won the mini OOM on the Jamega Tour that paid for part of this trip – which was a massive reason why I came out.
I’ve been very lucky too, as I have managed to have three weeks of free accommodation through friends scattered around the UAE.
I can’t thank them enough, as that in itself has saved hundreds of pounds!
This really is going to be a great trip as it’s the first time I have continued to play competitively up until European Tour School. So to have three weeks practice in great weather, on great facilities can only be a perfect way to prep for Tour School.
But it’s also going to be the toughest three weeks away from home too; it’s the longest stretch away in one go I’ve ever had and I’m so grateful for Wi-Fi and Face Time! I get to see everyone back home each day and still see Jess grow up!
One of the differences with the Mena Tour is you get to play in shorts and we always use buggies too, I did not think I would like that but after the first day out here I soon loved that new rule!!
I have never been as hot in my life on a golf course, just hitting putts and having sweat dripping down your arms is not a nice feeling. (But better than practising in four layers of clothes back home, I guess).
So to the first tournament at Al Badia, this venue is the host to the Challenge Tour Grand final in a few weeks, which disappointingly I won’t be part of, so that shows it’s a great track.
A lot of water, a lot of sand but not having much rough made it an easy set up this week and that showed in the scoring. You could not really lose a ball unless you hit it in the water.
I played great for three rounds but could not make the birdies from the chances I created. I only made three bogeys in three rounds so I managed to shoot 70, 70, 69 for a -7 total and a tie for 8th.
Not a bad start to my Mena adventure and a great platform to build on for the rest of the trip and Tour School in early November.
So now I travel up to Ras Al Khaimah which is one hour North of Dubai for the next event at Tower Links. But first I have to hunt down a replacement driver as I smashed the face on my Nike driver on the practice ground before I teed off in round 2.
(Luckily I got to borrow something similar but I can’t use that next week).
So after a full day hunting for some sort of driver to use, I found one!
In the Emirates their weekend is actually Friday/Saturday so I had arranged with the help of a friend at Al Hamara two games of golf with good friends Gary Dunkley (Dewsbury), Mike Kenyon (Woodsome) and Adam Walker (Fixby) who are all out here for various reasons.
It was great to actually have two relaxed games with some friends to break up the competitiveness of the Mena Tour and try to get used to my borrowed driver.
So after a good weekend it was back to the practice at this week’s course, Tower Links … a pretty good layout but unfortunately they really have struggled with their ‘winter’ season and the greens are shocking. (The worst I’ve seen in places).
But as they say, it’s the same for everyone so I’m just going to get on with it and not moan like most do!!!
Tournament update:
I played pretty solid the first two rounds and hit some quality shots again. The only real area for improvement being from the tee, I’ve just struggled to commit to the driver I am borrowing even though in practice I have hit it great.
Anyway, let’s see what happens in the last round and hopefully I can climb the leaderboard again.
71, 71 (-2) puts me in T12th place with a round to go…
I played great today in places and really controlled my golf ball for most of the round!
I just missed a couple of short putts towards the end but finished with a 69 (-3) to sneak up the leaderboard a little to T9th.
To have two top tens is always a great feeling but I really want to press on at the next event and challenge for a win!
Bring on Saadiyat near Abu Dhabi!
I now have four days of practice in the Dubai area before the next event and having a friend at Abu Dhabi National always helps … four of us are going for a game tomorrow and I’m sure I am speaking for us all when I say we can’t wait to play up 18 to that famous clubhouse!!
Let’s hope me and Adam take the money!!!!
So a good few days practice at Abu Dhabi and at the Emirates club and now back to business! Saadiyat is amazing, a great golf course 7800 yards off the back tees, just hitting 4 iron after 4 iron into par 4’s.
The views here are amazing too… check these out…
Round up:
After two rounds I see myself in T11th place with scores of 75, 70 (+1) I was pretty poor in the first round but played a lot better on day 2 and committed really well to some tough shots, so pretty excited about the last round.
Let’s see what kind of score I can shoot tomorrow and hopefully post my best result of the Mena trip!
A 71 (-1) to finish my three events in the Emirates! I did not post a best result but I did post my 3rd top 10 out of 3. That is a nice feeling and really is a good building block for Tour School in a week’s time.
So thanks again to everyone for their continued support and a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who made this trip a successful one, you know who you are!
I’m now sitting in Dubai airport waiting for a 3am flight to get home to see my family before I fly back out to Spain next week for Tour School.
This year I will be ready!
Watch this space…
Chris