Dubai: Despite having won three of the nine EGF Ladies Order of Merit titles this year and finishing second overall to Lyndsey Brown, Sana Tufail is back straight out onto the fairways, mastering her swing ahead of one of the most important summers in her fledgling career.
The 14-year-old Abu Dhabi-based golfing prodigy, who started playing in the EGF junior development scheme aged six and now plays at scratch handicap, will complete end-of-year exams at British School Al Khubairat before heading to the UK to make her mark on the greens of her native England.
She will compete in pre-qualifiers to the British Ladies Open as well as British Girls Open, the Scottish U23 Championship and the English Girl U15 Championship in just two months.
The exposure will pit Sana against the best of Britain's golfing girls in July and August.
Twice a junior EGF Order of Merit winner here in the UAE (2007, 2008) Sana, a Surrey County Junior, won the EGF Ladies net version in 2009 and finished second in the gross. She maintained that second gross slot this season falling just one stage win behind Brown, while never falling off the podium in all nine events.
Unable to defend her Scratch Match Play (play-off for best local ladies) gong of 2009/10 due to her studies, Sana will instead seek solace from her other accolades this year: two junior stage Order of Merit wins, six monthly medal triumphs and the Abu Dhabi Ladies Matchplay final.
"Lindsay and Sana have really raised the bar of local ladies golf this season to an unprecedented level," said Sana's father Haris Tufail. "The days of winning with a score of low 80 upper 70 have long gone."
Excellent preparation
"For the first time in ten years, over a hundred ladies have taken part in the series this year and Sana acknowledges it has been excellent preparation for the summer competing against everyone," the elder Tufail said.
As ever, the local golfing scene is in a transitory state.
Even the 24-year-old Brown, a former South Africa state player, could deal local Ladies golf and Sana's progression a serious blow here if she succeeds in the upcoming Q-School, potentially breaking what's been a solid grudge match between the two all season.
While Sana's UK foray is mainly intended to give her exposure against top professionals on the periphery of their tour cards, she will of course return to the UAE to complete her studies given her tender age.
Although far from becoming a professional, her standard of play suggests top US universities will be in with scholarship offers in the not too distant future.
But in the meantime hers is one name that may well light up local golf for a little longer.
West win title
The ‘West' won the fifth annual Creek Cup played over the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club Course last Friday. All the players were split into two teams from East and West of Dubai for a truly international showdown.
Club Captain Joseph Andrade captained the East team while vice-captain Ara Nakhnikian led the West.
Nakhnikian led the team to a grand total of 315 stableford points to defeat the East, who finished with only 302 points.