Dubai: Chris McDonnell is hoping to carry his top form this season when he tees it up at the Dubai Creek Open, his first event on the Mena Golf Tour, starting on Monday. He had recorded his biggest win of his career recently at the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship in the United Kingdom.
The 32-year-old Englishman, who earlier in the summer had won the Austrian PGA equivalent, will be up against a deeply talented field, packed with potential winners and several rising young stars.
With the likes of Wales’s Stephen Dodd and the English trio of Jake Shepherd, Lee Corfield and Joshua White, who have all won at least one event on the Mena Golf Tour, in the fray along with Asian Tour veteran Yasin Ali, McDonnell will have his work cut out when the joins a strong 124-player field, which includes 24 amateurs.
With a first and a tied 30th finish under his belt in the opening two events on the 2014 Mena Golf Tour schedule, England’s White currently leads the Order of Merit, but will need to find that extra bit of something to keep the moment rolling into Dubai Creek Open in the face of a stiff competition.
The Dubai Creek Open will produce a first-time winner as England’s Zane Scotland, who won the previous two editions of the event, is competing in the European Tour Qualifying School this week, but will be on hand to defend his title at next week’s Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open at Al Badia Golf Club.
Spearheading the Arab challenge will be Morocco’s Faycal Serghini, who finished runner-up to England’s Joshua White at the Royal D’Anfa Open — the opening event of the current season — in Mohammedia after leading by four shots with four holes to play.
Included in the Arab division are UAE’s only professional Ahmed Al Musharrekh and the Moroccan duo of Ahmad Marjan and experienced Younes Al Hassini, who will be aiming to close the gap on compatriot Serghini at the top of Order of Merit for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award.
