Kuwait City: Joe Heraty makes an emotional return to the Sahara Kuwait Championship this week, hoping to reignite the magic that led to his maiden win on the Mena Golf Tour last year.
Highlighted by a course-record 62 in the opening round, the Englishman finished at 13-under 275 for a two-shot victory that he dedicated to his father who was diagnosed with brain tumour a week before the start of the tournament.
“It was a tough week, but everybody was pretty supportive which kind of calmed me down,” he said. “I wanted to win it for him and that gave me extra strength, making the win very, very special.
“My dad is doing well now and it feels great to come back to the venue of my first win on the tour. Hopefully, I will be able to pick up where I left off last year, but I don’t want get ahead of myself.
“I’m just hoping to play well again and see where that leaves me,” added the 26-year-old Englishman, who will be joined by a strong field, studded with 13 previous winners on tour.
The second edition of the Sahara Kuwait Championship will offer participants a last chance to book their place in next week’s Tour Championship at Al Zorah in Ajman, with only the top-50 professionals and leading 10 amateurs in the Order of Merit set to proceed.
England’s Jamie Elson, who won the recent Ayla Golf Championship in Jordan, currently leads the Order of Merit for professionals with 32,453 points followed by fellow countryman Luke Joy (22,420) and Sweden’s Fredrik From (20,311).
The amateur division is currently led by England’s Todd Clements on 270 points ahead of compatriot Sam Hobday (205) and Swiss Michael Harradine (199). Six Kuwaiti golfers will also take part.
Wael Abdul Rahman Al Welayti, member of Sahara Kuwait’s golf advisory committee, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Mena Tour event back to Kuwait. The course is in perfect condition and we can expect some very good scores. Ours is the only grass course in the country and it makes a perfect sense to host international tournaments here if we are to promote golf here. We have got some very good players, like Ali Al Ansari and Ahmad Al Bader, who are quite eager to give a good account of themselves in the event.”
