Dubai: With three of the last four events on the Mena Golf Tour going into play-offs this season, and a different winner in all six rounds of the 11-stage series so far, all eyes are on the Golf Citizen Classic at the Els Club from Monday, to see if someone can finally break away.

Scotland’s Paul Doherty narrowly leads the Order of Merit with a ninth, first, and second place finish in rounds one, two and six, respectively.

Meanwhile, English duo Gary King and Jake Shepherd, along with Sweden’s Per Barth are all snapping at the heels of Doherty, with just $1,930 (around Dh7000) separating the top four.

All three have won an event each this season; King in round four, Shepherd in round three and Barth in round five - and they stand just above respective round one and round six winners Ross McGowan and Gabriel Canizares on better consistency throughout the series.

Boasting three top-10s, including a solo third at last week’s American Express Dirab Golf Championship, South Africa’s rising star Thriston Arthur Lawrence will be aiming to go one better, if not the full distance, to break into the top three from his current fifth position.

Craig Hinton, who settled for second to Spain’s Gabriel Canizares in Dirab, along with fellow Englishman Luke Joy, who finished fourth, will also be keen to put a temporary blip in an otherwise strong performance behind him.

Elsewhere, the victory of Morocco’s Ayoub Lguirati in the amateur division last week has added a new dimension to the competition otherwise dominated England’s James Allan and India’s Rayhan Thomas.

Currently placed fifth on the Order of Merit, the young Moroccan will be targeting another strong finish to break into the top three along with his compatriot Karim Al Hali, who has maintained his fourth position.

Playing in his first season as a professional, Morocco’s Mehdi Sassi is giving regular contenders a terrific run for their money in the Mena Division. The 24-year-old prodigy racked up a creditable tied sixth overall — and the first in his division — last week to close the gap on leaders Faycal Serghini, Ahmed Marjan and Amine Joudar.

With the leaders in the division returning to the competition after playing in the European Tour qualifier in Italy last week, the Mena Division will have its own share of emotions and drama at The Els Club, which hosted the Dubai Open, the Asian Tour’s final event of 2014, in December.