Ras Al Khaimah: Ahmad Al Musharrakh spearheaded an Arab assault on the leaderboard with a career-best 67 to steal a share of the lead going into the final round of the Mena Golf Tour Ras Al Khaimah Classic at Tower Links Golf Club on Tuesday.
Al Musharrekh, the only golf professional from the UAE, who opened with a 71 on Monday, reeled off seven birdies in his five-under second round and only a double-bogey on the sixth hole prevented the talented youngster from taking the solo lead as he joined Spain’s Tony Ferrer, Peter Stojanovski (Macedonia) and Abdul Rahman Sihag (Kenya) at the summit of a congested leaderboard on six-under par.
Lurking ominously just a shot off the lead is the Moroccan duo of Faycal Serghini and Ahmad Marjane, who shared fifth place with Cennydd Mills (Wales), Craig Hinton (England) and Scotsman Daniel Kay, who is also the highest-placed amateur in the field going into the final day.
With five shots separating the top 28 players, the prognosis points to an exciting finish to the $50,000 tournament. With the Moroccan pair of Amine Joudar and Yassine Touhami (amateur) also making big moves up the leaderboard with matching 68s, it will be interesting to see how the Arab players — with a total of six in red figures — fare coming down the final stretch.
While the scoring was impressive all round, it was Al Musharrekh who took centre stage with the round of his life. “I felt at peace with myself out there. Every part of my game fell into place. Take that double-bogey away when I came up short from 100 yards and failed to get up and down, I played really well.
“I try to be mentally tough in any situation on the course and that’s the key to an overall improvement in my game. There are plenty of scoring opportunities there and if I can hole some putts, I think I stand a good chance of going the distance. But you never know what tomorrow holds,” said the 24-year-old Sharjah-based golfer.
Driving the ball dead straight off the tee, Peter Stojanovski swung his way to the joint lead with back-to-back 69s. “I am striking the ball really well, especially off the tee, and creating good scoring opportunities out there. The good thing is that I am able to convert these chances, said the 19-year-old Macedonian, who turned professional just before the Dubai Creek Open three weeks ago.
Morocco’s Serghini, who boasts three runner-up finishes on the Mena Golf Tour, put himself in contention for another strong finish with a second round 68. “It was a very good day at work, I played solid golf. Made just two mistakes — first when I hit my approach into water on the 5th and then I came up short on the 11th and failed to get up and down, both silly errors thatresulting in bogeys,” said Serghini.
Elsewhere, defending champion Zane Scotland of England settled for back-to-back 72s to move into a tie for 29th while his countrymen John Singleton, who returned a 75 for a 36-hole total of three-over, missed the cut made at two-over — the lowest in the history of the MENA Golf Tour. Also missing the cut were the English duo of Chris McDonnell (six-over) and Yasin Ali (eight over).
