Whittaker & Camero tied in Faldo Junior Tour Middle East Championship

Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Cub home favorite, Peter Whittaker and Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club’s Jamie Roslyn Camero share the first round lead of the Faldo Junior Tour Middle East Championship supported by The Emirates Golf Federation. The field is made up of 43 players from 21 different nations for what is a truly International event with boys and girls competing from the ages of 12-21 years of age.

Whittaker traded five birdies against two disappointing dropped shots on holes 16 and 18 to post an excellent 67 and take a three shot lead in the Boys under 18 category, his nearest challenger is Denmark’s Viktor Kofod-Olsen who sits on level par, 70, India’a Nikhil Bhatia starts tomorrow’s round in third place and five strokes off of Peter’s lead.

Jamie Roslyn Camero showed incredible fighting spirit as she played her final twelve holes in five under par having fallen to plus two after three holes, a bogey free back nine of 32 strokes has Jamie a single shot ahead of both Hannah Cheryl Allan of Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club and also Lucie Vachova of Slovakia as both girls posted two under par scores of 68, the Girls under 21 category is very much wide open as Lara El Chaib sits in fourth place but only three strokes from the lead.

Mahreen Bhatia of India, competing in the Girls under 16 category, cruised to the turn in three under par 32, two dropped shots and a birdie two at the short 17th resulted in a 38 back nine and a two under par score of 68, Mahreen stands four strokes ahead of Faye Al Blooshi of the UAE and Zurich Kanokpornvasin with both girls returning scores of plus two, 72.

With 20 boys competing in the Boys under 16 section, Gustaf Larsson returned a solid score of level par, 70. Gustaf currently holds off his brother Adrian Larsson by two strokes as both will play in the same pairing for tomorrow’s second round, one stroke just separates the next 11 players for third place as a host of players posted scores of 74 and 75.

Each division is wide open as we head into Wednesday's second round and for certain we will see many changes to the leaderboard throughout the next two days.