Dubai: Zane Scotland broke a year-long title drought to win his record-extending 10th Mena Golf Tour event by three strokes at the season-opening Royal Mohammedia Open in Morocco on Friday.
Starting the final round in a four-way tie for the lead, the 2013 Order of Merit winner held his nerve to close with a four-under par 68 to reach 11 under par for the tournament to win his first event since the Golf Citizen Masters in Al Ain in October 2014.
His fellow Englishmen and overnight joint leaders Jamie Elson and Andrew Marshall settled for second, two shots ahead of a five-man group, which included South Africa’s Tyler Hogarty and England’s Lee Corfield, a four-time winner on the tour.
“I really worked hard on my game during the winter and it has paid off which feels great,” said Scotland, who mixed seven birdies including four in a row from the ninth, with three bogeys. “I know this course well, having won here before. The thinking was to make as many birdies as possible which I tried to do,
“I was really disappointed not to have any event last year despite posting some good finishes. Now that I have won, I would like to keep the momentum going during the season,” he added.
Marshall felt he wasn’t quite on his game in the final round. “I knew it was going to take a good score to win, maybe four or five under. I had my chances, but couldn’t exploit them. The conditions were difficult, but not overly difficult. Full credit to Zane, who really played well and deserved to win,” said Marshall.
Elsewhere, defending champion Paul Doherty of Scotland finished a tie for 30th on one-over along with the 2015 Mena Golf Tour Order of Merit champion, Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who carded a final round 70.
Morocco’s Younus Al Hassani closed with a 73 to win the Mena Division for professionals on four-under while his compatriot Omar Arhazraf took the honours in the region’s amateur division on four-over, one ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Attieh.
Round two of the 20-stage Mena Golf Tour will now take place in the Moroccan port city of Al Jadida on the Atlantic coast, starting on Monday.
