Teenager Rayhan Thomas continued his red-hot form as he carded a flawless five-under 67 to join Englishman Craig Hinton and Shahid Javed of Pakistan atop the leaderboard on the opening day of the MENA Golf Tour’s Golf Citizen Classic at the Els Club Dubai on Monday.
Thomas and Javed went bogey free while Hinton countered an early bogey on the second with three birdies in a row and then picked up three more shots, as the trio moved one clear at the top.
Morocco’s Ahmed Marjan, Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda, Luke Joy of England, Per Barth of Sweden and rising Scottish star Daniel Hendry were tightly grouped in the chasing pack one shot adrift.
Defending champion Clarke Lutton of Scotland was in a four-man group a further shot back on three-under 69 alongside Wira Salleh of Brunei, Scott Campbell of England and Alex Messiqua of Switzerland as 26 players broke par on day one.
England’s Hinton, who won the Johannesburg City Masters earlier this season, said: “The course is playing long, but it offers plenty of scoring opportunities as greens are rolling nicely.
“Very happy with the way I played,” said the 27-year-old Englishman from Thame, who also boasts four runner-up finishes on the MENA Golf Tour.
Thomas, a 16-year-old Dubai-based prodigy from India, was equally pleased with his day’s work. “Played very solid golf throughout again. Hope I can keep the momentum going. So far so good,” said Thomas, who boasts a second, third, first and ninth in his last four events on the tour.
Going forward, Thomas can expect a strong challenge from Hendry, who, like him, learned the basic rudiments of the game at the Junior Development Program while growing up in Dubai.
“I think I hit all the fairways and didn’t make any major mistake out there. I felt my iron game was pretty good which led to aggression,” said Daniel, who won the prestigious Shaikh Rashid Trophy in 2011.
“Making a birdie on the long par-3, 17th was the highlight of my round. I hit my four iron to within six feet and holed the ensuing birdie putt which was quite pleasing,” said the 22-year-old amateur.
Pakistan’s Javed said: “The key to going low on this course, which is playing long and tough, depends upon how well you drive and how well you read the greens. It feels nice to walk off the course with a good score under your belt.”
Morocco’s Marjan started strongly, making the turn at three under. Three birdies and two bogeys highlighted his back nine as he put himself firmly in the frame for a strong finish.
“Just trying to gain some momentum back after missing the cut last week. I struggled with my driver, but my iron play was pretty precise. Also, I holed some nice putts which added to the confidence,” said Marjan, who is leading the MENA Division a good four shots ahead of his compatriot Faycal Serghini.
The Saudi duo of Othman Almulla and Khaled Attieh shot matching level-par 72s to share the lead in the region’s amateur division, one ahead of Bahrain’s Sam Hobday.
Almulla made the turn at two-under, but a wayward drive on the 10th resulted in a lost ball and a triple bogey. “Barring that mishap on the 10th, I think I played well and finished the round with a birdie,” said Almulla, who is chasing back-to-back leading amateur of the region titles.
Among the notables, Dominic Foos of Germany returned one-under 71 while Zane Scotland, an 11-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour, settled for level-par.

Source: Arab News