Organisers of the MENA Golf Tour have unveiled a special prize fund to add to the excitement ahead of the Tour’s first Qualifying School to be held next month.
In addition to earning playing privileges on the Tour this season, the top 50 and ties will share $25,000 on the basis of their rankings with the winner walking away with a cheque for $4,500.
Added incentives for MENA Golf Tour members include five guaranteed spots in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, multiple entries in the Asian Tour’s DUBAi Open, one in the Hassan II Trophy and exemptions into theFinal Stage of the Asian Tour Q-School for the leading three professionals in addition to attractive prize funds.
Open to professionals and amateurs, the 54-hole qualifier will be held at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam Course in the Moroccan capital of Rabat from March 30 to April 1 ahead of the first event on the 2015 MENA Golf Tour schedule that gets under way on April 3.
Mohamed Juma Buamaim, Chairman of the MENA Tour.
Now in its fifth season, the 2015 MENA Golf Tour boasts 10 events on its schedule spread across five countries in the region, including Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“It (the prize money) will give the players the extra motivation as they aim to graduate to higher exemption categories to ensure they feature in all MENA Golf Tour events,” said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, Chairman of “With events being oversubscribed in the last couple of seasons, we needed to put in place a system which is transparent and rewarding for top players. The introduction of the Q-School this season is a step in the direction,” he added.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the Tour has lived up to everybody’s expectations, but more work is needed to be done if we aim to promote golf in the region and get more people playing the game because you have some of the best facilities here in the world.”
Agreed, Darren Clarke, the patron of the MENA Golf Tour. “The Q-School is just the beginning of big things I see for the Tour. If it keeps going the way it is, it’s a huge pathway for someone from this region to qualify for the Olympics. It gives young professionals and amateurs much-needed experience, which is difficult to gain,” said Clarke, who has won 21 professional titles during his 25-year stint on the European Tour.
“The primary aim is to stimulate the growth of golf in the region. Whatever I have learned through my years of playing, I will be more than happy to share my knowledge. I also want to be involved with it and I want to try to make the tournaments themselves better,” said the 2012 Open champion, who himself has committed to playing one MENA Golf Tour event this year.
Held under the auspices of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the golfing odyssey gets under way in April with back-to-back events in Morocco — one each at Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club, Rabat and Royal D’Anfa in Mohammedia – before taking a summer break.
The schedule resumes in mid-September with the eight-week ‘Gulf Swing’ that includes four stops in the UAE and one each in Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia before returning to the UAE for the season-ending Tour championship in November.
With the Qualifying School boasting a prize fund of $25,000, each MENA Golf Tour event $50,000 and the Tour Championship carrying $75,000 in prize money, a total of $550,000 will be up for grabs for members of the Tour, which is affiliated to the Arab Golf Federation and the R&A, golf’s governing body based at St. Andrews in Scotland.
