Darren Clarke gets yet another taste of MENA Tour competiton teeing-up at the Ayla Golf Club and the first time a Tour event has been staged in Jordan.

In recent weeks Clarke, as the MENA Tour patron, has competed in Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The Greg Norman-designed Ayla Golf Club course is the first 18-hole course to be built in Jordan and laid-out in a stunning location overlooking the Red Sea.

The course is considered Norman’s top three most sustainable golf courses, featuring solar-powered floodlights and eco-friendly paspallum grass that is fed using water from 19 wells.

The stunning Ayla GC course in Jordan.

“For us to be considered as a venue capable of hosting our first professional golf tournament within our first year of operation is both testament to the quality of the product as well as our collective team’s desire to showcase Ayla, Aqaba and, indeed Jordan, to a global audience,” said Sahl Dudin, Managing Director of Ayla.

“Aqaba seeks to improve its tourism assets, so that we can make the stay of visiting tourists longer. So it is not only the ‘sun and sand’: it is the ‘Golden Triangle’, which is Wadi Rum and Petra, and more attractions in Aqaba, which is diving, and now golf.”

Commented Chris White, Ayla Director of Operations: “We are delighted to be part of the Mena Tour as we feel the championship will be a great catalyst for the overall growth and development of the sport in the country.

“It’s great to see a player of the stature of Darren lend his celebrity status to the event, which I am sure, which be a memorable affair. We are really grateful to him for his support,” added White, who also thanked Zain telecommunications, Genesis, Samsung and Arab Bank for backing the event.

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Tour, said: “This is our first visit to Jordan which we see as another positive development for golf in the region. I would like to thank Ayla for hosting the event that, I am sure, will become a popular and permanent stop on the Tour.

“Rich in historical sites and unique in culture experiences, Jordan has also made great strides in putting together solid infrastructure for golf and hosting of a MENA Tour event there strongly endorses the country’s commitment to broadening the base of golfers in the Arab world.

“These are exciting times for us and we look forward to working with Jordanian golf authorities with the mutual goal of putting the region’s golf on the world’s sporting map.”

With three of the top five on the Order of Merit standings, currently led by England’s Jamie Elson, joining a host of perennial contenders led by Zane Scotland, a 10-time winner on the tour, the field for the Jordan event is bursting with energy, promising an absorbing contest before the winner is crowned on Saturday.

Elson (23,453 points) is followed by Sweden’s Fredrik Form (19,021) while Luke Joy, a two-time winner on the tour, is placed fifth with 16,420 points as just one more event — the Sahara Kuwait Golf Championship — is to go before the field whittles down for the season-ending Tour Championship later this month.

Located in the heart of Aqaba’s newest deluxe waterfront development, the Ayla Golf Club features 800,000 square metres of rolling green fairways. Since its soft  opening in October 2016, it has garnered global attention for its commitment to environmentally-friendly design that showcases lush landscapes, four lakes, palm trees and a meandering wet wadi that comes into play on eleven holes

In addition to the 18-hole championship course, Ayla Golf Club offers a teaching academy, a 9-hole par-3 course and a state-of-the-art driving range for locals and visitors, providing them with the opportunity to learn and develop their game on the best facilities in the region.

Chris White, Ayla director of operations, with MENA Tour patron Darren Clarke