England’s Joshua White added a big splash of colour on the first day of the opening event of the 2014 MENA Tour with a sizzling six-under 66 in the Royal D’Anfa Open.

White picked up four shots in his final five holes to round off a “very steady day” at work, taking a two-shot lead over compatriot Zane Scotland, who returned a 68 as Italy’s Alessandro Tadini made a strong debut on the MENA Golf Tour moving into a tie for third a further shot adrift along with Scotland’s Paul Doherty and Toni Ferrer of Spain.

With calm, sunny weather presenting benign conditions, a total of 22 players broke par, including Ross McGowan, the winner of the 2012 Abu Dhabi GOLF CITIZEN Open, who shared sixth place with four others on -2 while defending champion Stephen Dodd of Wales settled for a 74.

MENA Tour officials gather on the opening day of the first event of 2014.

Sabri Mustapha of Morocco, who matched McGowan’s score, leads the Arab challenge along with compatriots Younes El Hassani, Ahmed Marjane, Mohamed Belaroussia and Mohamed Khallali, who all returned a 71 as the leading home professional Faycal Serghini settled for a 73.

The day belonged to White however, who is poised to better his previous best performance on the MENA Golf Tour – runner-up to Monaco’s Sandro Piaget at last year’s Ghala Valley Open in Oman when he lost in a playoff.

“I played very steadily and hardly missed any greens which gave me a lot of scoring opportunities,” he said. “A good spell with the putter on the final few holes was pretty nice.”

England’s Scotland, who has won every opening event on the tour since its inception in 2011, put himself firmly in contention to keep the tradition going with a brilliant all-round display.

“I think I played solid golf, which was nice. The conditions were pretty good for scoring since there was no wind,” said Scotland, who is also a golf in DUBAi ambassador.

“The course is in great condition and the greens are rolling nice,” said Scotland, who eagled the 16th when he drilled a five iron to within 20 feet and holed the ensuing putt.

Playing in his first MENA Golf Tour event, Tadini also made a good start and could have done even better but missed some easy putts from close range.

“My long game was pretty good, as always, but I just played fantastic from 130 metres to the pin,” said the 40-year-old Italian, who was the first to strike the ball early in the morning when it was a wee bit foggy. “My putting was so-so as I missed at least four easy putts, all from within three metres.

“The course is in great condition, but things will become interesting if the wind picks up when it won’t be easy to go low,” said Tadini, whose best finish on the European Tour was a top-5 at the 2005 Welsh Open.

England’s McGowan, who started and finished with a birdie, felt his round was pretty interesting. “I started off well, but made many mistakes in the middle. My putting was pretty average. I four putted three times which wasn’t a good thing,” said the winner of the 2009 Madrid Masters on the European Tour.

Fellow Brit Ben Russell who produced the shot of the day when he aced the par-3, eighth with a six iron from 175 yards for his career’s second hole in one.