Lee Corfield cornered the second round lead posting a sizzling bogey-free six-under 66 to break free from the chasing pack going into the final round of the MENA Golf Tour’s Golf Citizen Classic at the Els Club Dubai on Tuesday.
Starting the day a good four shots off the pace, Corfield strung together the tournament’s low score to reach seven-under for the tournament, a good two shots ahead of his fellow Englishman Luke Joy and Sweden’s Ber Barth.
Overnight joint leader Rayhan Thomas of India slipped to tied fourth on four-under after carding a 73, a triple bogey on the 10th spoiling his otherwise an impressive card.
Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda, Oscar Hertzberg of Sweden and England’s Max Williams completed the group on four-under as seven players, including Shahid Javed of Pakistan and Craig Hinton, who shared the overnight lead, moved into a tie for eighth a further shot adrift on three under.
Lee Corfield corners the second round lead in the MENA Golf Tour’s Golf Citizen Classic at the Els Club Dubai. (Photo – MENA Tour_).
“I played some good, solid golf. I made six birdies and five bogeys in the first round, but today I kept bogeys off my card which was the key to going low,” said Corfield, a four-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour.
“You never know what tomorrow holds, but I feel like I am playing nicely. Will see how things pan out,” said the Englishman, who hardly played any competitive golf because of lower back issues in the last couple of months.
In-form Thomas started strong, making three birdies in his first four holes, but hit the roadblock on the 10th when a wayward drive resulted in three dropped shots.
“I was cruising along nicely having got off to another great start, but one bad hole changed the whole look of the card. Take that away, I think I played really well. I am just shots off the pace and very much in with chance,” said the Dubai-based amateur.
Morocco’s Faycal Serghini shot a 71 to return to the top of the leaderboard in the MENA Division on one under, a good two shots ahead of compatriot Ahmed Marjan who stumbled to a 77 after opening with a 68.
“I think I played really well. Things could have been even better, but made a bogey-bogey finish, which was a bit disappointing,” said Serghini, who is coming off a tendon injury in his left hand that kept him out of competitive golf for two months.
Playing in his first season on the MENA Golf Tour, Australia’s Ryan Laird provided the highlight of the day when he aced the par-3, 17th for the first hole-in-one of his career.
The 22-year- old from Melbourne smashed his six-iron from 221 yards to achieve the feat as he returned a second round 72 to move to tied 33rd from overnight 44th spot.
Among the notables, England’s Andrew Marshall, who won last week’s Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open, carded back-to- back 71s for a share of 15th along with his compatriot Zane Scotland, an 11-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour.
The cut was made at three-over 147 with 47 professionals and 13 amateurs making it to the final round.
