Field wide open for Dubai Open golf

Amateur golfer James Allan has been impressive.

With the first four events on the 2015 Mena Golf Tour schedule producing four different winners, the storyline of the Mena Golf Tour will have an added element of suspense coming down the stretch at this week's Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open at Al Badia Golf Club.
In a fulsome reflection on the array of talent on show, the event will see a rich assortment of players from 21 countries tee it up with no clear favourite in sight to lead the final day charge.
With the last two events - the Dubai Creek Open and the Ascorp Abu Dhabi Golf Citizen Open - going into playoffs to determine the winners, this year's Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open could well live up to its name - open - if the script continues to hold good.
Though defending champion Cyril Suk, who is attending the European Tour's Qualifying School (second stage) this week, is missing from the line-up, the presence of nine winners on the tour, including nine-time champion Zane Scotland, will add star value to one of the most popular events on the tour.
Included in the 120-player field that comprises 25 amateurs are England's Jake Shepherd, who has leapfrogged to second place on the Order of Merit following his first and fourth-place finish in the last two events, his compatriots Gary King, the last week's winner, and Joshua White, the 2014 Mena champion.
With amateurs James Allan and Rayhan Thomas of India making inroads into the leaderboard dominated by professionals, anyone of the two could go the full distance this time round, becoming the first amateur to win a Mena Golf Tour event.
Young Allan, who finished runner-up to King in Abu Dhabi, currently leads the Order of Merit standings in his division with 161 points, ahead of 15-year-old Thomas, who also flashed a glimpse of his precocious talent with a second-place finish at the Dubai Creek Open. The return of Othman Almulla, who in 2007 became the first Saudi Arabian and youngest Arab amateur at 21 to qualify and play in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, will further intensify the competition.
In the Mena Division for the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award, the Moroccan duo of Amine Joudar and Ahmed Marjan will be looking for another good finish to close the gap on Faycal Serghini, who currently sits atop the region's Order of Merit.
Organisers of the Mena Golf Tour believe the initiative has hit the right notes in putting the region's golf on a trajectory for growth as manifested by the overwhelming response to the tour this season.
"Ours is a region that boasts many golf courses of international standards and what the Mena Golf Tour has done is to increase the usage of these courses, which are also showcased to a worldwide audience through TV highlight packages that we produce for each event," said Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the Mena Golf Tour.