Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Fernand Osther fired a sizzling six-under 66 to set the early pace in the MENA Golf Tour’s Ghala Open on Monday.
The talented 28-year-old from the Netherlands reeled off five birdies and one eagle against a lone bogey to surge a good two shots clear of rising Chilean amateur Matias Calderon and South Africa’s Luke Trocado.
Joe Heraty, the winner of the Sahara Kuwait Championship last week, led the chasing pace a further shot adrift in a four-man group which included his fellow Englishmen Andrew Marshall and Adam Ward and Switzerland’s Jean-Luc Burnier.
The Moroccan trio of Ahmed Marjan, Younes El Hassani and Mustapha El Maouas also made their presence felt, sharing eight on two-under with eight others as 28 players broke par on the opening day.
“Any time you shoot in red numbers you can’t complain. I started off strongly, making three birdies in a row from the second and that kind of set the tone for the round,” said Osther, who is playing in his first season on the MENA Golf Tour.
“I did hit a couple awkward drives, but managed to save pars. I am feeling good about my game which is great,” said Osther, eagled the par-13th, hitting his seven-iron from 200 yards to 15 within feet and holed the ensuing putt.
South Africa’s Trocado felt he struck the ball well, especially off the tee.
“I created plenty of scoring opportunities out there with my wedges, but the putts just refused to go in,” said Trocado.
“I missed only one green — on the 18th — and that resulted in a bogey. I think my score could easily have been at least four or five shots better, but failed to capitalize on many birdie chances that I had today,” said the 20-year-old from Cape Town.
Fresh off his course-record equaling 62 he shot last week in Kuwait,Calderon also sounded quite pleased with his day’s efforts.
“I played solid golf out there. Hit lots of fairways and putted well. I lost my focus for a while midway through the round, but managed to keep the round, making three birdies in the last six holes,” Calderon, who finished in a tie for third last week, said.
“It’s very important to drive the ball well off the tee on this course since the fairways are quite narrow. I managed to do that and finished well,” said the 24-year-old amateur.
For Heraty, the winner of last week’s Sahara Kuwait Championship, the opening round was a mixed bag. “I holed lots of putts and missed lots of them as well. I didn’t drive the ball that well on the front nine, but made more birdies.
‘On the back nine, I struck the ball, but ended up making more bogeys. That pretty much sums up the day for me,” said the Englishman, who made five birdies, including four on the outward nine, and two bogeys.
Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Attieh carded level-par 72 to lead the MENA Division for amateurs, a good four shots ahead of his fellow countryman Ali Alsakha as Oman’s Azzan Al Rumhy returned a 79.
Among the notables, England’s Zane Scotland and Carlos Balmaseda settled for two-over 74s while defending champion Lee Corfield carded a 75.
South Africa’s Michael Dreyer produced the shot of the day when he aced the par-3, fifth with a seven-iron from 157 yards for his first hole-in-one feat in a competition.
