ZANE SCOTLAND LEADS MENA GOLF
TOUR OPENER AT CASABLANCA
FROM THE MENA TOUR WEBSITE
By VIREN VARMA
Zane Scotland seized the early initiative, shooting a solid four-under-par 68 in the first round of the Royal D'Anfa Open, the opening event on the 2014 MENA Golf Tour at Casablanca, Morocco today.
The Englishman, who has won every opening event on the tour since its inception in 2011, mixed four birdies and an eagle with two bogeys to move one ahead of Cardiff-based former Scottish boys' match-play champion Paul Doherty and Italy's Alessandro Tadini.
"It was a pretty good day at work," said Scotland, a six-time winner on the Morocco-East-North Africa Tour.
"I played solid golf, which was nice. I think 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 greens are rolling nice," said Scotland, who eagled the 16th, where he drilled a five-iron second to within 20 feet and holed the putt.
Playing in his first MENA Tour event, Tadini also made a good start and could have done even better but missed some 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 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 is a top-5 at the 2005 Welsh Open.
"I am feeling good about my game, but it will all depend on how I fare on the greens in the next two days," said the Italian, who believes a score between 8 and 10 under par could be the winning one if the weather stays calm and five or six if it doesn't.
England's Ross McGowan, who started and finished with a birdie, felt his round of 70 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 McGowan, who won the 2012 Abu Dhabi Golf Citizen tournament by a record six-shot margin. "The course is just fantastic. If you are accurate off the tee, you can create plenty of scoring opportunities. I think I need to improve if I aim to capitalize on those opportunities," said the 2009 winner of the Madrid Open.
Defending champion Stephen Dodd of Wales settled for a 74 while Younes El Hassani led the home challenge with a fine 71.
England's Ben Russell 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.
FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 72
68 Zane Scotland (England)
69 Alessandro Tadini (Italy), Paul Doherty (Scotland)
70 Juan Salcedo (Spain), Tyler Hogarty (S Africa), Timothree Briset (France), Ross McGowan (England), Sabri Mustapha (Morocco)
SELECTED SCORES
71 Daniel Owen (England), William Harrold (England)
72 Clarke Lutton (Scotland), Fraser McKenna (Scotland) (T21)
74 Stephen Dodd (Wales).
76 Conor O'Neil (Scotland
77 Ted Innes Kerr (Scotland)
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES
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