By Kent Gray
Scottish lefty Robert MacIntyre has vowed to return to the MENA Tour in 2018 after producing a fairytale start to his professional career in Kuwait.

The 21-year-old Walker Cup representative rallied from a shot back overnight with seven birdies in a closing 65 to capture the Sahara Kuwait Golf Championship on Wednesday in just his second start as a professional.

MacIntyre (65-66-65) finished -14 at Sahara Golf and Country Club to edge Luke Joy (64-67-67) by two shots and become the 13th first-time winner on the developmental Pro-Am circuit this year – an astonishing number given we are 14 events into a 15 tournament schedule and one of the first timers, South African MG Keyser, went on to win back-to-back titles at The Creek and The Els Club Dubai.

It was the Joy’s second runner-up finish in as many events and has put the Englishman squarely back in the frame for the overall Order-of-Merit title heading into next week’s MENA Tour Championship at Al Zorah G.C. in Ajman.

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“Absolutely delighted with my efforts, a memorable week for me, indeed,” said MacIntyre who had a win, loss and a half for Great Britian and Ireland in a 19-7 loss to the U.S. at last month’s Walker Club in Los Angeles.

“It was fun playing on the MENA Tour. The competition is great and so is the atmosphere and I look forward to playing more events next season.”

MacIntyre is flanked by Yousef Abdulaziz Al Qatami and Wael Abdulrahman Al Welayti, both members of the Sahara Kuwait’s golf advisory committee, at the prize giving.

The Oban product, the first left-hander in living memory to win the Scottish Amateur in 2015 and a runner-up in The (British) Amateur the following year, gave a hint of his obvious talent at the AYLA Golf Championship in Jordan a fortnight ago, recovering from an opening 78 in his very first round as a pro with a course-record 64 to finish third. He’s a combined 25 under par for his last five rounds.

“I played golf the way as I used to as an amateur and never let the pressure of turning pro affect my game,” said MacIntyre, the fourth Scotsman after Paul Doherty, Clarke Lutton and David Law to win a MENA Tour event. “It [Sahara GCC] is a nice golf course with narrow fairways. You needed to be accurate off the tee and I drove the ball well all week, creating some good scoring opportunities. I holed putts when I needed to and that was the key to my success.”

Meanwhile, England’s Todd Clements comfortably kept up his white-hot form to win the amateur division for the fifth time in a row on five-under 205, two shots ahead of Switzerland’s Dubai-based Michael Harradine. It’s a stunning run that has virtually assured the reigning English Amateur Champion of the amateur OOM title.

The leading 50 professionals and top 10 amateurs on the OOM earn starts in the 72-hole Tour Championship starting Monday. MacIntyre is not eligible as he falls five events short of the mandatory seven required to tee it up in Ajman.