Saudi amateur Othman Almulla opens Asia-Pacific Championship with historic sub-par round

By Kent Gray
One round doesn’t make a summer but Othman Almulla’s opening to the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) in Singapore on Thursday was a historic confidence boost for the Saudi Arabian nonetheless.

The 32-year-old created history on Sentosa Golf Club’s new Tanjong course with a one-under-par 69, the first sub-par round by a Saudi in the tournament organised by The Masters and the R&A in association with the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation.

Almulla mixed two birdies against a solitary bogey to eclipse the previous mark, a one-over par 71 by Khaled Attieh in the second round of the 2015 event at Clearwater Bay in Hong Kong.

Almulla was tied for 16th place at the end of the morning rounds. The top-60 and ties make the cut after Friday’s second round. No player from Saudi has ever made it to the weekend of the AAC and while Almulla isn’t getting ahead of himself, he is in a chipper mood.

“This is just one round, but to be honest it is huge for me,” he said.

“The way I played and the way I handled myself is a big boost me. Irrespective of what happens in the tournament, I am happy and I am going to keep working hard and hope to be more consistent in the future.”

Almulla finished a lowly 153rd equal at last month’s Eisenhower Trophy, negotiating the world amateur teams championship with rounds of 73-72-78-81 for a +14, 304 total at Carton House near Dublin.

“To be fair, it’s been a long season and I have been putting in some very hard work but haven’t really reaped the benefit of it. I kept talking to my coach, Zane Scotland, and he kept telling me that I needed to stay patient and keep trusting the process,” said Almulla, who has been a regular on the MENA Golf Tour.

“I may not have made many birdies, but I am happy that I did not make many mistakes today. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. And when I missed a shot, I missed it in the right place.”

Almulla’s hard work with Scotland, a former European Tour player and the most decorated MENA Tour player with 10 titles, is starting to pay off.

“The Saudi Golf Federation is very supportive of the national team. They have given us every opportunity to succeed and improve. Part of that opportunity was to go and spend time in the UK before the World Amateur Team Championship in Dublin with Zane, and that has just continued from there with him helping us on Skype and through videos,” said Almulla.

“There are some very ambitious plans for golf in Saudi Arabia. I think everyone knows of the big European Tour event we have back home next year in January. We want to be good ambassadors of Saudi golf, and part of it is to be able to play well at the international stage.”

So far, so good in Singapore.