Englishman Zane Scotland fired a 67 Tuesday to close within two shots of leader MG Keyser heading into the final round of the Golf Citizen Classic at the Els Club, Dubai.

By Kent Gray
MG Keyser is on the cusp of back-to-back titles but the MENA Tour’s most decorated player looms large in the rear view mirror of the history-hunting Dubai-based South African.

Fresh from victory at last week’s Dubai Creek Open, Keyser signed for his second successive 67 at the Els Club on Tuesday to move to -10 at the $30,000 Golf Citizen Classic.The 30-year-old Pretorian will start Wednesday’s final round with a two shot advantage over Welshman Toby Hunt, Pakistani Hamza Amin and, perhaps most ominously, Englishman Zane Scotland.

A back-injury has seriously curtailed Scotland’s 2017 campaign to the point where the 10-time MENA Tour winner was forced out of the Creek Open after just 27 holes. But the buzz of being in contention again certainly helped dull the pain as the tour’s first honourary (and only fully exempt) member backed up his opening 69 with a 67 Tuesday.

“I have not been playing golf for a long time due to a bad back. It’s still hurting, but it feels great just to give myself a chance this week [and] feel that buzz again of getting into contention,” said Scotland whose last MENA Tour win came at the 2016 Royal Golf Mohammed Open in Morocco.

“I don’t have too high expectations heading into the final round, we’ll see how things unfold. Of course, shooting a 67 has certainly added to my confidence.”

Keyser rebounded from a bogey-bogey start with four back-nine birdies and an eagle Tuesday in his bids to emulate Scotland, the only back-to-back winner on the MENA Tour.

“I missed at least four to five mid-range birdie putts on the front nine before finally holing one on the ninth. With that putt, my putter suddenly went hot,” said Keyser who flushed a five-iron from 222 yards to within 15 feet on the 13th before holing the eagle putt.

“I am striking the ball really well and just having fun out there.  You never know what tomorrow holds but one this is certain, I will go out there and have some fun.”

Sweden’s Oscar Hertzberg produced Tuesday’s highlight by holing a three-wood shot from 296 yards on the par-5 18th at the Els for the rarest of all golfing birds, an albatross

The glorious two was set up by a 340 yard drive, is just the second double eagle in MENA Tour history (following Moroccan Channane Addelali at the 2013 Royal Golf D’Anfa) and propelled the 22-year-old into a tie for 28th on +1, nine shots behind Keyser.

Overnight leader Abhishek Jha, meanwhile, endured a miserable day, his seven-over 79 littered with eight dropped shots including a triple bogey on the par-4 10th to slide down the leaderboard into a share of 23rd on level par.

Sweden’s Henric Sturehed and Max Smith were tied for fifth on -8, one clear of the English duo of Stuart Archibald and Craig Hinton, the 2016 MENA Tour champion.

Englishmen Taylor Carter and Todd Clements led the amateur division on +1, two shots ahead of Saud Al Sharif (Saudi Arabia) and German Marcus Toennessen. UAE national team rep Khalid Yousuf carded a level-par 72 to make the cut.