Yas Links Open winner Kate Bibby, pictured middle. 

By Kent Gray
Kate Bibby was the star as the second season of the Junior Masters Open Tour opened at Yas Links.

Battling gusty winds, the Dubai-based Brit carded sensational rounds of 68 and 73 to win the opening event at Yas Links with a three-under total. Bibby was six strokes clear of Filipino player Jamie Camero (77, 76) while third place in the girls gross division went to Japan’s Sakura Kawakani on +12 after rounds of 80-76.

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Spaniard Hugo Garcia won the boys gross with rounds of 75-71. The 15-year-old’s two-over total was three better than Brit Thomas Taylor-Cross with a score of +5 (73,76) while Jordanian Mousa Shana’ah (78,74) and 15-year-old Viggo Sorensen (78, 74) shared third on +8.

Mousa Shana’ah

It was an impressive start to the defence of his overall green jacket title for 12-year-old Shana’ah who was also second in the boys’ net division behind UAE national team player Abdulla Kalbat. Italian Emanuele Galeppini was and Diego Ojeda from Oman fourth place.

The girls net division went to Belgian Sien Demelker followed by Bibby and Jamie Camero in joint second place. Third went Italian player Carlotta Scialanga while Siti Latifah, last season’s girls green jacket holder, was 4th.

The Junior Masters Open Tour is run by Golf Events Management and sanctioned by the two global rankings: the Global Junior Golf Rankings (GJGR) and Junior Golf Score Board.

“It was a great two days of golf at Yas Links golf club as the results are amazing and the competition is high between all the players,” said Golf Events Management Managing Director Abedallah Shanaah

“The weather conditions gave more challenge to the players and put them in a real situation to test their game. I am so happy to see that the juniors at the region has this potential, and I am sure that they will reach to the best position in the ranking globally in short period, and I congratulate all the winners and all the participants for their amazing sport skills”.

Golf Events Management General Manager Ali Kalbat continued: “We are so proud of all the players and we will keep encouraging them to reach to the best places over their peers in the world. We are also so proud that we are the first we establish the golf tours with the global ranking at the Middle East and also the first we establish the same in Africa, and we will keep developing the tour to be one of the best and biggest junior tours not in the region only but in the world.”.

The second event of the season is scheduled for Nov. 9 at JA The Resort Golf Course in Jebel Ali.