MG Keyser is flanked by MENA Tour patron Darren Clarke (right) and Dubai Golf CEO Chris May at the prize ceremony.
By Kent Gray
A day after creating headlines around the world, Rayhan Thomas had to settle for providing the supporting quotes as Mathiam Keyser clinched his maiden MENA Tour title after a tense duel with the Indian amateur for the Dubai Creek Open.
“MG” Keyser overcame a shaky start and a late wobble to sign for a closing level par 71 and a two-stroke victory as Thomas, the defending champion, was denied his fairytale home-course double on Wednesday.
Starting the final round two ahead, Keyser managed to rebound from a bogey, double bogey start at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club with three successive birdies from the third. But the 30-year-old South African saw a three-shot buffer on the 17th tee suddenly slashed to one when he sent his tee shot on the penultimate par 4 into The Creek.
The double-bogey gave Thomas a sniff of repeating his final hole heroics from last season when he became the first amateur to win on the developmental Pro-Am circuit. But after the high of Tuesday when he tied Keyser’s course record 61 (from Monday) courtesy of a world record nine successive birdies, Thomas three-putted 18 for a bogey to slip into a tie for second with fast-finishing English amateur Todd Clements.
Related: Watch highlights of Rayhan Thomas’ world recording equalling round
Despite battling a cold putter all day, Thomas was gracious as ever in defeat.
“MG is probably the best player I have ever played with on the MENA Tour. He thoroughly deserved to win,” said the 17-year-old, who now heads to New Jersey for the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup.
“Missing at least three close range birdie putts, especially that four-footer on the 15th, cost me dearly.”
For Keyser, the wire-to-wire win, headlined by his 61 on Monday, follows his first professional title in an Asian Development Tour event in Malaysia last year.
“It feels great to get the job done,” said the Dubai resident after receiving the $9000 winner’s cheque from MENA Tour patron Darren Clarke, who himself closed with a 74 to finish T-16th.
England’s Todd Clements closed with a bogey-free 66 to tie Thomas in second place at -11, two shots adrift of Keyser.
“It was some battle out there after that nightmarish start, but I played well in the middle and kept it going, though Rayhan, who is a good friend, did put some pressure. After that double-bogey [on 17], I hit a good drive on the final hole and managed to make par which, in the end, proved enough to see off Rayhan.”
Swede Fredrik From made the most of the absence of Englishman Jamie Elson and Luke Joy with the order-of-merit pace-setters currently contesting the first leg of European Tour Q-School in Scotland and the KLM Open in The Netherland’s respectively.
The Swede’s T-4 placing with India’s Abhishek Jha (who aced the 5th on Monday) saw him leap-frog to the top of the points race, now 663 points ahead of Elson, with five events remaining.
The OOM is heating up nicely and understandably so – the MENA Tour champion earns starts in the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Malaysia’s Maybank Championship, Morocco’s Hassan II Trophee, as well as an invite to the PGA Tour’s DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. A full Sunshine Tour card for 2018 and exemption to the final stage of qualifying for the Asian Tour also await.
Elson, who opened Q-School with a two-under 70 at Roxburghe G.C. in Kelso on Tuesday, is a possible starter at next week’s The Golf Citizen Classic at The Els, Dubai. But Joy will have much more ground to make up as he is also contesting the European Tour’s multi-tournament first stage of qualifying in Austria next week and won’t return to MENA Tour duty until the Sept. 25-27 Golf Citizen Abu Dhabi Open at Yas Links.
In just his second start of the season, Keyser jumped to 11th place in the standings.
Clements (143 points), who closed with a bogey-free 66 on Wednesday playing in the company of 2012 Open champion Clarke, leads he amateur OOM from countryman Sam Hobday (139), Dubai-based Switzerland national rep Michael Harradine (126), Brazilian Tiago Lobo (121) and Thomas (118).
Harradine finished in a share of 38th alongside DCGYC teaching professional Cennydd Mills who backed up his opening 69 with back-to-back 74s to finish +4 for the championship.
