(Photograph by Joy Chakravarty)

Shergo Al Kurdi is following a MENA Tour-paved path to his Olympic Games dream

By Kent Gray
Mousa Al Kurdi pleaded with his son to withdraw but as 16-year-olds with big golf dreams are want to do, the advice fell on deaf ears.

It’s late November, the evening before the MENA Tour’s 2019 season-decider at Ayla Golf Club in Jordan and Shergo Al Kurdi is in “extreme” discomfort. The Surrey-domiciled Jordanian teen would battle through intestinal pain and inexplicable fatigue for three rounds for a share of 59th place in Aqaba, unremarkable without the context of what happened next.

It might have been seasons end but Al Kurdi Jnr., clearly upset with a closing round of 81 in Aqaba that included a quadruple bogey nine, retired to the club’s par-3 course to get some practice in for the King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain the following week.

“That is the first time I saw my son crying from the pain,” said Mousa Al Kurdi who put a club in his son’s hands before Al Kurdi Jnr could walk. “For me as a father, I felt hopeless. Seeing my son in that level of pain and not being able to do anything about it.”

Rapid Development. Shergo Al Kurdi was introduced to golf before he could walk.

Ayla Oasis, the resort of which Ayla Golf Club is the centrepiece and Shergo Al Kurdi is attached, summoned their duty doctor who arranged transport to a local hospital.  “They gave him morphine to stop the pain. The following morning we were on a plane to his next competition to play the King Hamad Trophy in Bahrain where he made the cut and, if I remember correctly, finished 24th.”

Shergo Al Kurdi is clearly a tough kid. But the often excruciating pain in Aqaba were the warning shots of Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder that is now a constant and unfriendly companion.

“With Crohn’s, you have times of flare-ups and remission. When I have a flare-up it’s very difficult to deal with. I’m in a lot of pain and playing golf can be very difficult,” says Al Kurdi Jnr.

“During times of remission it’s okay and it’s just a case of managing the condition and staying in remission as long as possible. I’m learning how to control it with diet and medication when necessary but it’s not fully under control yet.

“My diet is difficult to manage, especially when I travel abroad. I don’t have the luxury of eating things that other golfers might eat, like energy bars, nuts or bananas. And I’m not supposed to eat fibre, so diet is a real issue.

“I’ve spoken to other people and golfers who also have Crohn’s, so I’m not alone. I know it’s not going to go away but I’m hoping I can learn to manage it so that it doesn’t control my life or my golf.”

So far, so good in that respect. Fast-forward to the opening event of the 2020 MENA Tour by Arena season, back at Ayla G.C., and Al Kurdi fired an opening 70 in brutally windy conditions for a share of the first-round lead. He would eventually go on to finish T-2, four shots behind English professional David Langley, and any disappointment of coming so close to victory was lessened as he became the first player from the Middle East to earn Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.

Now attached to Ayla G.C. in Jordan, he repaid the Aqaba club by winning amateur honours at the MENA Tour’s recent Journey to Jordan #1 Championship last month.

Al Kurdi’s dream of marching behind the Jordanian flag into the 2024 Paris Olympic Games had suddenly become more than, well, a mere fantasy. At 1511th place in the OWGR, he has a long, long way to go to make the 60-man field for Paris but with spots allocated on OWGR points with regional allocations, Al Kurdi sees a way.

“I’m hoping my ranking will improve and I can be part of it. It would not only be great for me and Jordan but for all of the Middle East,” he said.

“It came as a shock to be honest [the OWGR points]. I had no idea. I hope it will encourage other people in the region to take up golf especially as there are now many more tournaments in the Middle East for people to compete in.”

The MENA Tour was established in 2009 with the objective of getting a player from the Middle East to the Olympics. Rayhan Thomas and lately Josh Hill and Arjun Gupta are decent Dubai-raised and MENA Tour-honed chances but in Al Kurdi, the regional development circuit now has a genuine ‘local’ to champion.

“We are so proud of Shergo and what he has managed to achieve at such a young age,” said MENA Tour Commissioner David Spencer.

“The MENA Tour by Arena was established with this specific objective in mind and we feel a validation of all the work that has been put behind the tour. Having a player from the region qualify for the Olympics is our cherished objective, and Shergo is now well on his way.”

Al Kurdi, who has committed to five of the 10 events leading up to April’s $125,000 ‘The Arena (Tour) Championship’, doesn’t need prompting to play the mutual appreciation game.

“The MENA Tour is a great introduction to life on tour. at every event I learn more about golf and more about myself.”

“The MENA Tour has been great for competitive golf, playing against great golfers from around the world. It’s a great introduction to what life is like on tour. At every event I learn more about golf and more about myself.”

A professional career beckons but for now Al Kurdi, playing off a plus-2 handicap, is intent on learning his craft. He was to tee it up in the Qatar Masters in early March in what will be his second European Tour start after playing in Doha as a 14-year-old where he gave hint of his immense talent by signing for a one-over-par opening round.

The immediate goal is to top the MENA Tour’s amateur Journey to Jordan Order of Merit standings which would guarantee a start in next year’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. Post-April, the Chertsey-born and raised (and now home-schooled) Al Kurdi has a series of elite U-18 events in Britain, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne in late Oct. and the Pan Arab men’s and U-18 tournaments to look forward to.

“With the program, I am following right now, I should only see improvement. I’m only 16 and I’m still growing and going through changes. So as long as I adapt to those changes and work hard I’m sure greater consistency will come.

“My strengths and weaknesses? Well, my strengths are my calmness, which I get from my mother (Sam), and my passion and work ethic, which I get from my father. My father has always taught me… it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

The long, winding, exciting road to Paris, paved by the MENA Tour by Arena, continues.