Red-hot Owen within touching distance of first MENA Tour win

 

By VIREN VARMA

RAS AL KHAIMAH, UAE — Red-hot Daniel Owen fired back-to-back six-under 66s to move within touching distance of an elusive breakthrough victory on the MENA Tour going into the final round of the Ras Al Khaimah Classic at Tower Links Golf Club, United Arab Emirates. 

The Bahrain-based Englishman kept it clean, rolling in six birdies, three in each half, to reach 12-under for the tournament, five shots ahead of a five-man group which includes European Tour veteran Stephen Dodd, who carded a second-round 67.

Overnight joint leader Max Williams, along with fellow Englishmen Jordan Garnish and Jamie Elson and Australia’s Peter Stojanovski joined Dodd, a three-time winner on the MENA Tour, for a share of second.

Spain’s Francisco Perez and England’s Paul Dwyer, who were among a four-way tie for the lead overnight, left themselves with some work to do, though, after carding respective rounds of 73 and 72.

On a steamy day, it was Owen who took charge of the proceedings with a near-impeccable all-round game. “Played pretty solid and drove the ball very well,” the 27-year-old Englishman.

“I have been coming here since 2011 and know the course pretty well. It suits my eye. I did miss a couple of greens, but never really got into much trouble. I gave myself good opportunities and made a few putts. 

“Obviously, it’s hard to ignore where I am, but at the same time the game plan doesn’t change. Will try and make some early birdies to kind of settle the nerves and, hopefully, get the job done this time around,” said Owen who boasts a string of top five finishes on the tour.

A three-time European Tour winner, Dodd, who mixed six birdies with a lone bogey on the third in his second-round 67, could pose a significant threat to the leader if he manages to keep the momentum rolling all the way through.


SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD

1		Daniel Owen	-12	66	66	-	132
2		Stephen Dodd	-7	70	67	-	137
2		Max Williams	-7	66	71	-	137
2		Peter Stojanovski	-7	68	69	-	137
2		Jordan Garnish	-7	68	69	-	137
2		Jamie Elson	-7	71	66	-	137
7		Stuart Archibald	-6	68	70	-	138
7		Fredrik Lindblom	-6	72	66	-	138
7		Paul Dwyer	-6	66	72	-	138
10		Lindsay Renolds	-5	70	69	-	139
10		Lee Corfield	-5	68	71	-	139
10		Francisco Perez	-5	66	73	-	139
13		Craig Hinton	-4	69	71	-	140
13		James Ashman	-4	71	69	-	140
13		Jack Doherty	-4	71	69	-	140
13		Henric Sturehed	-4	69	71	-	140
17		Todd Clements [Am]	-3	72	69	-	141
17		Andrew Marshall	-3	71	70	-	141
17		Leo Lilja	-3	69	72	-	141
20		Simon Payne	-2	72	70	-	142
20		Max Smith	-2	70	72	-	142
20		Tyler Hogarty	-2	68	74	-	142
20		Josh Walsh	-2	72	70	-	142
20		Jesper Alm	-2	67	75	-	142
20		Liam Crawford	-2	72	70	-	142
20		Tim Gornik	-2	71	71	-	142
27		Clarke Lutton	-1	71	72	-	143
27		Wayne Stroebel	-1	70	73	-	143
27		Adam Sagar	-1	71	72	-	143
27		Mariano Ochoa	-1	73	70	-	143
27		Henry Featherstone	-1	68	75	-	143
27		Georg Schultes	-1	76	67	-	143
33		Elliott Oxlade	L	69	75	-	144
33		David Anderson	L	75	69	-	144
33		Eddy Holland	L	69	75	-	144
33		Matt Killen	L	73	71	-	144
33		Toby Hunt	L	69	75	-	144
33		Ben Amor	L	73	71	-	144
39		Michael Harradine [Am]	1	71	74	-	145
39		Jake Shepherd	1	76	69	-	145
39		MG Keyser	1	70	75	-	145
39		Benjamin David	1	68	77	-	145
39		Joe Heraty	1	71	74	-	145
39		Robbie Busher	1	71	74	-	145
39		Salvador Paya Vila	1	72	73	-	145
39		Matt Carroll	1	69	76	-	145
47		Ryan Hunter [Am]	2	76	70	-	146
47		Cyril Suk	2	73	73	-	146
47		Edward Barry-Walsh	2	72	74	-	146
47		Tiago Lobo [Am]	2	73	73	-	146
47		Jean-Luc Burnier	2	72	74	-	146
47		Andi Dill	2	74	72	-	146
47		Christofer Rahm [Am]	2	74	72	-	146
47		Davide Albertini	2	74	72	-	146
55		Sam Hobday [Am]	3	78	69	-	147
56		Taylor Carter [Am]	4	72	76	-	148
57		Robert Horridge [Am]	5	72	77	-	149
57		Saleh Al Kaabi [Am]	5	72	77	-	149
59		Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Mansour [Am]	7	81	70	-	151

Missed Cut

ID	Ctry	Name	Par	Round1	Round2	Round3	Total
917		Jonathan Porteous	3	76	71	-	147 (*)
1859		Adam Ward	4	77	71	-	148 (*)
1139		Tom Boys	5	75	74	-	149 (*)
2531		Jordan Loft	5	77	72	-	149 (*)
2559		Charlie George	5	77	72	-	149 (*)
1047		Manish Goyal	6	74	76	-	150 (*)
1610		Petr Dedek	6	76	74	-	150 (*)
1734		Abdulrahman Sihag	6	75	75	-	150 (*)
1970		Oscar Hertzberg	6	75	75	-	150 (*)
2103		Rafa Culla	6	77	73	-	150 (*)
2499		Elliot Bradley	6	77	73	-	150 (*)
889		Mark Chamberlain	7	77	74	-	151 (*)
1154		Ahmed Almusharrekh	7	76	75	-	151 (*)
2028		Daniel Suchan	7	79	72	-	151 (*)
2022		Othman Almulla [Am]	8	73	79	-	152 (*)
2115		Louis Campbell	8	78	74	-	152 (*)
2474		Ben Cain	9	81	-	-	81 (*)
1111		Jonathan Fransson	9	75	78	-	153 (*)
1798		Daniel Kay	9	76	77	-	153 (*)
2111		Sam Towler	9	78	75	-	153 (*)
2130		Kevin Rhoderick	11	77	78	-	155 (*)
2521		Ronan McGuirk	11	83	72	-	155 (*)
1289		Ganeev Giddie	13	77	80	-	157 (*)
2139		Kevin Esteve	13	78	79	-	157 (*)
2335		Heino Havenga	14	79	79	-	158 (*)
2471		Aryavir Kumar	14	79	79	-	158 (*)
1171		Rachid Akl [Am]	15	78	81	-	159 (*)
1995		Arkesh Bhatia [Am]	15	77	82	-	159 (*)
2204		Saud Al Sharif [Am]	15	83	76	-	159 (*)
2065		Rocco Sanjust	16	81	79	-	160 (*)
1994		Kenny Benoit	18	80	82	-	162 (*)
2520		Scott Newell [Am]	18	80	82	-	162 (*)
2501		Sujan Shah	20	82	82	-	164 (*)

 

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