Elson beats Joy in play-off as Scotland’s 

MacIntyre sets course record on pro debut

By VIREN VARMA

AQABA (Jordan), Oct 7 — Jamie Elson won the inaugural Ayla Golf Championship in a tense play-off on Saturday, holing a four-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to beat fellow Englishman Luke Joy in an exciting finish to the first professional golf event in the country.

Elson, the current MENA Tour Order of Merit leader, eagled the final hole in regulation en route to a closing 68 to set the clubhouse target of a seven-under-par 212 that Joy matched with a 72, birdieing the last after producing a stunning hole-in-one on the 12th.

Both birdied the first extra hole to extend the proceedings, but a wayward drive by Joy opened the door for Elson to secure his breakthrough win on the MENA Tour he first played last year.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre fired a sizzling nine-under 64 to set a new course record, eclipsing a 67 shot by Sweden’s Henric Sturehed in the second round to move into a four-way tie for third on six-under after an action-packed day.

England’s Joe Heraty, who carded a bogey-free 68, Italy’s Rocco Sanjust  (67) and Sturehed (73) joined MacIntyre in the group, four clear of the English duo Zane Scotland and Lee Corfield and Sweden’s Fredrik From.

“Quite surprised to win, to be honest. Struggled a bit on the front nine, but made a nice birdie on the ninth to get to level-par for the day. Thereafter, I played solid golf and holed putts when I needed to, to get into the playoff,” said Elson after receiving the winner’s trophy from HE Nasser Sultan Shraideh, Chief Commissioner, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority.

“Playoff could have gone either way, but I hit some great shots and made putts to get the job done, finally,” said the 36-year-old Englishman, eagled the last in regulation, hitting his eight-iron approach from 185 yards to with two feet.

Scotland’s MacIntyre, pictured below, tied for 15th at the start, produced the round of the tournament to make his professional debut an event to remember. He finished joint third on  SIX-under 213 and earned $US 2,811

“I was far off from the lead after a disappointing 78 in the opening round and had nothing to lose. Played a bit aggressively and that approach paid off,” said the man from Oban, who eagled the final hole after hitting his nine-iron approach from 168 yards to within nine yards.

“I can always take a lot of confidence out of the last two bogey-free rounds, a lot of positives,” said the 21-year-old former Scottish champion and Walker Cup player as an amateur

England’s Todd Clements, the first round joint leader with Joy, closed with a 72 to share the honours with Michael Harradine of Swtizerland in the amateur division after both finished on one-over-par 220, well ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Othman Almulla and Jordan’s Shergo Al Kurdi who tallied matching 13-over for the tournament.

England’s Mark Chamberlain also had something to cheer about as he aced the 179-yard, par-3 16th with an eight-iron for his first hole-in-one since turning professional in 2011 — and the fifth overall — as he finished tied 47th.

The MENA Tour will travel to Kuwait for the Sahara Kuwait Golf Championship to be held from October 16 to 18, the last event on this year’s schedule before the field whittles down for the 72-hole Tour Championship hosted by Al Zorah Golf Club in Ajman from October 23 to 26.

FINAL TOTALS

1		Jamie Elson (Playoff Winner)	-7	F	74	70	68	212	9,000.00
1		Luke Joy	-7	F	69	71	72	212	6,000.00
3		Joe Heraty	-6	F	75	70	68	213	2,811.00
3		Rocco Sanjust	-6	F	74	72	67	213	2,811.00
3		Henric Sturehed	-6	F	73	67	73	213	2,811.00
3		Robert MacIntyre	-6	F	78	71	64	213	2,811.00
7		Zane Scotland	-2	F	70	73	74	217	1,290.00
7		Lee Corfield	-2	F	71	74	72	217	1,290.00
7		Fredrik From	-2	F	73	73	71	217	1,290.00
10		Fredrik Lindblom	-1	F	75	72	71	218	1,000.00
11		Lindsay Renolds	L	F	73	73	73	219	862.00
11		Matt Killen	L	F	74	72	73	219	862.00
11		Leo Lilja	L	F	78	70	71	219	862.00
14		Michael Harradine [Am]	1	F	76	73	71	220	-
14		Todd Clements [Am]	1	F	69	79	72	220	-
16		Salvador Paya Vila	2	F	79	71	71	221	765.00
16		Leon Acikalin [Am]	2	F	77	72	72	221	-
18		Arkesh Bhatia [Am]	4	F	76	73	74	223	-
18		Darren Clarke	4	F	76	76	71	223	705.00
18		Jordan Garnish	4	F	80	69	74	223	705.00
18		Kevin Esteve	4	F	76	74	73	223	705.00
18		Sam Hobday [Am]	4	F	78	72	73	223	-
23		Tom Boys	5	F	76	76	72	224	611.00
23		Wayne Stroebel	5	F	77	77	70	224	611.00
23		Petr Dedek	5	F	78	72	74	224	611.00
23		Daniel Scourfield	5	F	78	77	69	224	611.00
27		Louis Campbell	6	F	73	80	72	225	565.00
28		Peter Stojanovski	7	F	78	70	78	226	543.00
28		James Ashman	7	F	80	73	73	226	543.00
30		Elliott Oxlade	8	F	79	73	75	227	512.00
30		Taylor Carter [Am]	8	F	78	76	73	227	-
30		Philip Geerts	8	F	81	73	73	227	512.00
33		Dylan Docherty	9	F	79	74	75	228	490.00
34		Jesper Alm	10	F	74	78	77	229	468.00
34		Paul Dwyer	10	F	76	74	79	229	468.00
36		Jake Shepherd	12	F	79	74	78	231	445.00
37		Othman Almulla [Am]	13	F	77	79	76	232	-
37		Shergo Al Kurdi [Am]	13	F	78	81	73	232	-
37		Matt Carroll	13	F	79	75	78	232	430.00
40		Elliot Bradley	14	F	78	77	78	233	415.00
41		Andrew Burmester	15	F	77	76	81	234	400.00
42		Jonathan Fransson	17	F	80	82	74	236	380.00
42		Joshua Grenville-Wood	17	F	78	73	85	236	380.00
44		Aaron Leitmannstetter	18	F	81	80	76	237	365.00
44		Ahmed Skaik [Am]	18	F	80	81	76	237	-
46		Eddy Holland	19	F	78	79	81	238	355.00
47		Mark Chamberlain	20	F	81	78	80	239	345.00
47		Azaan Al Rumhy [Am]	20	F	83	76	80	239	-
49		Ahmed Almusharrekh	21	F	81	78	81	240	330.00
49		Lakshya Mudgil	21	F	82	76	82	240	330.00
51		Khalid Yousuf [Am]	22	F	83	79	79	241	-