AQABA, Jordan: Jamie Elson won the inaugural Ayla Golf Championship in a tense playoff 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 7-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 joined last year.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntire fired a sizzling 9-under 64 to set a new course record, eclipsing a 67 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 MacIntire in the group, four clear of the English duo of 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 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, whose eight-iron approach from 185 yards to two feet of the cup set up his eagle on 18.
MacIntyre, tied for 15th at the start, produced the round of the tournament to make his professional debut an event to remember.
“I was far off from the field after a disappointing 78 in the opening round and had nothing to lose. Played a bit aggressively and that approach paid off,” said the Scotsman, 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, who hails from Oban, a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland.
England’s Todd Clements, the first round joint leader with Joy, closed with a 72 to share the honors with Michael Harradine of Swtizerland in the amateur division after both finished on 1-over 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 Oct. 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 Oct. 23 to 26.
Elson wins maiden MENA Tour title at Ayla Golf Championship
Elson wins maiden MENA Tour title at Ayla Golf Championship
Alonso fears more pain in China with struggling Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia
SHANGHAI: Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia.
Silverstone-based Aston Martin endured a horror start after serious issues with their Honda power unit and a lack of spare parts.
Two-time world champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll had to endure extreme vibration in the chassis caused by the power unit, which was feared could cause the drivers permanent nerve damage.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” Alonso told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts. We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal qualifying.”
The Spaniard could not put a timeframe on when improvements might come.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” said Alonso.
“We can allocate resources to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of grands prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
The 44-year-old veteran has been in Formula One for more than two decades and has driven vastly different iterations of cars from the old V10 petrol engines through to the current complex hybrid configuration.
Despite the issues he said was embracing the challenge of the new cars enthusiastically in what could be his final season on the grid.
His Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026.
“Do we enjoy driving these cars? Yes, because we love racing,” Alonso said.
“I do four or five 24-hour races because I love racing and I love driving. So if you jump into an F1 car, you enjoy going fast.
“But it is a challenge, a different challenge.
“I was super lucky to race in (the last) era and I feel lucky to race in both.”
