Giant (Mini-tour) Strides

The Mena tour by Arena’s new-look ‘journey to Jordan’ is on summer break. Kent Gray talks to key players inside and outside the ropes for this mid-term report.

- Kent Gray

WHEN THE MENA TOUR WAS LAUNCHED IN 2011, the remit was to provide a leg-up to golf’s big time for fl edging young professionals and ideally inspire home-grown amateurs to the game’s highest echelons. When the regional Pro-Am circuit was re-launched in February as the ‘Journey to Jordan’ following a 16-month restructure, those noble ambitions hadn’t changed. Indeed, they have been emboldened with the hope that the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points on offer during the 10-tournament schedule, not to mention a plethora of invites to events on bigger tours, will help players from the region qualify for Tokyo 2020 and Olympic Games beyond.

Time will be the ultimate judge of the circuit’s bid to become the “best little minitour in the world” but halfway through the 2019 season, it is fair to say the order of merit leader doesn’t exactly fi t the player profi le envisaged at any stage of strategic planning.

Not that the tour nor Matthew Baldwin are grumbling. The 33-year-old Englishman has been a European Tour regular since 2012 but after losing his card last season has found the MENA Tour a perfect pitstop for a career at the crossroads.

By winning the second of two Q-Schools and then the fi rst event of the season proper – the Journey to Jordan-1 – Baldwin has given himself a confi dence injection heading into the new Challenge Tour season. He’s also earned a bonus €6,919 after finishing T-45 at the recent Oman Open and will get another European Tour to start at the Trophee Hassan II in Rabat later this month courtesy of his consistency during the MENA Tour’s spring swing.