Since the MENA Tour by Arena first established in 2011, there have been a number of high-profile golfers that have competed on the Tour and have either been or gone on to play in Majors or enjoy success on the European Tour circuit. Here, we pick out five of the top professionals to compete over the years.
Stephen Dodd
Stephen Dodd was the 2012 Order of Merit winner and the Welshman went on to win three MENA Tour events in the two seasons he played. The 53 year old secured three European tour titles before coming on the MENA Tour, as well as competing in six different Major championship events. In recent years., he has enjoyed success on the European Senior Tour with three victories between 2016 and 2018.
Ross McGowan
Ross McGowan’s career has been mixed between the MENA Tour, Challenge Tour and European Tour where he has enjoyed success on all of them. Now 37, the Englishman has secured seven Tour titles, his first was on the Challenge Tour in 2007 and then he won last year in 2019 in the D+D Real Czech Challenge. That is the beauty of golf! McGowan still has the hunger and talent for the game to return onto the European Tour this season.
Zane Scotland
You can’t mention the MENA Tour without talking about their main ambassador Zane Scotland. The Englishman became the youngest golfer from his country to qualify for The Open Championship in 1999 and went on to win a record 10 victories on the MENA Tour but never quite made the grade at the higher level.
Jazz Janewattananond
Jazz Janewattananond won the MENA Tour’s Mahasamutr Masters in 2017 and has gone on to be one of the world’s top players. The Thai golfer has risen to 39th in the Official World Golf Ranking after recording six victories on the Asian Tour and is now competing on the PGA Tour. The 24 year old finished tied-14th in the last PGA Championship so expect to see him continuing rising in the world rankings over the next few years. 10 professional wins at his age is seriously impressive.
Matt Baldwin
Matt Baldwin broke the top 60 on the European Tour in 2014 but was beset by illness and injuries for a year in 2015 and then lost his Tour card in 2016. However the Englishman bounced back at the end of 2017 to earn his playing rights for the 2018 European Tour season at Qualifying School. He failed to keep his card that year, although he produced two top tens, so found himself competing on the Challenge Tour and MENA Tour in 2019. It’s on the MENA Tour where the Englishman excelled with a wire-to-wire victory at the first Journey to Jordan tournament at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba. He is competing on the Challenge Tour this year as he aims to return to the top echelon of the sport.
