RICHARD Mansell claimed a share of the first-round lead at the Challenge Tour Grand Final after posting a five-under par round of 66 – despite having not played a practice round at T-Golf & Country Club.

The Staffordshire golfer only arrived in Mallorca on the eve of the tournament, having been in isolation following a positive Covid-19 test.

But the EuroPro Tour graduate showed no signs of rust as he joined Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren and Spain’s Santiago Tarrio at the top of the leaderboard.

Mansell, who is currently third on the Road to Mallorca rankings, admitted he could not have expected a better outcome after playing the course for the first time.

“I just really tried to control my golf ball,” Richard said. “I just tried to keep it below the hole all day.

“I had an awful warm-up. I was saying to a couple of guys, I have never been so nervous on the first tee.

“I didn’t think I was going to keep it on the golf course. But I hit a great drive – birdied the first, birdied the second and thought ‘oh, hang on’.

“I’ve still got three rounds to go,” said Mansell, who graduated from Nova Southeastern Florida University, where he played on the same national championship winning team as Surrey’s Ben Taylor, who is now playing on the PGA Tour in America.

The Sharks graduate, who is a member at Cannock’s Beau Desert GC, added: “I came into this week and I haven’t been able to do anything.

“But what I have done is tried to learn the course as much as I can in my hotel room, and just tried to do what I could, and trust that was enough.

“I’ve played enough rounds of golf to let me golfing ability take over instead of just trying to force it,” said Mansell.

“I really enjoyed it out there and it was good to have my caddie back and be out of the hotel room,” said 25-year-old Mansell, who won the Cobra Puma Championship last summer.

The course at T-Golf & Country Club is firm after a sustained period of warm weather.

And with high temperatures expected for the rest of the week, Mansell expects the greens to become harder and faster as the week goes on.

“The greens are firm and I think they’re just going to get firmer as the week goes on,” he said.

“I was in the last group out. I had a couple of putts towards the end that definitely ran out a little bit more.

“I was up by the green when Marcel Schneider hit a shot in and I heard it land and it was like it landed on concrete.

He added: “I think they’re just going to get more baked out as the week goes on, which emphasises having good ball control which tends to be my game.”

Mansell, Hellgren, who carded two eagles on his way to his five-under par 66, and Tarrio lead by one stroke.

The Englishman was runner-up on the 2019 EuroPro Order of Merit, after the Race to Desert Springs Tour Championship a year ago, earning one of five cards on the Challenge Tour.

Lancashire’s former European Boys champion Matthew Baldwin, Italian Enrico Di Nitto, American Tyler Koivisto and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard MøllerEnrico Di Nitto, American Tyler Koivisto and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard Møller are tied in fourth place on four-under.

Kent’s Road to Mallorca No. 4 Matt Ford, Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand and Germany’s Alexander Knappe are a shot further back in a tie for eighth place on three-under.

The second round of the Challenge Tour Grand Final will begin at 8.30am Spanish on Friday, with the leading trio playing in the final group at 11.05am.

•Click here for second round scoring.

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South African M G Keyser has eyes on the prize at this week’s MENA Tour’s Journey to Jordan Tour Championship. Picture by MENA TOUR

ESSEX’S James Allan will be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the EuroPro Tour’s biggest prize by claiming the MENA Tour’s Journey to Jordan Tour Championship at Ayla Golf Course.

The top 60 players on the MENA Tour’s order of merit tee it up in Jordan’s Aqaba, on Tuesday, for the 54-hole shoot-out with the incentive of three starts in the European Tour’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic, in January, up for grabs.

Allan, who won his first MENA event at the Abu Dhabi Open, in early October, lost a play-off against Sweden’s European Tour veteran Mikael Lundberg, at the EuroPro Tour Championship, in Spain, at the end of that month.

It cost him a European Challenge Tour card as well as the first prize of £22,540 as he finished in 10th place on the Race to Desert Springs Order of Merit.

Left-hander Allan had to birdie the last two holes at Desert Springs to force the play-off having been the 36-hole leader.

But the 25-year-old – who won Gog Magog’s prestigious Lagonda Trophy four years ago – came up shy when Lundberg made an up-and-down par at the 18th on the third time of asking despite finding the greenside trap and Allan made a bogey five.

The Chelmsford GC member has already played in the Dubai Desert Classic twice as an amateur – having won the MENA’s Amateur Order of Merit in 2014 and 2015.

James Allan is currently ranked third on the Journey to Jordan, but faces a strong field – some with Challenge Tour experience – including South Africa’s M G Keyser, who already has a MENA Tour win to his name in 2019, and tops the Journey to Jordan after the penultimate event.

Only three professionals have a chance to be crowned the MENA Tour’s No. 1 – Keyser, Australian Daniel Gaunt and Allan.

Chelmsford’s James Allan, whose maiden MENA Tour win came at the Abu Dhabi Open, in October. Picture by MENA Tour

M G Keyser said: “It’s the same as any other week. I really can’t predict what others are going to do.

“I can only control myself. I have had a couple of good weeks on the Asian Tour before coming here and I played well in the practice round.

“So, just go out there, have fun, and hopefully, at the end of the day, I am still at the top,” added Keyser, who will win the Journey To Jordan by finishing solo second or better.

Apart from the honour of being called the No. 1 on the MENA Tour – sponsored by Arena – in both its professional and amateur categories, there is also the substantial winner’s cheque of $18,000 for the pros to be decided on Thursday evening – plus plenty of playing opportunities to aspire for.

The overall professional Journey to Jordan champion and runner-up, the leading player on the ‘Final Five’ Order of Merit and the Leading Amateur will earn their spot at the Dubai Desert Classic, at Emirates Golf Club, from January 23-26.

The No. 1 also receives invites to the European Tour’s Made in Denmark tournament, and the 2020 Diamond Cup – co-sanctioned by Japan Golf Tour Organization and the Asian Tour.

The overall runner-up will be invited to two leading Asian Tour events – the 2020 Bank BRI Indonesian Open and the season-ending Indonesian Masters (Dec 12-15).

The player finishing third in the overall Journey to Jordan will receive invites to two European Challenge Tour events.

The fourth-placed player gets two Asian Tour starts, while the fifth-placed player will be assured of a Challenge Tour invitation.

Keyser, winner of the Troon Series Dubai Open leads the Professional Journey To Jordan, having earned $44,361, while Burhill Golf Club’s Surrey based Australian Daniel Gaunt, is second on $36,474.

Greenkeeper Gaunt, making a comeback to competitive golf after giving up professional golf this year, won the Troon Series Al Zorah Open.

Former European Tour star Matthew Baldwin is third at $27,820, followed by James Allan on $27,037, and Frenchman Robin Roussell ($25,190).

But Baldwin and Roussell, who have recently finished their season on the Challenge Tour, have opted not to play this week, with the Frenchman heading to Leopard Creek for the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Colchester’s Benjamin David, who is in sixth place on the rankings, can secure some of those coveted Tour starts by winning the event and leap-frogging Baldwin.

Knipes copies Allan’s route to Dubai

bridge’s Curtis Knipes is aiming to repeat James Allan’s MENA Tour’s Amateur Order of Merit wins to earn a place at the Dubai Desert Classic, in January. Picture by MENA TOUR

ON the Amateur Journey To Jordan rankings, Essex’s Curtis Knipes is in pole position with 21,662 points, followed by 15-year-old Josh Hill with 19,705 pts.

Hill generated worldwide headlines when he became the youngest player ever to win an Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) event last month at the Al Ain Open.

Knipes, who has a lead of 1,957 points over Hill, said: “It would be nice to win the Journey To Jordan and play the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

“I felt that the Open Championship at Royal Portrush was a bit of a wasted opportunity, so it would be nice to test myself again,” said the Abridge GC member, who came through Regional and Final Qualifying to earn a sport at the first Open held in Northern Ireland in 58 years.

“You never know what can happen if I play well there,” added Knipes, who was the 2018 England County Champion of Champions.

“Having said that, I am just trying to compete against the pros as I have done in every other tournament this year. Try and focus on the winning score and see how well I can play.”

Fifth-ranked Arjun Gupta, from India, who has 4,342 points, also has an outside chance of getting his hands on the Amateur Journey To Jordan crown.

Hampshire’s Harry Ellis, who picked up two runners-up spots in October, was ineligbile for the Journey to Jordan, having not been a full MENA Tour member at the start of the season.

The 2017 Amateur Champion, who failed to reach the final stage of last week’s European Tour Qualifying School, in Spain, earned enough points to be sixth on the rankings.

The tournament starts Tuesday with Keyser, Gaunt and Allan forming the final group. They tee off at 11am local time.

•For live scoring from click here.

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