Wentworth’s Harry Ellis has been playing on South Africa’s Sunshine Tour and hopes to repeat the MENA Tour form that brought him 10 successive rounds in the 60s in 2019

A CONFIDENT Harry Ellis returns to the MENA Tour seeking his first career win as a professional at the Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open, which starts Monday.

The 24-year-old, from Southampton, played five events in the 2019 season and was inside the top-12 in all of them.

Those consistent displays over the past few months included back-to-back second place finishes in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

The former Amateur Champion missed the first three tournaments of 2020 because he was playing on the European Challenge Tour events in South Africa, where he finished tied fourth in the RAM Cape Town Open.

“It’s pretty amazing what happens when you have a bit of confidence in the system,” said Ellis – the youngest-ever winner of the Amateur and English Amateur, three years ago after he won the latter in 2017 at Royal St George’s, aged just 21.

“I feel a lot calmer and I feel in pretty sound place mentally. I am able to hit the shots I want to on the golf course,” revealed Ellis, a member at Wentworth.

“My team and I have put in a lot of hard work and we know it will take some time, but we have built a solid foundation.

“I am in a good golf-playing mode, which is nice not having to work on too many things. It’s a case of putting the rounds together and the results will come hopefully.”

Ellis played the Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open last year and was tied seventh. Interestingly, his 73 in the second round was the last time he was over-par on the MENA Tour – his last 10 rounds have all been in the 60s.

“It would be lovely to keep the streak going, but it is not something I am thinking too much about,” said the former Meon Valley G&CC junior.

“Obviously, it is always healthy for your position on the leaderboard, or your psyche, if you keep shooting in the 60s,” said Ellis, who is coached by Kristian Baker, who took Ross Fisher to the European Tour and his first victory, and has recently fronted the takeover of Sunningdale Heath, the old Sunningdale Ladies Club.

Ellis added: “This week, the course is set up so well that it is possible, but I am just trying to go out and be the best that I can be.

“We will see what happens, but I’d definitely like to be in contention.”

Ellis will have plenty of competition, with Berkshire’s current Journey to Jordan leader David Langley in great form after winning in Jordan and finishing second last week in Ghala.

The Hampshire man shot the lights out to help Hampshire beat Langley’s B.B.&O. team to reach the English County Finals in 2016, when David’s county hosted the South East Qualifer at Reading’s Calcot Park.

Ellis won the Peter Benka Trophy for the lowest 36-hole score – a feat matched by Langley two years later when B.B.&O. reached the English finals by winning at Orsett, in Essex.

Knebworth’s Jamie Rutherford spent two weeks working with his coach back home after finishing runner-up to David Langley in the Journey to Jordan No. 1

Runner-up Rutherford ready to go

FORMER European Tour player Jamie Rutherford is also returning to the MENA Tour this week.

The former Engladnd amateur international took a two-week break after his scorching finish at Ayla Golf Club, where he finished runner-up to Langley.

“I went back home for a couple of weeks, did some work with my coach and practiced as much as I could because the weather is so bad in England right now,” said Rutherford, who turned pro in 2013.

“It is great to come back to Royal Golf Club where I was fourth last year. I just love the challenge of this golf course.

“It is fairly generous off the tee, but you have got to really precise with your irons with how slopy the greens are and all the sections they can put the flag in.

“You’ve got to be in control of your distance and where you put your ball on the green. That, I feel, is a strength of mine.”

Rutherford – who like Ellis was also a promising footballer – fractured his spine in a car accident in 2016, but recovered well enough to earn his European Tour card at that year’s Qualifying School, in Spain.

After losing his card having played 16 events, along with 13 more on the Challenge Tour, Rutherford spent 2018 on the satellite tour and returning to the EuroPro Tour in 2019, four years after his first pro win.

Lindrick’s Bailey Gill, the champion last week at the Ghala Open in Muscat, and South Africa’s MG Keyser, the reigning Journey to Jordan champion, will miss the tournament but for very good reasons.

Gill got into this week’s Oman Open on the European Tour, courtesy of his win at Ghala, while Keyser qualified for next week’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, also on the European Tour, by winning the qualifiers in Doha.

Reigning champion Robin Roussell has also graduated to the European Tour and will also miss the event.

•For first round scores in the Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open click here.

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England junior international Josh Hill, who is just 15, leads the MENA Tour Championship at Jordan’s Ayla Golf Club. Picture by MENA TOUR

DUBAI-born amateur Josh Hill is in sight of a second MENA Tour title after taking a one-shot lead into the final round of the $100,000 Journey To Jordan Tour Championship.

At the Greg Norman-designed Ayla Golf Club, in Aqaba, Hill carded a second-round 69.

His three-under par score took his tally to nine-under – one ahead of Harry Konig (65), Hertfordshire’s Jamie Rutherford (67), Joshua Grenville-Wood (70) and Sweden’s Gabriel Axell (70).

All four professionals are looking for their first win on the MENA Tour.

Fifteen-year-old Hill, who beat the record of Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa to become the youngest winner of an OWGR-recognised event last month at the Al Ain Open, got off to a hot start after his first round of 66 on Tuesday had left him in a three-way tie in first place.

Hill was four-under through seven holes in round two, and even though his ball-striking deserted him a touch on the back nine, he managed to make enough birdies to offset his mistakes.

“I was doing everything so well for the first seven holes, and then made a stupid bogey on the ninth,” said Hill.

“I struggled a bit after that but am delighted to finish at three-under on a tough day.

“I made a three-putt bogey on the 12^th hole, but apart from that, I putted really well, and that really saved the day,” added Hill, who made seven birdies before ending with a bogey on 18^th.

Hill felt the experience of his Al Ain Open win – when he started the final day three shots behind leader Harry Ellis, Hampshire’s Amateur Champion in 2017 – will help him as he dons the role of a front-runner.

“It will be a different challenge and I think what would definitely help is if I get off to a good start like I did in Al Ain,” said the England Boys international.

“But that win proved to me that I have what it takes to win a tournament at this level and that would be a good, positive thought in my mind,” Hill added.

Sweden’s Henric Sturehed, winner of the MENA Tour Championship when it was last played in 2017, shot a two-under par 70 to take solo sixth place, while Luke Joy stayed in touch with a 71 that left him the seventh place.

South Africa’s MG Keyser, the leader of the Journey to Jordan order of merit, is on four-under after a 71.

But with his nearest challengers º Australia’s Daniel Gaunt (73) and Essex’s James Allan (72) – not making any significant move up the leaderboard, he looks on course to win the professionals’ prize on the Journey To Jordan.

Konig said he was “plodding” along and made some good up-and-downs until he decided to get aggressive on the back nine.

The move paid rich dividends as he finished with five birdies in his last six holes to shoot the low round of the day.

Konig said: “I missed making a birdie on the par-five17^th hole, where I missed a putt from five feet.

“That was slightly disappointing, but I did make a birdie on the 18^th which was playing very tough in this wind. I think it is the first time I have made a birdie on that hole.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Rutherford came to Jordan having missed getting into the final stage of the European Tour Qualifying School by just one shot

“I did not putt well at all that day in Spain and it was very disappointing. I went back home and mostly did putting for two weeks before coming here,” said the Knebworth GC member.

“In a sense, it is good that I had this tournament to play and an opportunity to bounce right back,” said the former England amateur international.

Axell, who lost in a play-off at the Ras Al Khaimah Open in October, will try and make amends in Thursday’s final round.

“It’s never good to finish with a bogey, but it wasn’t easy out there,” said Axell.

“However, I am playing some good golf and there is no reason why I should not finish one better than what I did at Ras Al Khaimah,” said the Swede, who made three birdies in a row before the turn.

Grenville-Wood, who finished second in Bahrain earlier this year, said: “It was a grind out there, especially on the back nine.

“I am pretty pleased with the way I kept it going and kept hitting steady shots. I made a pretty good par on the 18^th. So, one shot back, I will take it.”

Grenville-Wood, who played two European Challenge Tour events this season by virtue of his performances on the MENA Tour, has been flying the flag for ADHD sufferers.

He was chosen as an ambassador for the UK’s ADHD Foundation supporting kids who struggle from the condition earlier this year.

The 21-year-old, who was educated in States but also played golf in England as a junior is based in Hampshire while in the UK, and has played more than 500 tournaments as a junior on both sides of the Atlantic.

Grenville-Wood has also played on the Jamega and PGA EuroPro Tour since turning pro in 2017.

•For live scoring from the final round of the MEN Tour Championship click here.

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