Arabian Ranches Senior Professional, Malcolm Young put forward an outstanding and steady game to win the recent Sharjah UAE PGA Open, held at Sharjah Golf and Shooting Club.
With the Sharjah PGA Open standing half-way in the UAE PGA tournament calendar, every win, placing and subsequent point gained is vital. So the leader's board read rather familiar, almost replicating the current Order of Merit standings, and a battle between current leader and Tower Links son, Simon Payne, The Els Club newcomer, Callum Nicoll and Arabian Ranches favourite, Malcolm Young ensued.
At the turn Nicoll's led the field with a 2-under par, Payne maintained second with a level score and Young sat in third with a 2 over-par.
The last 9 proved critical with Nicoll's sitting precariously in the lead before bogey-ing the 17th, Payne was 1-under with one hole to play however the 18th proved a challenge where he finished with a bogey. Young played steady and birdied both the 11th and 12th, then set up a play-off by birdie-ing the last hole to finish level-par with the leaders.
The 3-man play-off saw Young and Payne make a par on the first hole with Nicoll's bowing out. Young then went on to birdie a 40 foot putt up the green with Payne missing his effort from 25 feet, handing Young a well earned victory.
"I am very happy with today's result. I played the back nine in 2-under and birdied the last hole in regulation to finish even with Callum and Simon, for me to then repeat this in the playoff was very rewarding" said Young. "Having finished runner-up 3 times in the last four events I am exceptionally pleased I kept it going and held off Callum and Simon" he added.
With his sights set on a rapid rise, Young now sits firmly in overall third place in the UAE PGA Order of Merit rankings.
