Calm Scotland finishes with a final round 68

MUSCAT // Zane Scotland kept his cool to chalk up an impressive three-shot shot victory in the Mena Golf Tour's Ghala Valley Open on Wednesday.

Starting the day four shots ahead, the 32-year-old Englishman never offered a chance to his rivals with a closing four-under 68 to finish on 11 under.

Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda matched the day’s best score of a 67 to finish runner-up on eight under, two shots ahead of Morocco’s Faycal Serghini and three ahead of England’s Christopher Cannon.

The day belonged to Scotland, who made a bogey-birdie-bogey start, but had things pretty much in control from then as he played the final 15 holes in five under to seal his seventh victory on the Tour.

“I had an up-and-down start, but things started falling in place as the round wore on,” Scotland said. “When I got to 10-under on the 12th, I knew the victory was in sight if I didn’t make any major mistakes.

“I think the back nine had been pretty good to me,” said Scotland, who did not drop a shot during the tournament on the back nine, with 10 of his 18 birdies during the three-day event on the final nine holes.

Balmaseda also came alive on the back nine with two birdies and an eagle, but his late rally was not good enough to catch the runaway leader. “I think Zane really played well and deserved to win,” he said.

Serghini carded a final-round 69, a performance that also won him the Mena Division for the Sheikh Maktoum Golf Foundation Award, ahead of compatriots Ahmed Marjane and Amin Joudar.

England’s James Yeomans and Scotland’s Daniel Kay shared the honours in the amateur division, both finishing on two under while the Moroccan duo of Karim El Hali and Ayoub Lguirati jointly topped the Mena division in the same category.

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