The European Tour returns to Perth

ISPS Handa Perth International (Perth, Australia)
February 25-28, 2016
Prize fund: A$1,750,000 (€1,147,592/US$1,264,707)
Course: Lake Karrinyup GC
Yardage: 7,143 yards

The ISPS Handa Perth International returns after a one-year absence. The event, now tri-sanctioned with the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia, will be played at Lake Karrinyup GC for the fourth year running. This is a classic course, with plenty of trees and bunkers, not to mention the kangaroos who frequent the course. The wind usually is a factor in this part of western Australia.

The winning scores have been better than average, with Thorbjorn Olesen winning at -17 in 2014, Jin Jeong winning at -10 in the preceding year and Bo Van Pelt winning the first edition at -16. This year's field is headlined by Louis Oosthuizen, ranked 21st in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). Other notable players include Perth's own Brett Rumford, last week's winner Marcus Fraser, Victor Dubuisson, Olesen, Stephen Gallacher, and impressive rookies Paul Dunne and Ricardo Gouveia.

It's nice to see two Australian tournaments (Australian PGA Championship took place in December) on the European Tour schedule. If there can be some kind of partnership between the two tours where a few more tournaments could be co-sanctioned, that would be great. The courses, fans, and weather are fantastic but the country presents a similar option to South Africa. The Rainbow Nation stages five tournaments co-sanctioned with the European Tour. Maybe one South African tournament could be taken off the schedule in favor of the addition of one Australian event.

MENA Tour is growing at a rapid pace

Picture courtesy of SunshineTour.com

Although this topic does not pertain to the European Tour, it is something I have wanted to write about. The Middle East North Africa (MENA) Tour was created in 2011 and has grown from four events in its inaugural year to 11 last season to 20 this season. Before this season, all the events were staged in the Middle East and North Africa. This season, showing the rapid growth of the Tour, events will also be staged in Spain and South Africa. The Tour staged Qualifying School earlier this week which gives them the opportunity to become eligible for Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points. Former European Tour players Andrew Marshall, Jamie Elson, and Peter Gustafsson, along with Challenge Tour player Duncan Stewart, were among those to get playing rights for this season.

The Tour will boast more than $1 million in prize funds over the course of the season. In an agreement signed with the Sunshine Tour, the top-five finishers on the MENA Tour Order of Merit will have full playing privileges on the Southern Africa-based Tour in the following season. Players ranked 6-15 on the MENA Tour Order of Merit will be exempt into the stage of Sunshine Tour Qualifying School. The partnership is a welcomed move forward for MENA Tour players. In past seasons, they were granted exemptions into Asian Tour Q-School. Spots in the European Tour's Omega Dubai Desert Classic and Trophee Hassan II have been available to top finishers on the MENA Tour money list in the past few seasons. This season, the Maybank Championship Malaysia gave 2015 Order of Merit winner Thriston Lawrence a spot in the event. Lawrence won $27,679 over the course of the season. At 19 years old, the South African is a definitely a player to watch. He made the cut in this week's European Tour event in Malaysia and he will also get a start in the Trophee Hassan II event in Morocco in May.

Darren Clarke, the 2016 European Ryder Cup team captain, is a patron of the MENA Tour and he has high hopes for the Tour in the future. "A lot of fresh talent coming up through the ranks over the last few years, but the opportunities to play are limited," the 2011 Open champion said during a press conference in Dubai two weeks ago. "This exchange program with the South African tour will provide another platform for young professionals to develop and showcase their skills on a global basis. This MENA Golf Tour is the fastest growing professional golf tour in the world. With the help of the Sunshine Tour and, indeed, all the events that we have had already, I think this is going to go in one direction."

Although the Tour is made up of primarily Europeans, there are a growing number of Middle Eastern players who will be making significant progress in the coming years. The future is bright for this rapidly expanding Tour. The first event on the MENA Tour will be later next month in Morocco.

Follow the MENA Tour at https://menagolftour.com/home.

South Africa is producing young and hungry players who are eager to prove themselves on bigger stages

So far on the 2015-16 season on the European Tour, we have seen the emergence of two young South Africans who look ready to assert themselves in the world of golf. 22-year-old Brandon Stone won the BMW SA Open and 21-year-old Haydn Porteous won the Joburg Open. The two are close friends and it was Porteous who beat Stone in a playoff in the Barclays Kenya Open in 2015 on the Challenge Tour. The victory enabled Porteous to become a Challenge Tour member en route to finishing 20th on the Race to Oman rankings. While he fell just short of the the all-important top-15 who got their European Tour cards, Stone finished one spot inside the qualifying mark and has hit the ground running in his maiden main Tour season. He finished T18 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship before he won his national open. He followed that potentially life-changing victory with a T28 at the Joburg Open.

Both wins carry European Tour exemptions until the end of the 2016-17 season. This is massive for both players in the early stage of their careers. As a result, they aren't under any serious pressure if they desire to make swing, equipment, or coaching changes. Stone and Porteous lead a pack of up-and-coming South Africans who have lots of potential.

Zander Lombard is 21 years old and has had quite the start to this season. In three events, he's finished 2nd, T12, and 4th. With his earnings already he would finish 126th on last year's Race to Dubai. I would expect him to get some sponsor's invitations to future events and would not be surprised if he earns the additional approximately €90,000 that would be needed to earn a card for next season.

Dylan Frittelli has been on the radar for many years, going back to his days at the University of Texas when he holed the winning putt in the 2012 NCAA Championship. He hasn't had the start to his career like he would have hoped, but 2016 could put an end to that. In four events so far this season, he's earned €141,023, mostly courtesy of a playoff loss to Nathan Holman in the Australian PGA Championship. Like Lombard, Frittelli is in a great position to earn full playing rights for next season on the European Tour. He probably needs to earn another €110,000. I would expect him to have five or six more opportunities this season.

19-year-old Thriston Lawrence is player who has taken a different route than most South Africans. He spent most of 2015 on the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Tour, where he was the Order of Merit champion. Courtesy of winning the money list on that Tour, he earned a place in this week's Omega Dubai Desert Classic, where he missed the cut by one shot. He also played five events on the Challenge Tour, but only made one cut. He is managed by ISM (International Sports Management), headed by Chubby Chandler. Lawrence won the 2014 South African Amateur Championship as a 16-year-old. This season, he will get starts on the European, Challenge, Sunshine, and MENA Tours as he looks to make more progress in the professional game.