Baldwin grabs five stroke lead in Jordan

aqaba — Even as the wind picked up considerably at Ayla Golf Club, Matthew Baldwin proved to be an unstoppable force as he grabbed a five-shot lead after round two of the Journey To Jordan-1, the opening event of the season of Mena Tour by Arena, on Sunday.

The wind funneling down from the mountain range is the greatest defense of the Greg Normandesigned course and reached 25mph at times, but that did not bother Baldwin as he shot a superb six-under par 66, the best round of the day by two shots, to reach 13-under par 131 going into the final round on Monday.

There was a four-way tie for the second place at eight-under par. That included Scotland’s Conor O’Neil (69), Netherland’s Maarten Bosch (68), English amateur Jack Floydd (69) and Belgium’s Christopher Mivis (68).

Jordan’s 15-year-old Shergo Al Kurdi did not have the best of second round and dropped down to two-over par following a 77. He will however still feature on the final day as the Mena Tour allows the top-10 amateurs to play on the final day in an effort to encourage then.

Floydd was thus the leading amateur in the field at 136, followed by his compatriots Curtis Knipes (70, 138), and Dubai-based 14-year-old Josh Hill (74, 142).

“It was really good today. I hit it a lot better than I did yesterday,” said Baldwin. “I hit it close and I putted well. On the first, I hit my two-iron second shot to seven feet and made that for an eagle. I then got on a good run – hit it to about 12 feet on the sixth and holed it, then to 15 feet on the seventh and holed it and to about 20 feet on the eighth and holed that too.”

It was really good today. I hit it a lot better than I did yesterday Matthew Baldwin