Top-ranked Omani golfers Azaan Al Rumhy and Ali Hameed Al Saleh will have everything to gain when they spearhead the home challenge at the Muscat Hills Golf Citizen Championship which makes its debut on the MENA Tour this week.

The experience of playing alongside a talented international field will offer the duo a perfect platform to fine tune their game ahead of the Nomura Cup, which is being held at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi from October 22 to 25.

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Included in the Muscat Hills field are nine winners on the Tour, led by England’s Joshua White, the 2014 MENA Tour champion, and his compatriot Gary King, who leads the Order of Merit standings.

With the first seven events of the season producing a new winner each time, regular contenders like the English trio of Lee Corfield, Luke Joy and Jake Shepherd, all multiple winners on the tour, and Morocco’s Ahmed Marjan, will be eager to get back into the winner’s circle.

The Omani duo – Al Rumhy and Al Saleh – will be hoping to put local knowledge to good use when they join the amateur division, led by England’s James Allan and India’s Rayhan Thomas.

Al Rumhy and Al Saleh, along with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khaled Saud Al Faisal, will certainly fancy their chances of making a breakthrough in the MENA Division. They will be up against the likes of Morocco’s Ayoub Lguirati and Karim El Hali, who currently lead the region’s amateur division, in what promises to be an interesting duel.

The championship will also showcase investments made by Oman in positioning the Sultanate as a major golf destination in the region.

“We are delighted to be part of the MENA Tour as we support all initiatives which target the overall development of the game in the region,” Mundhir Al Barwani, chairman of Oman Golf Committee, said.

“The tour has done a great job in creating a competitive environment for the region’s players to grow and excel on the international stage.”