Joshua White conjured a piece of magic, firing a career-best nine-under 62 to set a new course record and seize control of the GOLF CIT­IZEN Masters Al Ain yesterday.

In imperious form off the tee, the 23-year-old Englishman reeled off five birdies on the front nine and four on the back in his bogey-free round – which incidentally is also best score ever on the MENA Golf Tour – to move four shots ahead of a six-man group headed by Morocco’s Ahmed Marjane.

The English duo of James Housby and Matthew Swales, the Spanish pairing of Jose Bondia Gil and Xavier Puig and Scotland’s Paul Doherty complete the group sitting on five under.

With five players, including ama­teur James Yeomans, moving into a tie for eighth a shot further back on four under, the leaderboard wore a crowded look, promising absorbing golf over the next two days.

With the course offering plenty of scoring opportunities as many as 26 players ended up in red figures, amply reflecting on the perfect con­ditions at Al Ain Equestrian, Shoot­ing and Golf Club.

Hailing his round as fantastic, White said: “It feels nice to come off with a solid, smooth round.

“I have been working really hard on my game and it finally paid off,” said White, who bettered the previous course record of a 63 set by compatriot Zane Scot­land he posted in the final round of the 2012 MENA Tour Champion­ship.

“Everything fell in place. Every time I needed to keep the momentum going, I managed to hit a good shot which was the key.”

Marjane, the winner of the RAK Classic earlier this month, also made his presence felt with another display of top quality consistent golf.

“It was a good round, but not a very good round,” said 22-year-old from Rabat, who is currently lead­ing the MENA Division.

“I missed a lot of easy putts, some even from two feet. Had I holed all of them, I would have ended up eight-under, but that’s golf. You can never have a perfect day.”

England’s Housby was equally pleased with his day’s effort. 

“I played pretty steady golf and hit a lot of fairways and greens. And what you do that you can always expect a good day,” said the Eng­lishman who bogeyed the 12th and 13th but responded well with three birdies in the last four holes.