The MENA Golf Tour, which started with a schedule of four UAE-based tournaments in 2011, completes yet another major milestone this week with the hosting of its 50th tournament – the Dubai Creek Open.

The Tour really has grown by leaps and bounds. The 2016 schedule has 18 tournaments and visits 10 countries. It now features a Qualifying School and earlier this year, received its biggest recognition when the international golf federation awarded world ranking status to it.

The world ranking status was always the driving force for chairman Mohamed Juma Buamaim, and now that he has achieved his dream, he is busy setting new goals for the MENA Golf Tour.

“That was very important for the Tour. Because if we want Arab players to qualify for the Olympics, world ranking is the only way,” said Buamaim at a press conference in Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club to kick off the second half of the season.

“Now that we have got that, I want more Arab players to play our tournaments. That is the next goal for me. We have the support of the Arab Golf Federations, but we also need the individual federations to send their amateur players to play with the professionals on MENA Golf Tour and becoming better players.

“The most memorable moment for me in this 50-tournament journey was when Moroccan Ahmed Marjan won the Ras Al Khaimah event in 2014. With all due respect to all the wonderful professional players we get from other parts of the world, this tour’s man objective is to develop players from the region.

“I think we are at the right level of tournaments in the calendar. We are not looking at the quantity but rather on how we can make each of them better qualitatively. But yes, I do want more Arab players, especially amateurs, to participate.”

Buamaim has a point. In the past couple of years, members of the UAE national team have only played in a handful of MENA Tour events, despite the fact that better competition can only make them better players.

Adel Zarouni, vice chairman of the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF), agreed with Buamaim’s view and promised to make a difference in the future.

“It’s quite encouraging to see the tour grow in stature and popularity every year. It’s a fantastic achievement. We never thought it will become what it has become, but Mohamed and his team has done a terrific job,” Zarouni said.

“I am going to personally push it with the Emirates Golf Federation and with the other federations that are part of the Arab Golf Federation so that talented regional amateurs play more events in the Tour.”

England’s Jake Shepherd is the defending champion, but all eyes will be on Order of Merit leader Zane Scotland and Dubai-based amateur Rayhan Thomas when the tournament starts at 7am today.

Scotland won the inaugural MENA Tour event in 2011, and has added 10 more to his kitty after that, while 16-year-old Thomas has shown incredible form in various parts of the world and would be eager to go one better than his runner-up finish in the same tournament last year.