Great to talk to Ladies European Tour player Gabriella Cowley yesterday as she was on her way to play in the Jordan Mixed Open sponsored by Ayla. It is positive to see another co-sanctioned mixed event giving such an opportunity for women professionals to ply their trade. The support of the Challenge Tour and Senior men professionals could really be the way forward.

Here’s the official press release talking about this special event and the official video

Ladies European Tour winner Meghan MacLaren, who created headlines last month when she highlighted golf’s gender pay disparity, former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane and Senior LPGA Champion Trish Johnson are among several other notable players who will tee it up at the spectacular Red Sea venue for the co-sanctioned event.

Three-time European Tour winner and member of the victorious 2002 Ryder Cup squad, Phillip Price, is also in the field for the strokeplay tournament, which will see 40 players from each co-sanctioning tour and a leading amateur from the men’s, ladies’ and over-50s’ games compete over three days on Ayla’s championship course.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity, not only to compete with the female players, but also to test my game against the up-and-coming players on the Challenge Tour,” the Welshman commented. “Playing golf in Jordan and competing against the Ladies European Tour professionals are both new and exciting experiences and it’s going to be really interesting to see how the format works in practice.”

The layout has been specifically set-up to ensure competitors from each circuit can compete over an equal playing field, with bunkering and hazards, alongside tee placement, taken into consideration.

In addition to staging the Jordan Mixed Open presented by Ayla and hosting several legs on the MENA Tour’s ‘Journey to Jordan’, Ayla has earned considerable plaudits for its sustainable design, which Greg Norman described upon the venue’s opening as ‘among the top-three most eco-friendly golf courses in the world, if not the first.’