Inspired by Seve, Jordan’s 12-year-old Salem is out to test himself

Alabdallat was born on the last day of November 2011, almost seven months after the charismatic Spaniard passed away in May 2011. There is just one championship-size golf course in his country, but he somehow fell in love with the sport, and with Seve.

“He loves Tommy Fleetwood as well, but that’s because he met him and took a picture with him when we watched the Dubai Desert Classic a few years ago. But even I am surprised that he idolises Seve, and I must add that I have no role to play in that,” said his father, Hani, who served the Jordan Golf Federation as a President, and is an R&A-certified rules official, and an unabashed Phil Mickelson fan.

“I think it happened when he was six or seven years old. A trick shot artist invited him to hit a few shots and Salem connected every time. The person posted something like ‘meet the new Seve’ on his Instagram. He came home and Googled about Seve and has been watching his videos ever since.”

Starting the game early

With his father being a golfer, it wasn’t surprising that Salem picked up the sport shortly before turning 3. He is now the highest-ranked player on the team at World Amateur Golf Ranking No. 228, which also earned him an invite to play in the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass earlier this year.

At the recent Pan Arab Youth Golf in Tunisia, Salem shot the lowest round of his life so far – a four-under par – and eventually won the Under-13 category by 13 shots.

Salem's biggest challenge right now is that Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, the only 18-hole green course in Jordan, is almost 400 kilometers (250 miles) from his house. He picked up the game at a nine-hole sand course (Bisharat Golf Club) in Amman, and apart from the occasional trips to Ayla, or the tournaments he gets to play, his practice time is spent mostly in the driving range.

Big test for youngest in field

Both Salem and Hani understand that Taiheiyo Golf Gotemba and the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) will be a different beast.

“I know he will be very upset if he does not make the cut, but I have told him that he is playing a long golf course where the par-4s are like par-5s for him, and the par-5s will be par-6s. His chips will be for birdie and his first putts will be for pars. He is also playing against the elite amateur players of the region who are national and college stars and much older than him,” said Hani.

“His coach (Amer Radee) and I explained that this is a great learning experience, and the results don’t matter. But it is important that he soaks it all in, enjoys himself and learns.

“The greens in Japan will be very different for him. But fast and slick greens don’t bother him that much. When he played at TPC Sawgrass, he handled the greens well. It is the length of the golf course that will be his biggest issue.”

It’s the first time that Jordan has four players in an AAC field. Joining Alabdallat this week are Mousa Shana’ah, Mohammad Alrawashdeh and Hashem Shana’ah. All four have earned an invite through their position in the WAGR.

Family affair

Salem’s father had a role to play in that as well.

“When I was President of the JGF, alongside Amer, we decided we would only invest in junior golf, junior development programmes and junior tournaments. We kind of dismantled the men’s team, and said we’d not spend money on them traveling to tournaments, etc.,” said Hani.

“We started something called the Jordan Junior League in 2019, the year before the pandemic. We made a calendar and had tournaments every other month in Aqaba. It started as one-, or two-day events, and they are now three-day WAGR events.

“We now have about 100-odd juniors in Jordan. The parents see their kids playing seriously and are now interested in investing in their equipment, travel and coaching. We are seeing significant improvement in their level of golf.”

The best result by Jordan is tied 48th place by Shergo Kurdi in 2021.