A total of 40,000 scores were posted in the competition.

However his preparation was interrupted when he was rushed into hospital just 2 weeks before the tournament with suspected swine flu/meningitis. Tom was kept on an isolation ward for 5 days, and as a result only played 12 holes of golf in the 3 weeks prior to the tournament.

He regained his health and fitness (or so he thought), and flew off to Abu Dhabi with the 11 other boys and 9 girls. It was a quality field with three +3 handicappers, and Tom being one of 3 +2 handicappers.

Following the practice round on the Tuesday, a special Challenge Match was arranged for the Wednesday, where the finalists each paired up with a local junior golfer for a better-ball stableford competition.

Tom was paired with Sohail Al Marzoooi, an 11 handicapper from Dubai. There score of 42 points was good enough to win the event, and David Howell was on hand to present the trophy.

Tom was a little miffed that David Howell played in one of the pairings, but as a pro was given a scratch handicap and Tom had to concede 2 shots to him! Tom contribute six birdies and was full of confidence for the following day.

On the Thursday the competition proper commenced with the first of three rounds, off the black tees with the course measuring 7500 yards.

England no1 boy Tom Lewis set a blistering pace with a round of 64 (-8), to go into round 2 with a 7 shot lead.

Tom realised early in that round that without the benefit of buggies (as they had for the previous days) all was not well and he became very weak. He was physically sick on the 17th, but had to return a score.

The doctor was called and he spent an hour with Tom following the round. His first round score of 82 put him out of contention, and he did extremely well to get it round in 75, 76 over the following two days.

Tom finished 11th, but with +4 finishing 3rd he felt that with full health and fitness that was well within his reach.

The event was won by Chris Lloyd with -11, who overhauled Tom Lewis who finished on -10.

The event culminated with a gala dinner, and after a week of 5 star luxury, a jeep safari in the desert, various golf clinics and bar-b-ques, he traveled home to wet and dreary Warwickshire (a far cry from the 90 degrees of Abu Dhabi) with memories that will last a lifetime, and a taste of what life on tour could be like!