RIYADH: Add Eric Liquigan to the roll of elite golfers to win a club championship at the Dirab Golf & Country Club.

On a warm sunny day the Filipino hotshot fired one of his best rounds in tournament play, a 1-over 73, to win the 2009 Dirab Stroke Play Club Championship & Etihad Golf Challenge on Friday.

Richard Gaas made it a Filipino 1-2 in the Best Gross category when he carded a 2-over 75 at the flat but challenging 6,905-yard layout nestled on the Tawfiq valley.

Swede Robert Ruuth took third place on 71. All three winners are 5-handicap golfers.

Playing in a group with Saudi national player Fahad Al Mansour and a pair of long-hitters, Ian Scott and Marcus Brigstag, Liquigan settled in after a scrambling par on No. 1 to shoot nines of 36-37.

“I had a good short game and I missed only two drives on 10 and 18. I was intimidated in the beginning by the long hitters in my group but then I managed to stick to my gameplan,” said the bespectacled Liquigan of his near-flawless display.

Liquigan, who works as administration staff at Saudi Oger Ltd., hit trouble when he double bogeyed the third hole but stabbed an 8-iron to four feet for birdie on the par-4 fifth. On No. 9, a par-5 hole, Liquigan was left with only 60 yards for his third shot and tapped in for another birdie to be level par coming out.

He then parred the next eight holes but bogeyed the 18th when he missed his drive to the left in an otherwise tidy back nine.

The annual club championship was the biggest win of Liquigan’s golfing career as he underlined his billing as arguably No. 1 Filipino golfer in the Kingdom.

Gaas, Liquigan’s friend and playing partner back in the Philippines, had good approach shots but his game came unstuck due to poor putting.

While a Filipino duo dominated the Best Gross section of the tournament sponsored by Etihad Airways Pakistanis swept the first three places in the Best Net category.

Khaled Raja, a 23-handicap golfer, broke 90 with an 89 on the way to posting the winning score of 6-under 68. Tariq Sardar, who played to a 14 handicap, tallied 69 from a gross of 83 to take the second position while Khurshid Ahmed had 70 for third place.

Korean C.H. Lee and Flore Bouzanne, Liquigan’s sister, were champion and runner-up in the Ladies Division on 81 and 86.

The longest drive awards went to Scott in the men’s division and Lee in the ladies division, while Daniel Bush nabbed the closet to pin plum.

Sheikh Fahad Abunayyan, vice-general manager of Abunayyan Group, and Etihad Airways representative Syed Suhail attended the awards ceremony. They presented the prizes to the winners with Dirab Golf & Country Club Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani.

In addition to the golf merchandise and trophies, miles vouchers from Etihad were distributed to the winners.