RIYADH, 26 December 2006 — Filipino Yassin Palileo played the round of his life on Friday to beat an elite field and capture the coveted title in the Battle of Champions golf tournament at the Dirab Golf Club here.
Besides the title Palileo earned bragging rights as the Best Player of 2006 at the end of the Best Net winners-only tournament.
“I felt like nobody could beat me with the kind of game that I played,” said Palileo who has improved dramatically in little over two years of playing golf.
The bragging rights were well deserved. Raising his game to the next level, 13-handicap Palileo put together a sparkling 7-under net score of 65 in benign conditions that eclipsed the 6-under effort of 66 from Ethiopian Ganet Bertha.
Bertha, another 13-handicap bruited about this side of golfing town as the female version of Tiger Woods, excitedly watched Yassin putt on the 18th green thinking she had the title in the bag.
Fighting nerves in front of a gallery, Palileo three putted the hole. No problem. He still had one stroke to spare and Bertha’s big hopes quickly turned into a disappointment.
She settled for the ladies champion prize.
The long-hitting Palileo was in the zone to shoot nines of 34-44 in a 78 gross that secured his place among the few single-digit handicap Filipino golfers, as his handicap is likely to drop to six.
Palileo’s short game in the front nine was unbelievable as he shot three birdies against one bogey on the fourth hole. He stabbed his eighth iron into three feet after a monster drive to begin his birdie binge on No. 3.
After that bogey, he drained a 40-footer on the fifth hole then set up another tap-in birdie on the next hole.
His confidence growing, Palileo had birdie chances on his last three holes going out as he hit the greens in regulation.
Eight under on his handicap after the first nine holes, Palileo went on cruise control the rest of the way to preserve the biggest win of his young golfing career.
A switching engineer with Saudi Telecom Company, Palileo leaves the Kingdom for good next month, bringing with him a bagful of golf memories to his native Philippines.
Pakistani Tariq Javed finished runner-up on 68. The others who earned tee times at this exclusive year-end event were Thai Boon Yuen 75, Nadim Mirza 77, Jess Batchelor 78 and Sam Montgomery 81.
Dirab Golf Club Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani presented the prizes during the prize distribution ceremony.
