RIYADH, 17 March 2007 — For a good cause the golfers hit it and long and straight, so to speak, as they teed it up yesterday and Thursday for the Sanad Charity Golf Tournament at the Dirab Golf Club here.

At the end of the 36-hole event where the participants have the option to play one of the two rounds or both the sum of SR165,000 was raised from tournament proceeds consisting of players’ entry fees and sponsorship contributions from 20 companies.

The main sponsor and organizer of the event, Dirab Golf Club, presented a replica check for SR165,000 to the beneficiary of the tournament, Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Society during the awards ceremony yesterday.

In attendance during the ceremony were Dirab course owner and president of Saudi Golf Committee Khaled Abunayyan, society director Samiyah ibn Amir and his deputy Wafaa Al-Muneif as well as DGC Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani and Dirab Golf Committee chair Tom Matthews.

In a show of support, there were 51 golfers who played on the first day and 55 on the second day.

The mother and son tandem of Azza Attieh and Khalid Attieh, a promising Saudi junior golfer, came all the way from Jeddah to participate in the tournament. Egyptian doctor-golfer Shakatt Raghib donated extra cash of SR5, 000.

A “mulligan rule” was applied specially for the charity tournament in which players can buy strokes (maximum of 4 mulligan strokes for each individual round of 18 holes) before the start of the competition.

For each purchased stroke a player is allowed to replay one shot of his or her choice during the course of the round.

The tournament used the individual stroke play 3/4 handicap format with four categories. The first day winners were M.S. Kim 67, Jeremy Haas 72 and Somchit Nakhong 72 in the Men’s A Division (0-13 handicap), Sandstrom Bertil 67, Ramed Ratana 74 and Goran Anderson 76 in the Men’s B Division (13-28), Ganet Chaplow 77, Theresa Wade 81 and Evelyn Hayler 91 in the Ladies Division and Khalid Attieh 79 and Mansour Al-Mansour in the Junior Division.

On the second day the first three winners were Kevin Tayfield 70, Jeremy Haas 73 and Mike Jones 73 in Men’s A, Nadeem Mirza 73, Roger Deeley 76 and Graham Walker 77 in Men’s B, Chaplow, Azza Attieh 74 and Hayler in the Ladies Division and Attieh 79 and Al-Mansour 86 in the Junior Division.

The overall champions were Kim and Bertil in the men’s division, Chaplow in the ladies division and Attieh in the junior division.

The prizes for the closest to pin went to Bertil and Asaf Gaya, longest drive to Nakhong and Finlay Graham and Ganet who was unchallenged off the tee in both days in the ladies division.

The tournament sponsors were BAE Systems, Dar Al-Riyadh, ClubCar, Shell, Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants, Al Fardan Jewelry, Vibel, Almarai Company, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Al Hokair Trading, Al Faisaliah Hotel, Earnst & Young, Royal Air Maroc, Radisson SAS Hotel, Arco, Xerox, Arabian Shield Insurance, Emirates, Gulf Air and Tamimi Supermarkets. French Corner was the official caterer of the tournament.