RIYADH: Welsh teenager Daniel Gizzi, Jun Paner and Rene Layug emerged Class A, Class B and Class C champions in the FGA Kalayaan Cup golf tournament at the Riyadh Golf Club.

Gizzi, 16, here in the Kingdom to be with his father while on school vacation for two months, played practice and his first-ever round at the par-73 rolling layout a day before the tournament on Friday.

That was all he needed as Gizzi upstaged the older players in the division to win on countback from American Mike Martinez after they both returned matching net scores of 69.

Gizzi, with a 5 handicap, shot a 74 (37-37) in a tidy round he punctuated with an eagle on No. 14 and a birdie, while the 8-handicapper Martinez fired 77 (39-39). New Zealander Julian Benett, playing off a 10 handicap, rounded out the first three winners in Class A (0-14 handicap) with a net 72. That Gizzi won was hardly surprising. His proud father, Gino, a single-digit handicap golfer who works as operations manager at Cape RB Hilton in Jubail, says Daniel is the 2007 Sri Lankan Junior Open champion and 2007 Under 16 Gwent Junior Open champion. A member of the Newport Golf Club, Daniel is the captain of both the Gwent and Welsh U-16 squads.

“I drove the ball well, made few mistakes,” said Daniel. The talented golfer from Wales who hits the ball a long way plans to pursue a career in golf and join the European Tour in a couple of years, hoping to follow the footsteps of famous compatriot Ian Woosnam, one of the “Big Five” generation of European golfers all born within 12 months of one another, who all won majors, and made Europe competitive in the Ryder Cup. Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Sandy Lyle were the other members of the “Big Five.”

Organized by Filipino Golf Association in cooperation with Riyadh Golf Courses Manager V.T.M. Rafi, the 18-hole tournament forms part of the month-long celebration of the 110th Philippine Independence Day under the auspices of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. Fifty-five FGA members and their guests teed it up shotgun-style in the competition.

Paner won by two strokes over Ben Torrefiel with a 71 in the 15-22 handicap category but the loudest cheers were for popular Filipino community leader Rene Layug after he collared his first victory in a major tournament.

Playing disciplined golf, Layug compiled 36 Stableford points in the 23-28 category with Aries Ramirez first runner-up on 35 and Zoilo Holganza second runner-up on 34. Torrefiel signed for a 73, while second runner-up Keith Panther returned 74.

Thai Somchit Nakhong nailed the longest drive award and Daniel the nearest to pin.

Danny Naval, FGA president, and the rest of the FGA officers including Cesar Rosario, Senan Angara, Alex Arellano, and Eric Liquigan as well as Val Navarro contributed time and effort to make the event a big success. Desert Fox Shooters did the photo coverage of the tournament.

Meantime, Rafi said the June Monthly Medal tournament would be held this Friday. Tee-off is at 6:30 a.m. For bookings, call RGC at (01) 224-1110.