RIYADH: Short by one man the trio of Mark Davies, Phil Armstrong and Irshad Akhtar bested the field to win the 2009 Zahid Tractor Golf Championship at Dirab Golf & Country Club on Friday.
The Ambrose Texas Scramble format competition brought a fitting end to the 2009 season at Dirab and attracted more than120 players who enjoyed a day out on the course in superb playing conditions. The green mark speed was measured at 10.8 on Stepmeter by DGCC manager and PGA Golf Professional Bouchaib El Jadiani.
Davies, Armstrong and Akhtar claimed first place on countback from the four-person team of Ray Chaplow, Ganet Chaplow, Thomas Trimble and Tim Brain.
The sides tied on 55 at the end of the tournament in which 1/8 of the players’ combined handicaps counted as the team handicap and the best shot of each of the team members is selected although only four driver shots per player will be used.
With a 9 handicap the team of Davies never dropped a shot in a bogeyless round of 64 (31-33). Back-to-back birdies on the first and second holes laid the foundation of the winning team’s romp on the flat but challenging layout nestled at the Tawfiq valley.
They added three more birdies on the front side, 6 and 9, and hardly made any mistake to pocket the top prize in the season-ending event. After three straight pars to start the back nine the trio birdied 13 and 14 as well as the par-3 No. 16.
Ray’s team posted a gross score of 65 (32-33) and could have won outright had they not bogeyed the 18th, the only spot in an otherwise immaculate round. They had four birdies on each nine including back-to-back ones from the third and the 11th holes.
Two strokes back in third place went was the 10-handicap quartet of Poul Hansen, Paul Thunder, David Carr and Gauvin Daniel who compiled 57.
The Lebanese duo of Rabie Fares and Marwan Kousa teamed with Mohammed Sofi and Ijaz Naqshbandi to take fourth place on 58.
Davies and Ganet claimed the award for longest drive in the men’s and ladies division, while Bertil Sandstrom nabbed the closest to pin plum.
The SR60,000 worth of prizes distributed at the awards ceremony included golf bags, clubs, putters and other premium golf items.
El Jadiani delivered a close of season speech as did Dirab Golf Committee Chairman Nasser Udin Siddiqui, who thanked the Zahid Tractor for the handsome prizes and the players for supporting the event. Speaking in behalf of course owner and Saudi Golf Federation President Khaled Abunayyan, El Jadiani thanked the committee, club members, management and staff for helping make 2009 another great success.
Fahad Mohammed Abunnayan, deputy general manager at Abunayyan Group, attended the prize-giving. The Zahid Tractor executives present on the occasion were Marwan Al Azraq, regional maanger Central Region Commercial Vehicles Division, and Mohammad Ali Abdul Ghani, sales supervisor Caterpillar Machinery Division.
