RIYADH: The team of Ronny Lidman, Talal Sarieddine, Michael Tannenbaum and Theresa Wade won the 2010 RGBB Open Golf Championship at the Dirab Golf & Country Club on Thursday.
The winning quartet took the Texas Scramble format event via the countback from the team of Spence Hawthorne, Tom Merkel, Paul Papanicolaou and Lady Vanessa Patey after both squads tied on 57. Lidman and Co. had a gross score of 67 and a combined handicap of 10, while Hawthorne and teammates had 68 and 11.
The tournament organized by Riyadh Group for British Business and hosted for the second straight year by Dirab Golf & Country Club had two shotgun starts, 7 a.m and 12 noon, to accommodate the 140 players and 35 four-man teams that participated in the 18-hole clambake.
A charity event where proceeds will go to the Icing Children’s Charity and Haiti relief efforts, players were allowed to buy mulligans at SR100 for three. A total of SR250,000 was raised during the tournament.
Underscoring the tight battle for honors the next three places in the top five were all decided after the countback with all three teams tying on 58.
They all scored a gross 68 and each had a combined handicap of 10. Third place went to the foursome of Peter Donkin, Casey Blatch, Richard Davies and Ray Martin. In fourth position were Marty Latimer Cowall, Attila Soki, Rob Stacey and Alison Rogers, while Rajput Suriner, Ed Bulkeley, Sile McIllroy and Matt Martin took the fifth spot.
The prizes for the longest drive for men’s and ladies division went to Mark Campbell and Ruby Klawikowski, the closest to pin to Merkel on No. 4 and Blacklaw on No. 11, and longest putt to Ian Morrison.
The tournament sponsors were SABB, BMI, Olayan, Amex, Crane, Al Saif, Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers, Hotel Al Khozama, Royal Air Maroc, Pepsi Al Jomaih, Arabian Food Supplies, Almarai Co., Trophy World, Axa, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Arabian Shield and Dirab Golf & Country Club.
Formed in 1981, RGBB consists of about 300 plus individual members who strive to develop and improve British business interests in the Kingdom, according to the group’s website.
CAPTIONS: The winning team, from left, Talal Sarieddine, Ronny Lidman, Theresa Wade and Michael Tanenbaum.
