Calm conditions in the morning gave way to severe sandstorm with winds that gusted up to 80kph later in the day and this tested the resolve of the full field of 120 that turned out for the 7:30 a.m. shotgun start.

Reid, with an 8 handicap, used his experience to deal with this kind of challenge and returned a gross score of 82 (41-41), which could have been better had he not marked a triple bogey eight on No. 12

Reid actually tied Korean B. J. Kim but won on countback, although Kim did manage  to win Division A (0-14) on net 73. The 14-handicap Dae Rieb-song and Anthony Lyons were second and third on 73 and 74, respectively.

The Division A victory was a fitting farewell for Samsung executive Kim, who is one of three RGC regulars leaving the Kingdom for good.

Cuban-American Ali Hernandez also made his farewell appearance Friday at the club on the outskirts of Riyadh hours before his flight to the US on an exit visa only after 14 years in Saudi Arabia. The 62-year old Hernandez, with a 21 handicap,  finished first runner-up in Division B (15-21) on 74. John Dunning won the division on 73 with Byong Chang-lim third on 78.

Cesar Rosario, former president of the FGA (Filipino Golf Association) and member of the RGC Committee, is to immigrate to Canada with his family. Like Kim Rosario, an IT professional, will exit the Kingdom this weekend. The FGA honored Rosario for his contribution to the association at a farewell tournament, where Jojo Marigomen and Hernandez were the other honorees, recently.

Winning the Stableford format Division C (22-28) was Paul Jardin who won on countback from Filipino Benjamin Santuyo and Jack Boettcher  after all three 26-handicap golfers tied on 33 points.

The Ladies Division winners were Ganet Chaplow 76, Loise Barker 77 and Young Young-lim 77.

Y. Chang-hoon won the award for nearest to the pin.

The tournament was sponsored by Lurpak butter through Marketing Manager Fadi Al Asaker. Vagn Aage Jensen, golf-playing production manager at Danya Foods Ltd., distributor of Lurpak, awarded prizes to the winners during the awards ceremony. He was assisted by RGC Golf Director V.T.M. Rafi, Jayakaran and Val Navarro.

Meantime, Rafi said RGC will be one of three Riyadh teams seeing action in the PAL Interclub Golf Tournament to be held Feb. 21-26 at Cagayan de Oro City and Del Monte, Bukidnon in the Philippines. FGA and Green Tee Club also entered the event. Among the players that will represent the three teams are: Mubarak Al-Ghamdi, Howard Laurente, Mar Vera Cruz, Eric Liquigan, Edwin Añonuevo, Ebrahim Zailon, Mohammed Rafi, Mark Campbell, John Palalagi, Noel A. Alipoyo, Mark Davies, Abner Macapagal, Mohammed Farooq, Alex Arellano, Jay Japus and Ben Bollozos.