RIYADH, 17 September 2005 — The British team convincingly won their Ryder Cup-style matches against the Saudi national golf team yesterday to claim their first victory in the four stagings of the tournament.
Down 4-2 after the first day, the hosts were looking to stage a comeback in the six remaining singles at the Dirab Golf Club course. What they got instead was more of the same from the British who again ruled the final day by 3.5-2.5 points.
That gave Britain, who fielded a combined team of resident golfers and five visiting players from the Preston Golf Club, an overall winning score of 7.5-4.5 in the Saudi-British International Golf Challenge.
“It was a very good experience. We are here to help promote golf and hope we had contributed to that. The hospitality of our hosts was second to none. It was absolutely superb. We had a great time. Thank you very much indeed,” John Parker, captain of the five-man team from Preston Golf Club, said during the awards ceremony.
Parker presented a book to their hosts about the 100-year history of the Lancashire-based golf club as token of their appreciation for the warm reception they enjoyed during their stay in the Kingdom. Various other gifts and mementos were exchanged between the teams. BAE Systems, administrator of the Saudi-British Sports Cooperation Program Proposal No. 9-Golf, presented a gift to each member of the teams.
For his part, Saudi Golf Committee Chairman Khaled Abunayyan said: “It was a tough competition. Our guys played their best but this is your day. Thank you all for the support and contribution, my team, my staff here at Dirab, and Radisson SAS Hotel, Riyadh, through General Manager Mohammed Benamer for the generous sponsorship.
“Our aim at Saudi Golf Committee is to promote golf throughout the Kingdom. I would also like to thank my players who traveled all the way from the Eastern Province to be here for the event,” he added.
Despite another unstoppable display by the British team there were glorious moments for the host squad on a windless hot day as Ali Al Sahli demolished the No. 1 player from the opposing team, James Pye, 7 and 5 in a stunning upset.
Team captain Ali Belhareth downed Gavin Southern 4 and 3 and, for a while, it appeared a Saudi revival was on cards with at least two other players leading after the first nine holes. But as matchplay goes fortunes soar and sink before anyone could say fore!. Faraj Al Shammari saw his four-hole lead after the 6th whittled down to one after the first nine holes against big Clark Windross. They were even after the 14th before Windross hit his drive out of bounds on the next and again lost the 16th. Two down and defeat staring him in the face, Windross showed his pedigree with a birdie-birdie finish and halved the match with Shammari.
Omar Hariri was in control for the most part only to let Parker escape with a 1-up victory and Sattam Al-Gosaibi, winner in Thursday’s foursomes alternate shot with Belhareth, could not put together a solid game and lost 2 and 1 to Tony Cowperthwaite. Kevin Alston notched Britain’s third singles victory by beating Mohammed Fahd 2-up.
Prizes for the longest drive were awarded to Steve Bowden on the first day and Windross on the second day, as well as for closest to pin to Cowperthwaite on the first day and Southern on the second day.
Later in the day, the visiting golfers conducted a clinic for the Saudi Golf Committee’s junior players, who were also treated to a skills demonstration by Dirab Golf and Recreation Golf Division Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani, M. S. Kim, Pye and Cowperthwaite.
