RIYADH, 24 September 2006 — Dirab Golf Club marked another memorable event yesterday when it hosted the inaugural Saudi National Day golf tournament in benign conditions with Don McLean and Sam Montgomerie leading the winners here.
The first six Best Gross and Best Net winners were awarded prizes at the end of the 18-hole stroke play competition.
And the surprise that greeted the golfers just before tee-off was the announcement by DGC manager Bouchaib El Jadiani that the top four gross and net players will represent the eight-man Dirab team to play Rolling Hills Aramco Golf Club in Ryder Cup-style matches in Dhahran next month.
The Aramco team will then make a reciprocal visit to Dirab in the second leg of the home-and-away matches. The lefty Canadian McLean, a doctor with the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, played the flat par-72 but challenging layout in two-over 74 to emerge runaway winner in the gross division.
Such was not the case with Montgomerie who pulled through in the tight Best Net battle to win by one stroke over Rich Burbage.
Montgomerie, an 11 handicapper, signed for a net score of seven-under 65 and Burbage for a 66.
Jess Batchelor matched Burbage’s card but had to settle for third place on countback, which also decided the fourth and fifth positions that went to Irfan Hashmi and Tariq Khan after both scored 67. Nduna Dzimiri rounded out the winners in the group with 68.
Khan, who played exceptionally well to shoot 43 in the back nine to go with his 50 going out, was at 26 the only high handicapper to claim a prize. Burbage is a 10 handicapper, Dzimiri played off 14 and Batchelor and Hashmi 17.
The Thai trio of Somchit Nakhong, Boonyuen and Vinij S. clinched the second, third and fourth gross positions via the countback after they all fired 77s, while Korean M. S. Kim placed sixth on 78.
The awards for longest drives went to Askari Naqvi in the men’s and Synnove Syensson in the ladies division, while bank executive Philip Cortejos of Samba Financial Group took home the nearest to pin prize.
Among the raffle prizewinners were Alex Arellano, who won a Ping putter, and Cris Agunos and James Williams, who each received an original Ryder Cup 2006 souvenir golf shirt.
El Jadiani and Dirab Golf Committee member Barry Steyn handed out the prizes during the awards ceremony.
Helping El Jadiani organize the tournament sponsored by Dirab Golf Club were his able staff namely Shahid Rabbani, sales, marketing and golf shop supervisor; Noli Ramirez, course maintenance supervisor, Mohammad Nishad, John Feldin and Parvez Akhtar.
