RIYADH, 4 June 2008 — Khalid Salem, one of the four Bahraini golfers who crossed over to the Eastern Province en route to Riyadh for the May Monthly Medal golf tournament at Riyadh Golf Club, won the Best Gross title.
Salem navigated the rolling par-73 layout with a 3-over 76 for a four-stroke victory over compatriot Hamed Salem (80), while Saudi national golf team captain Ali Balharith finished third on 82.
Eric Liquigan led a 1-2 Filipino finish in Division A (0-14), Mark Ferris won the Division B (15-22) crown and Graham Dean ruled Division C (23-28) in the tournament sponsored by Al-Safi Danone through Business Development Manager Amir Nadeem. The consistent Liquigan, with a 6 handicap, shot a winning net score of 4-under 69 with Abner Macapagal claiming the first runner-up prize after countback from Gord McIlmoyie. Macapagal and McIlmoyie both signed for a 72.
On the eve of the tournament Macapagal shot his second career hole-in-one on the 164-yard par-3 No. 4 while playing in a fourball with Boyet Carigma, Tony Lizardo and Cesar Rosario. Macapagal used a Nike Pro Combo 5-iron to hit the ace, the ball bouncing once and rolling into the cup.
Ferris had the best round of the day, an 8-under 65, but still he won by just one stroke over S.D. Lee, who had challenged bravely for the crown with a 67, while second runner-up German Jurgen Rehfield was a stroke further back on 67. Dean was another golfer to play exceedingly well on the day, putting together 44 points to emerge champion in the Stableford format Division C in which Rosario and another Filipino Aries Ramirez took the first runner-up and second runner-up on 40 and 36 respectively.
In the Ladies Division, Anne Bjornstad and Louis Barker were the champion and runner-up. The awards for longest drive and nearest to pin went to Rob Hanway and Balharith.
Course owner Course owner Prince Faisal ibn Mohammed ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud and RGC Manager V. T. M. Rafi distributed the prizes to the winners during the awards ceremony. Al-Safi’s Nadeem also attended the ceremony.
