RIYADH: In what amounts to a hangover of the Pakistan Day golf tournament celebration Pakistani teams cornered the top two places at the end of the Members-Guests Golf Tournament on Friday.
Two weeks after mounting their own inaugural tournament Pakistanis again had their day at Dirab Golf Club with Mujib Minhas and Salman Khan winning the Texas Scramble format competition. With a three-fourths combined handicap of 7 the pair returned the winning net score of 9-under 63.
A second Pakistani pair of Omar Khan and Syed Mohsin took second place on countback over the pair of Francis Gracia of Sabic and Attila Soki after both teams tied on 64. Khan and Mohsin played off 7 handicap and Gracia-Soki off 9.
Veteran golfer and captain of the Saudi national team, Ali Balharith, teamed with fellow national team player Fahad Al-Mansour to clinch the fourth position on 65.
Big Soki nabbed the award for longest drive in the men’s division with Flore Bouzanne taking the same award in the women’s division. Ray Chaplow, again making himself visible at Dirab events along with golfer-wife Ganet, put away the closest to pin plum.
The lucky raffle draw prize winners were Filay Graham of Almarai Co. and Jean Luc Haas, who each own an Orient wrist watch, and M. S. Kim, who took home a Callaway stand bag.
Dirab Golf Committee Chairman Naseeruddin Siddiqui presented prizes to the winners during the awards ceremony, assisted by committee members Al-Mansour and Bouzanne.
Media symposium on golf
On the eve of the tournament Dirab Golf Club hosted the First Media Symposium on Golf for members of the Arabic press. Dirab course owner Khaled Abunayyan and Dirab Golf Club Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani thanked the mediamen for their support to the club activities from 2006 to the present.
Arab News sports editor and golf writer Chito P. Manuel also attended the function and spoke on the rudiments of golf reporting and the media’s role in the promotion of golf in the Kingdom.
Al-Hayat’s Ali Alwahedi, media coordinator at Dirab Golf Club, brought in about 23 colleagues to the symposium.
Among the newspapers represented were Asharq Al-Awsat, Okaz, Arriyadiyah, Al-Eqtisadiah, Al-Jazira, Al-Riyadh, Al-Watan, Al-Bilad, Al-Nawda, Al-Youm, and Shams.
Representing the electronic media were Al-Watan TV, MBC, Al-Arabiyah, Saudi Channel 2 and OR TV. Meantime, Bouchaib announced that the registration is now open for the Fuchs-Alhamrani Golf Championship set for April 24. Prizes worth SR60, 000 will be up for grabs in the tournament.
Ayman A. Darandary, deputy general manager, marketing, at Fuchs, facilitated his company’s sponsorship of the event.
