RIYADH: Finlay Graham and Alistair McIlroy etched their names on the roll of winners in the Saudi National Day Golf Tournament by winning the 2009 edition of the event on Wednesday at Dirab Golf Club near here.
The British pair combined for a net score of 58 to steer clear of a full field of 90 players and 45 two-man teams in the two-ball better-ball Texas Scramble format competition in which a team handicap is 50 percent of the total handicap of the two players’ 3/4 handicap. The winning team had 13 handicap with Graham as the lead player on 12 handicap and McIlroy on 22 in this one-day 18-hole tournament that never fails to attract a big number of players since it started in 2005.
Graham and McIlroy received the first prize of a slot each in the 8th Royal Air Maroc Final Golf Challenge in Agadir, Morocco in March 2010 courtesy of Royal Air Maroc.
As Texas Scramble events with handicap go incredibly low scores are par for the course. In Wednesday’s event, the format calls for the nine tee shots of each player in play. After a tee shot is selected the players then hit their second shots from the same spot and repeat the routine for the third shot and so on.
The husband and wife tandem of Ray Chaplow and Ganet Chaplow took second place via the countback over another husband and wife team of Talal Sarieddine and Aelis Sarieddine after both pairs posted 60. The Chaplows had a team handicap of 10 with Ray and Ganet each toting a 13 handicap, while the Sarieddines, the 2007 winners, had 20. Talal played off 3/4 of 16 handicap and Aelis 20.
Graham and McIlroy carded nines of 33-38 for a gross 71 in a superb round of golf that saw them hit three birdies on the front nine (Nos. 2, 8 and 9). The duo had one birdie against three bogeys coming home.
Korean golfers D. S. Kang and M.S. Kim nabbed the awards for closest to pin and longest drive in the men’s division, respectively, while Aelis was the ladies longest drive winner.
The lucky raffle draw winners were Ibrahim Zailon and Julian Bennett, who took home a complete irons set of Mizuno MP-67 and Callaway putting practice green.
Bouchaib El Jadiani, Dirab Golf Club manager, and Dirab Golf Committee member Fahad Al-Mansour handed over prizes to the winners. During the awards ceremony, Dirab management extended their gratitude to Abdelkader Boujdoun, regional manager of Royal Air Maroc, for sponsorship of two all-expenses paid vouchers for the Agadir event. In addition to Royal Air Maroc the other tournament sponsors are Dirab Golf Club and Alsafi Danone.
Upcoming tournaments at Dirab are Saudi Oger Amateur Golf Championship on Oct. 21-23 and Sanad Charity Golf Championshp on Nov. 12.
