RIYADH: Ahmed Al-Mushareck was the lone entry from the UAE as against the Bahraini brigade of 25 players and yet he was the last man standing to win the second staging of the DSCA Open golf tournament at the Riyadh Golf Club on Friday.
The golf skills he honed for two and a half years at the famed David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida as a scholar of Golf In Dubai were on show as Al-Mushareck carded a winning 36-hole total of 145.
“I’m just happy to win the tournament because I always finish second in the big events around the Gulf,” said the 19-year old Al-Mushareck.
“I was putting well the whole week. It was there for me and overall my short game was better,” added the athletic Al-Mushareck.
Even par at the start of the final round on Friday, Al-Mushareck quickly broke away from the pack with three birdies on the first four holes and overcame three dropped shots coming home to close with a 1-under 72 in the two-day stroke play competition where the first five Best Gross and Best Net winners were awarded the major prizes.
Fortunately for Al-Mushareck none from his closest pursuers managed to mount a charge and the best round of the day, a 71, belonged to Bahrains Ali Saleh Ali but he could only finish tied second with fellow Bahraini Mohammed Dhiab Alnaami on 149, four strokes off the pace.
Alnaami, who played in the final group with Al-Mushareck, Kingdom No. 1 Othman Almulla, and Nasser Yaqoub, shot a 76 on Friday that went with his opening-round of 73.
Three Bahrainis followed Al-Mushareck in the leaderboard after the veteran 52-year old Abdullah Sultan took fourth place via the countback on 151, not a bad batting average for a team so huge although the biggest prize got away.
A fourth Bahraini, Yaqoub, missed out on the prizes after he was edged out by Korean M. S. Kim for the fifth position. Both players were part of a three-way tie with Abdullah on 151.
And first round leader Almulla? As good as he was in the first round Almulla on Friday was the exact opposite, unable to buy a putt all day long to finish at seventh on 152 after a final day 80.
For the first time in three days the sun appeared and the cool breeze made for a perfect golfing weather in this charity golf event where the RGC holds the hosting rights for the benefit of the Down Syndrome Charitable Association.
Filipino steady Pedy Lualhati basked in the benign conditions, shooting a second straight 69 to capture the Best Net title on 138.
Ian Stewart and Lars Bergstrand were first runner-up and second runner-up on countback after both players tied on 147. Indian lady golfer Paromita Mukherjee and Saudi golf coach Ali Balhreth rounded out the top five on 147 and 148, respectively.
After A-Mushareck birdied the first hole and Othman bogeyed in a two-shot swing for the Emirati the expected battle royale between two of the most promising young golfers in the Gulf if not the Arab world did not materialize.
Mushareck’s eagle putt on the par-5 third hole lipped out and he converted a six-footer for back-to-back birdies on 3 and 4. He again birdied No. 10 and after a dropped shot went four under again for the tournament with a birdie on 13.
A bizarre twist to Al-Mushareck’s round took place on par-5 No. 14 when his ball was wedged between the branches at the top of the date palm tree. Unable to physically identify his ball, Al-Mushareck was forced to replay his second shot from the original position, which landed a few yards in front green. He made the putt after a superb chip shot for bogey.
A strong chip ran 20 feet past the hole on 16 and Al-Mushareck missed the green on the tricky 18. But as it turned out, Al-Mushareck was safely in the lead despite those three bogeys.
Trophies and handsome prizes including business class return air tickets for the top three gross and top two net winners were handed out during the prize distribution ceremony.
Prince Faisal bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Yusuf Eddiweesh, CEO and general manager of Riyadh Development and Contracting Co, which operates the RGC, DSCA’s Financial Director Maha Al-Karawi and Abdulaziz M. Al-Dablan, secretary general of Saudi Arabian Golf Federation, attended the ceremony.
To the credit of the organizers and RGC Golf Director V. T.M. Rafi the event was a big success.
