“This is the greatest ever tournament that I played. It means a lot to me big time. I feel that a Saudi should win the tournament and you could just imagine how much emotion when I finally won,” said Fahad Al-Mansour of his victory in the 2nd Mansour Al-Mansour Cup Golf Tournament on Friday at the Dirab Golf and Country Club.
Featuring only the champions of 2009 the tournament is being held annually in memory of Fahad’s brother, Mansour, a young promising Saudi golfer who died in a road accident in 2007 along the Riyadh-Makkah expessway while on his way to Dirab course.
Playing in a marque group with M. S. Kim, Richard Gaas and Saudi veteran golfer and now coach of the men’s and junior national teams, Ali Balharith, Al-Mansour shot a 3-over 75 to capture the Best Gross title in ideal conditions.
Al-Mansour’s score could have easily been even par if not for birdie putts that lipped out on holes 6, 9 and 10.
“My game wasn’t that much special. I was focusing hole by hole and trying to keep it together. I deal with the situation as it comes and try not to get excited about the group I am with,” said Al-Mansour who carded 35-40.
Al-Mansour, area manager for retail banking at NCB, bogeyed No. 3 but sank putts of 10 and 15 feet for birdies on four and eight. He had birdie chances on No. 9 and 10 but on both occasions his putt went in and out.
Korean Kim won second over Filipino Gaas in the Best Gross category on countback after both players tallied 79.
German golfer Jurgen Rehfeld, with a 17 handicap, clinched the Best Net title on 71 with another Korean, D. S. Kang, second on 73. Third place went to Gary Richardson who posted 74.
Kang’s wife, C. H. Lee, was the Ladies Division winner at 71. Newly-appointed Dirab Ladies Group captain Flore Bouzanne took second place via the countback from Eveline Hayler after both finished on 76.
Upcoming Saudi junior golfer Faisal Salhab, 14, nabbed the men’s division longest drive award and Bouzanne the ladies division, while Rabie Fares took the nearest to pin plum. Khaled Abunayyan, president of Saudi Golf Federation and Dirab course owner, and Dirab Golf Committee Chairman Nasser Uddin Siddiqui, handed over the crystal trophies and prizes to the winners. Also present during the prize distribution ceremony were DGCC Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani and club marketing manager Andrea Corbett. American serviceman Mark Duda, who has since left, was the first winner of the tournament in January 2009.
Mansour Al-Mansour was one of the golf-playing Al-Mansour siblings (the other two are Fahad and Abdulrahman) and was only 18 when he met his untimely death.
