RIYADH: Steve Beckner and Nile Myres emerged champion in the 85th Saudi National Day Open Golf Tournament 2015 sponsored by Almarai Company on Saturday at Dirab Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Riyadh.

Beckner and Myres put together a superb round in benign conditions, winning the two-ball better-ball Texas Scramble format with handicap on net score of 61 from a gross of 73 and team handicap of 12.

The winning tandem shot nines of 38-35. After hitting the turn, Beckner and Myres had their third bogey of the day on 10, parred the next two holes before picking up shots with three consecutive birdies from the par-5 13th. Pars sandwiched a bogey on 17th for Beckner-Myres.

The event that began in 2006 as an 18-hole stroke play competition attracted 50 teams and 100 golfers including those from Gulf neighbor Bahrain who enjoyed the day out on the tree-lined layout, greeted by a pleasantly cool weather that prevailed all throughout the round.

Two strokes back in second place were the pair of Einar Thorharllson and Sigrid Steinarsdottir, who signed for a 63 (70-7). Their 35-35 round contained five birdies, three bogeys and 10 pars.

Resty Sibug and Flore Bouzanne were among the three teams to shoot gross 70 and their combined handicap of 6 gave them a third place finish on 64 thanks to 6 birdies against 4 bogeys.

Bob Bruford and Richard Dunn claimed fourth place on 65 (71-6) with Samir Fostock and Mattias Ardfelt rounding out the first five winners on 65 (70-5). Their ties had been broken by countback.

The men’s and ladies longest drive awards went to David Lloyd Bantug and Stenardsdottir and the closest to the pin to Joe Vallado.

Almarai CEO Georges Schorderet attended the prize distribution ceremony and handed out prizes to the winners. Also present was Hussam Abdulqader, head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations.

This annual Kingdom National Day tournament marked the resumption of the season after a long summer break. Next Saturday Dirab will host a qualifying tournament for the Xerox Corporate Challenge followed by the American Express Dirab Championship, fourth leg on the MENA Golf Tour.