On a beautiful day for golf Englishman David Appleyard delivered the goods to win the biggest prize in the 2nd Annual Riyad Bank-Nofa Golf Tournament 2015 last Friday.

This major tournament was the start to the busy months ahead at Nofa Golf Resort after the long summer break. The 100 players that teed it up all enjoyed themselves out on the course in top shape after undergoing overseeding a couple of weeks back.

Appleyard was the happiest of the lot, shooting a sparkling 5-under net score of 68 to become the Best Net champion.

For his feat, Appleyard with a handicap of 12 and whose gross score of 80 was bettered only by two others took home an iPhone 6S smartphone along with the champion trophy. Appleyard had 13 pars, 3 bogeys and 2 double bogeys in his 41-39 round.

“I started the round off badly with two bogeys in four holes but then played good sensible steady golf throughout which I was really happy about,” Appleyard told Arab News by SMS, adding a text from from ‘coaches’ Rob Bricker and Pau Esseen in the morning helped.

“I’m looking forward to trying to retain it (title) next year,” said Appleyard.

Sharing center stage with Appleyard was Stephen Thompson who won the Best Gross title on 77 for which he was awarded a Canon multifunction digital camera and trophy. A handicap-6 golfer, Thompson won on countback (37-38) from big-hitting Briton Clark Windross who shot a matching 77. Thompson hit the turn at 3 over and was plus 1 coming home that saw him drop only one stroke following a bogey on the par-5 No. 13.

Six prizes each were awarded in Men’s Division A (0-15 handicap) and Men’s Division B (16-28).

Kevin Hanlon took first place in Division A on 71 from a gross score of 86 and handicap of 15. Naveed Irshad claimed second place 73 (84-11), Mark Campbell third place 74 (83-9), Sam Mac Phee fourth place 74 (87-13), Windross fifth place 75 (77-2) and Medwyn Rowlands sixth place 75 (90-15).

The Division B winner on countback was Mohd. Fuad bin A. Rahman who edged out Ahsan Kamal after they both returned 69s from 89-20 and 97-28 respectively. Third position went to Scott Raynor 71 (93-22) followed by Mark Day 71 (99-28), Patrick Moran 73 (90-17) and Gary Richardson 73 (99-26).

The Ladies Division first two winners were Mami Takahashi 80 and Roberta Hobbs 90.

For the skill prizes, longest drive went to Paul Collins (men’s hole 7), Mark Day (men’s hole 18) and Mami Takahashi (ladies hole 7); closest to pin to Richard Thonely (No. 4), Cheon Jaeho (No. 6), Rem Sibug (No. 12) and Lance Gerow (No. 16). Raffle winners were Jeffrey Hunt, Alan Malawanda, Anders Bostrom, Ian Kirk and Muhammed Fuad.

Chief guests during the prize distribution ceremony were Prince Naif bin Sultan Alkabeer and Prince Saud bin Sultan Alkabeer, who presented appreciation plaques for sponsors.

Riyad Zahrani , executive vice president of Riyad Bank ; Faisal Sami, head of marketing , Hyundai Wallan Company, and Joe Obrien, Central Region GM , Almarai Company; presented the tournament prizes. Also present were Nadir AL-Koraya(Riyad Bank), Firas Wehbe and Abdullah Brax ( Shell Helix motor oil), Michael Slater (Northern Trust) and Shafi Abdullatheef (ITL World Travel Management Company.)

Eamonn Hanlon, general manager of Nofa Resorts, thanked the tournament sponsors and Nofa staff led by Golf Club Manager Nishad Mohd. Kunju for their contribution in making Nofa’s 2nd annual tournament a success.

Also, a special prize was presented to Nofa Golf Resort club professional Jun Mark Mondilla by Prince Naif bin Sultan Alkabeer for his incredible feat of hitting two consecutive holes-in-one on 11, a difficult 302 yards par-4, and 12, a 116 yards par 3. Mondilla made this achievement straight out of a page of Ripley’s Believe it or Not on Sept. 9.

Riyad Bank is the tournament title sponsor, Hyundai Wallan Company, Almarai Company and Shell Helix Oil gold sponsors, Northern Trust silver sponsor, ITL Travel Company hole sponsor, Arabian Shield, hole-in-one sponsor and Nofa African Resort lunch sponsor.

Owned by Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Alkabeer, the Nofa Golf Resort inside the Nofa Resorts complex is located some 85 kilometers west of Riyadh along the new Makkah highway.