RIYADH: After hosting the high-profile MENA Golf Tour event, American Express Dirab Golf Championship, Dirab Golf & Country Club is back to normal service for its members.

Last Friday, the Muscat Bank Irish Open Golf Tournament took place with a full field of players mostly from western countries taking part.

As four-ball Texas Scramble format with handicap go super low scores are par for the course so that the champion team of Richard Dunn, Edward O’Reilly, Sigurveig Asgeirsson and Joe O’Brien compiling a net 48 was no longer surprising. The quartet shot a gross score of 64 and played off 16 handicap.

Dunn, the top player in the team, contributed two birdies and Asgeirsson one in a 3-under 33 front nine. Asgeirsson enjoyed a hot back nine that saw him gun down three further birdies to go with one each by O’Reilly and O’Brien in their team’s 5-under 31 coming home.

The runner-up two strokes back at 50 was the quartet of Richard Salisbury, Mohamed Subedar, Clayton Jones and Mark Lawlor. They fired the low round of the day, 62, but fell short to claim the top prize with a lower handicap of 12. Salisbury’s team hit the turn on 30 thanks to three birdies from Subedar and one each from Jones, Lawlor and Salisbury himself. Their back nine charge for a score of 32 had Salisbury holing birdies on 16 and 18 and Lawlor and Jones on 10 and 14 respectively.

The third place went to the team of Chris Maslak, Steve Holz, David McGlashan and Romesh Elapata on 52 from gross score of 66 and 14 handicap.

Finishing in fourth position in this tournament organized by Irish Business Network in cooperation with Dirab Golf & Country Club were the foursome of Leonard Dowling, Rob Stacey, Joe Darcey and Richard Fox who combined for 53 (66-13).

Claiming fifth spot on countback was the team of Bob Bruford, Nigel Goer, Martin Hayes and Roberta Hobbs. They tied on 56 with the quartet of Mark Campbell, Gordon Rees, Larus Asgeirsson and Shirley Denis. The tiebreak went to the last six holes after the sides were still deadlocked when their back nine scores were compared. Bruford’s team had 21 to Campbell’s 23.

The awards for longest drive for men’s and ladies went to Spence Hawthorn and Therese Postel and for closest to the pin to Peter Akers.

To cap the 18-hole tournament was a black tie reception/awards night for the participants. In addition to title sponsor Muscat Bank the other tournament sponsors were Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, Dirab Golf & Country Club, British Airways, Jones Engineering Group, Flynas, American Express, Almarai Company, Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers and Christian Yang.