RIYADH: Proudly, a Filipino made the elite band of club champions courtesy of Resty Sibug as he won the Match Play Club Championship 2016 at the Dirab Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Riyadh.

Sibug disposed of his German opponent, Ralf Schiffer, 5 and 4 in the final on Saturday of the tournament that started on Jan. 23 with a 32-man draw.

Brimming with confidence, the 39-year old Filipino mechanical engineer never gave Schiffer,54, a chance in the abbreviated match despite playing with a 9 strokes disadvantage in handicap applying pressure on his rival right on the opening holes.

Sibug, a manager for Central Region at the Saudi TKT electro-mechanical company, ended the match in style, draining a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 14 after a monster drive that landed on the front edge of the green and a chip above the hole.

“I drove the ball well. I was just lucky I guess,” said Sibug of his victory which he considers the biggest of his golfing career, adding he was mumbling to himself “I am Jason Day” to psyche himself up while addressing the ball for his final putt.

The German with a 15 handicap failed to capitalize on his edge against the 6 handicap Sibug.

“Resty played well. He was consistent from tee to green. He was putting pressure on me,” said Schiffer, a director at Drees & Sommer, one of the more than 400 German companies operating in the Kingdom.

“I’ve been playing eight years here at Dirab and I’d like to say it’s a fantastic course,” added Schiffer whose wife Monika is an active member of the Dirab Ladies Group.

Sibug played the par-5 first hole in regulation for an easy par which Schiffer needed only to tie to win with a plus one stroke on the hole but then ran his chip across the green to the other side on his fourth shot for a double bogey.

After halving the hole on the next, Schiffer drew level on No. 3 with a net par to Sibug’s double bogey. Sibug then won three out of the six holes to reach the turn two up with Schiffer matching Sibug’s par effort on par-5 No. 9.

The pair halved the next two holes before Sibug closed out the match by winning three in a row from No. 12.

Leading by three, Sibug still parred No. 13 despite hitting his drive on the fairway bunker while Schiffer double bogeyed it when he four-putted after reaching the green in three to open the door for Sibug who by then was up by four.

In securing this prestigious victory Sibug beat players from what read like countries in the United Nations — Graham Gunn (South Africa) first round, Ichiro Ichihara (Japan) second round , Tariq Sardar (Pakistan) quarterfinal, Jean Marc Coupet (France) semifinal, and Ralf Schiffer (Germany) final.

Briton Clarke Windross and Sibug, the lowest handicap players in the draw, had been seeded to meet in the final, but Schiffer intervened ousting Windross in the second round and proceeding to advance to the final with further victories over Pakistani Tariq Khan and Qais Qureshi in the quarterfinal and semifinal.

Dirab Golf & Country Club Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani said a fitting awards ceremony will be held at a later date in which Sibug will receive a prize of Callaway set of irons in addition to trophy and club champion shirt.

Saturday’s final effectively ended the 2015-2016 season at Dirab.