RIYADH: The Indian-Pakistani golf alliance of Rohit Jamwal and Tariq Saeed Khan clicked despite playing as a team for the first time and was rewarded with victory on Saturday in the Xerox Corporate Golf Challenge 10th qualifying round at Dirab Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Riyadh.

Although belonging in the same corporate membership at Dirab, Rohit and Tariq, had never had the chance to pair up until Saturday with a result that couldn’t have been better as they put together the winning score of 46 points and the equivalent of 10 under in medal play to become the champions in the 2 ball Stableford with handicap format competition.

Saturday’s event was the second Xerox qualifying, following the May tournament, to be held at Dirab and this time the champion and runner-up will travel to Ras Al Khaima, UAE, for the Xerox Corporate Golf Challenge finals in November.

Claiming the second spot from Dirab was the tandem of Nasir Norhalim and Yusri Yousof who posted 45 points in glorious sunshine.

The next three places on 43 points were determined via the countback. The Filipino team of Benjamin Santuyo and Luke Lacaden clinched third place thanks mainly to a net eagle for 4 points on 15 and chip-in birdie on 11 while Bob Bruford and Richard Dunn rounded out the first five winners at fifth position.

Tariq, an anesthesiologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, and Rohit, a dentist at Sulaiman Habib Hospital, complemented each other well while both playing off 11 handicap.

Rohit banked on his superb putting to contribute 5 birdies to the Indo-Pak cause while Tariq made 3 birdies of his own behind a driver that wouldn’t let him down. In all, Rohit and Tariq had only one bogey and 9 pars.

“When one is down the other player makes it up. We had a very good combination out there,” said Tariq.

The skills contest of the day had Filipino ace Resty Sibug hitting a monster 320-yard drive down the first fairway to capture the men’s longest drive award and upstage some of the longest hitters in these parts. The ladies longest drive plum went to Monika Schiffer, while the three closest to the pin accolades were won by Tim Uchida (No. 4), Rich Davis (No. 7) and Richard Salisbury (No. 11).

Dirab Golf & Country Club Chairman Khaled Abunayyan attended the awards ceremony an handed out prizes of golf merchandise to the winners. Also present was a team from Saudi Xerox namely Managing Director Ehab S. Guindi, Deputy General Manager of Marketing Reem Al Bakry, Deputy GM Services Ihab Wahba, Marketing Manager KSA Zamil A. Kasim and Ahmed Kasaby, national operations manager.

Abunayyan thanked Saudi Xerox for its support in the promotion of golf in Saudi Arabia.

For his part, Guindi said it has always been a pleasure to work with Dirab Golf & Country Club.

“The 10th qualifying round was successfully executed and we thank Dirab Golf & Country Club for their continuous support to Saudi Xerox team,” said Guindi.