To kick off April events in another busy month at Dirab Golf & Country Club Friday was the 9th Annual Zahid Group Open Golf Tournament 2015 where Clark Windross and Abbi Oluyadi emerged Overall Best Gross and Overall Best Net champions respectively.

Windross, a long-hitting Briton who is back at BAE Systems in Riyadh after a stint in Tabuk where he was the captain of Najrani Golf Club, won low gross honors from Dean Lewis on countback after they tied on 74.

Lewis, Overall Best Gross champion at the Meem By GIB Open Golf Tournament 2015 two weeks ago, settled for third place in Men’s First Division (0-9) on 73 including his handicap of 1. First place in the division was Saudi national junior team member Saud Al-Shareef who won via the countback from Stephen Thompson. Al-Shareef and Thompson had matching cards of 72 from a gross of 77 and 78 and handicap of 5 and 6 respectively.

A double bogey on 17 and bogeys on 6 and 10 were the only blots in an otherwise steady round of 37-37 for big Windross who birdied the par-3 11th hole.

Oluyadi, a South African US passport holder, came good on the day and, with a high handicap of 26, shot the day’s low net of 65 (91-26) that stood unchallenged for his breakthrough victory at Dirab golf course.

A dental medicine practitioner at RKH (Riyadh Military Hospital) who specializes in orthodontics, Oluyadi enjoyed a good long game hitting drives down the middle of the fairway to shoot nines of 45-46.

The tiebreak in Second Division (10-18) went all the way down to the last 6 holes to determine the first two winners, who both returned 70s and were still tied after their backnine scores were compared. First place went to Rees Gordon, second place to Dunn Richard and third place to Mario Marimon. Gordon made 27 for the last six holes and Richard 29 while Marimon also finished with 70 and was on 44 for his last 9 holes. Gordon and Marimon played off 18 handicap while Richard carried 17 handicap.

Like Oluyadi Filipino Robert Mariano earned his first win at Dirab, shooting 66 (94-28) and winning the Third Division (19-28) crown by four strokes over Andrew Sullivan who tied Dale Spisak on 70 but had the better backnine count of 45 to Spisak’s 47 to clinch second place.

Koreans Hyejin Byoung and Mi Ra Jung finished 1-2 in the Ladies Division on 71-72 with Susan Tessier third after losing on countback to Jung.

New Zealander Julia Bennett claimed the men’s longest drive award with Jung wining the same award for ladies. Saudi Abdullah Hussain nabbed the closest to pin plum.

Amr M. Khashoggi, VP Group Affairs Zahid Group, who joined the tournament, handed out prizes to the winners with Dirab Golf Committee Chairman Tariq Javed during the awards ceremony.

The club thanked Zahid Group and Yousuf Zahid for the generous sponsorship and support to promote golf in Saudi Arabia.