RIYADH: Legendary Bahraini golfer Nasser Yacoub motored down to Riyadh at the helm of a seven-man team to try their luck at the 9th Annual Fuchs Open Golf Tournament 2015 on Saturday.

Turns out only one guy, Yacoub, had all the luck, as he drew on his wealth of experience to run away with the Overall Best Gross title on a windless sun splashed day at Dirab Golf & Country Club.

Yacoub, a big name in Arab golf with a ton of achievements under his belt in a long career, shot a tidy round of 1-under 73 to reign supreme once again at the 6,756 layout widely considered the big Bahraini's happy hunting ground where he won prestigious events including the 2000 First Kingdom Amateur Open and two Saudi Oger-Kingdom Amateur Open.

Yacoub had two birdies and three bogeys in nines of 37-36. He opened with a birdie on the par-5 first hole where his 2-iron approach shot after a good drive found the green and holed out in two putts. Yacoub dropped shots on Nos. 4, 8 and 17 but pulled one back with a birdie on 12.

Though Yacoub won hands down as expected the event might as well be an extension of the 117th Philippine Independence Day celebrations as Filipinos, led by Mario Marimon, took home four trophies. Filipinos marked their country's Independence Day on Friday with activities Kingdomwide.

Marimon, at 62 still swinging away when not at work as senior electrical engineer at Hill International Co., which handles project management at King Abdullah Financial District, clinched Overall Best Net honors on 67 from gross score of 85 (41-44) and handicap of 18.

The roly-poly Marimon enjoyed a good short game and putting to post his biggest victory at Dirab thus far.

Another Filipino engineer, Resty Sibug, shot a 76 and could have won the bigger Best Gross prize had Yacoub not intervened. But Sibug, area manager at Saudi TKT Co. Ltd., couldn't have complained either after his net score of 69 gave him the First Division (0-9) crown.

One in a line of players with a winning record at Dirab, Sibug said he played well despite suffering a bum stomach the day before and without the benefit of practice having just arrived from vacation in his native Candaba, Pampanga in the Philippines. His card of 39-37 included six bogeys and two birdies on 15 and 17.

South African duo of Mark Campbell and Graham Gunn tied on 73 but a third player to match the number, Alex Arellano, missed out on the prizes. When the backnine scores were compared to break the tie, Campbell had 35 to finish runner-up to Sibug, Gunn tallied 39 for third place while Filipino Arellano fell short on 39.

In the Second Division (10-18), Roy Salyer claimed first place on 68. Pakistani Mujib Minhas clinched the second position on countback from Filipino Oscar Domingo after they tied on 69.

Tom Edison was the Third Division (19-28) winner on 67 (92-25), David McGlashan second place via the countback from Robert Mariano, the fourth Filipino to get a trophy in the 18-hole stroke play competition sponsored by Alhamrani Fuchs Petroleum Co. Ltd. McGlashan and Mariano had matching cards of 68.

Spence Hawthorn hit a monster 350-yard drive on No. 10 to easily win the award for men's longest drive with Martina O' Reilly winning the same award in ladies division. Il Joong Kim grabbed the closest to the pin accolade.

Sardar Zaki Ali Khan, manager Central Region Alhamrani Fuchs Petroleum Co. Ltd, T.C. Ishaque, marketing/advertising coordinator and the rest of the marketing team attended the prize distribution ceremony. Also present was Dirab Golf Committee Chair Tariq Javed.