Tenzin Tsarong wins Oman National Golf Championship
MUSCAT: The 2018 Oman National Open Golf Championship was held at the Ghala Golf Club on March 16 and 17. The two-day event was home to an intense golfing competition with 122 of Oman’s best golfer teeing off in the 43rd edition of one of Oman’s longest running Open Golf Championships. The Ghala Golf Club course was in stunning condition, where its fast greens, stimulating pin positions and hot and windy conditions made or a tough competition for all the golfers.
The exciting competition was a close contest, with the leader board changing frequently allowing new potential champions to emerge, where Tenzin Tsarong, from Ghala Golf Club, took pole position and finally stole the trophy at the final hole, with an overall gross score of (74-82) 156 gross. Puli Sharma from Muscat Hills Golf Club came second with a score of (83-77) 160 gross, ahead of other top golfers, such as Jeff Campbell, Faiz Riaz, and Georg Oppitz.
Tenzin Tsarong said, “It was an excellent tournament with a great organisation and fantastic course conditions. I’m extremely happy to finally win the National Open Golf Championship, and I’m proud that I managed to sustain the pressure and keep my lead throughout tournament.”
Tenzin’s latest National Golf Championship crowning added another feather in his cap after winning the Muscat Open Championship last month; another long standing tournament in Oman.
The ‘Nett Prize’ category turned out to be a competition between players from the ‘home club’ Ghala Golf Club. Masoud Barwani won the overall prize with a nett score of (72-70) 142, ahead of Thomas Verghese (74-69) with a net score of 143.
In the junior division, Mohammed al Naamany took first place with (93-89) 182 gross, followed by nett winner Mohammed Al Balushi (75-73) while the women’s category was won by Yvonne Welling (96-98) 194 gross and nett winner was Maria Clara (81-77) 158.
Other novelty prizes were won by Hassan Babood and Francis Whippy for ‘nearest to the pin on day 1’, while ‘longest drive’ was won by Lee O’donoghue, and on day two, Anil Sethi won ‘nearest to pin’ on both holes with the ‘longest drive’ won by Mohammed Al Naamany.
At the prize giving ceremony, Harib al Kitani, Oman LNG’S Chief Executive Officer, thanked the players, the organising committee, and all the volunteers for making the 43rd edition of the Oman National Golf Championship “one of the longest and most successful since its inception, and Oman LNG a proud sponsor of such a successful historic event.”
He continued, “I would like to extend our appreciation to HE Dr Mohammed al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, for his role and support in developing golf as a growing sport in the country setting Oman as a destination of choice for golf sports enthusiasts from all over the world.
“We are delighted to be sponsoring the National Golf Championship to promote this sport. I congratulate every one of the golfers, who I hope will participate in other international tournaments and become winners making our country proud,”
The prizes were presented to all the winners by Al Rumhy as well as by representatives from Oman LNG’S Management. Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has presented a memento and T-shirt for the hockey museum of SAS Naqvi, former coach of Oman and Indian women’s team. Deputed by AHF CEO Tayyib Ikram, Ghulam Ghouse, the Director of Administrator in AHF and Zahid Ali, national hockey coach of Azerbaijan, visited Naqvi at his residence to present the gifts. The visit came on the occasion of Oman hosting the Asian Games Qualifiers for hockey.
Some of the visiting teams, players and officials had also visited the hockey museum in Ruwi.