Abdurahman Almansour wins Alawwal Bank 6th Annual Open Golf Tournament
Saudi national team standout shoots 74 for second straight Overall Best Gross title
The 22-year-old Almansour had just arrived Friday night from Bahrain where he helped Saudi Arabia clinch second place in the GCC Championship. And where tiredness might be an issue it did not show as Almansour shot a gross score of 2-over 74 on Saturday to lead the winners in the Alawwal Bank 6th Annual Open Golf Tournament at Dirab Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Riyadh.
It was the second straight time Almansour won Overall Best Gross at Dirab course having won the same prize during the 1st Annual GIB Championship on Nov. 25. In between, however, Almansour had a tournament to forget — in the Saudi Golf Federation (SGF) Open Tournament in December — to underscore his up-and-down games at a course he calls home.
The best player in field at 3 handicap, Almansour had one birdie against three bogeys in a 38-36 round.
He made a two-putt birdie on the dogleg right par-5 No. 13 after a good drive and a 6-iron approach shot.
The bedimpled Almansour, one in a line of promising players from the Saudi talent pool, kept his card clean with par saves on 10, 12 and 14. A pulled drive and a poor chip, however, led to a bogey on the second hole. Almansour three-putted 7 and 18 for further bogeys.
“It was a good round but I feel I need to practice more to get better,” said Almansour of his performance on a cool overcast day.
The one player to have a blast in near- perfect conditions was Russel Hargrove who came away with three prizes including the first place for Men’s First Division (0-9 handicap).
Indonesian golfer Azman bin Mukhtar was also a big winner on the day after claiming the Overall Best Net crown on 4-under 67 from a gross score of 91 and handicap of 24.
Hargrove fired a winning score of 3-under 69 (76-7) in his division while also grabbing the skill prize for men’s longest drive and closest to the pin unisex.
Second to Hargrove in the First Division was Canadian Dan McLauglin 72 ( 75- 3) with Almansour’s elder brother Fahad in third place with 75 ( 79- 4).
Indian Amjum Mullah won the Men’s Second Division at 10-18 handicap category, returning a 72 (89-17). Saudi Abdurahman Al-Othman was second on 74 (87-13) and Japanese Ichiro Ichihara third on 75 (86-11).
Filipino Luke Lacaden got his game going to win the Men’s Third Division on
RIYADH: Saudi national team standout Abdulrahman Almansour lived up to expectations on a course where his A-game was on and off in his last two starts to claim his second straight Overall Best Gross title.
4-under 68 (91-23) with another Indian, Moiz Ahmed, and Gerard Proudfoot taking second and third on 72 (91-19) and 73 (98-25) respectively.
The Ladies Division first three winners were Chan Hwi Lee 63 (88-25), Claire Hunter 74 (87-13) and Joeun Kim 76 (84-8).
The tournament was the sixth overall and the first sponsored by Saudi Hollandi Bank since it renamed Alawwal Bank to reflect its new corporate identity.
Ambassador Joost Reintjes of the Netherlands attended the prize giving ceremony along with Alawwal Bank Managing Director Soren Nikolajsen. Also present was Dirab golf course owner Khaled Abunayyan.
Nikolajsen handed out prizes to the winners assisted by Dirab Golf Committee Chair Tariq Javed.
Aside from the golf merchandise for major winners valuable items were raffled off to the delight of the golfers.