Pair swing to victory

Shaikh Rashid Al Khalifa and his playing partner, young Yaseen Le Falher, clinched the crown of the 12th Annual National Day Tournament at the Royal Golf Club (RGC). Their score of 42 points from the first round was added to their round two score of 46 points to make a winning pair’s score of 88 points.

The pairing of Abdulla Khalifa Esa and Dena Wales were runners-up with 86 points while third place was closely contested with three pairs scoring 85 points. The duo of Khalifa Al Merisi and Dave Garbutt finally clinched it on countback.

The 36-hole tournament was held over two days on the Royal Golf Club’s Montgomerie championship course. Expatriate players were paired with a Bahraini in a pairs betterball Stableford format with the top 30 teams from day one battling it out in the final round to decide the overall winning duo.

A Junior National Day competition also took place on the Club’s Mini Monty par 3 course and, once again, the contest was extremely close. The countback system was used again to award Manaf Al Murbati and Ali Mohamed Ahmed first place after the duo, along with Eid Adel and Fares Essa Qutami scored 21 points. Ali Babtain and Ali Salmeen won third place with 19 points. There was added excitement when Ali Mohamed Ahmed achieved a hole in one on hole 7.

“We’ve had a great National Day Tournament,” said Bernie Morgan, the club’s director of golf. “We’ve had over 130 competitors of all ages and nationalities taking part in these events over the past two days. It’s a great tournament which goes from strength to strength each year. Thank you to Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalid Al Khalifa who first came up with the idea for this event and has been a strong supporter over the years.”

The final day’s play was rounded off with a lunch and prize-giving ceremony.
Results:
1 Shaikh Rashid Al Khalifa & Yaseen Le Falher (42, 46 = 88 points), 2 Abdulla Khalifa Esa & Dena Wales (39, 47; 86), 3 Khalifa Al Merisi & Dave Garbutt (42, 43; 85 c/b), 4 Khalifa Daij & Ali Al Shaer (43, 42; 85 c/b), 5 Ali Musbah & Abdul Aziz Ahmed (43, 42; 85 c/b).
 
Junior Division: 1 Manaf Al Murbati & Ali Mohamed Ahmed (21 c/b), 2 Eid Adel & Fares Essa Qutami (21), 3 Ali Babtain & Ali Salmeen (19).
Hole in One #7 Mini Monty: Ali Mohamed Ahmed. Nearest the Pins – Day 1: Ali Hassan (hole 2), Hamad Faris (hole 7), Nassir Yacoob (hole 12) and Jason Smith (hole 16). Nearest the Pins – Day 2: Rashid Al Qutami (hole 2), Stephen Havrilla (hole 7), Ebrahim Esbai (hole 12) and Abdulhadi Al Noaimi (hole 16).