Crowning glory

Nasser Yacoub reigned supreme at the 52nd Bahrain Open Golf Championship, which attracted more than 100 professional and amateur players, hosted by Awali Golf Club.

He was crowned after having carded a gross 140 for the weekend. Simon Dunn was close on his heels, one shot adrift, as runner-up and Matt Turner took third place, losing on countback.

It probably had the greatest ever age range of players in the competition’s history with schoolboy Taimur Malik making his first appearance at the age of 12, whilst Peter Rogers was in the field again, a young man of 77.

At the close of Day 1, Yacoub, who won five times previously, was in the lead on gross-66, with Turner (68) and Dunn (70) chasing him. Sultan Al Hakam was next (71), followed by Mohammed D Al Noaimi on 72, one shot ahead of his father Diab.

Fahad Sultan and Dave Park completed the players on 73, whilst course record holder Daniel Owen languished in 13th with a 76, not helped by a triple bogey on hole 3.

On Day 2 Yacoub’s lead was quickly cut to one with a bogey on the first, Turner having a par. Dunn’s triple bogey on the par-3 8th resulted in his position slipping. Yacoub regained his composure and was never less than three ahead of Turner over the first nine.

Into the final nine, Yacoub was three ahead of Turner and seven ahead of Dunn, who played superbly, bettering or equalling Yacoub’s score on all the nine holes apart from the 16th where Nasser birdied to Dunn’s par.

A bogey by Yacoub on the 15th saw his lead shrink to 2-up and giving Turner a fighting chance, and a lead of 4-up compared to Dunn. But he held his cool to birdie the 16th compared to Turner’s par: back to 3-up. Both Yacoub and Turner bogeyed the 17th, whilst Dunn parred. On the 18th tee Dunn was four adrift of Yacoub, while Turner was three adrift.

Yacoub then chose to play safe with a reasonable drive and a cautious second to the bottom of the rise in front of the green, not attempting to get to the green in two. Both challengers had to attack, needing to and succeeding in reaching the green in two. All Yacoub needed to do was a chip and a two-putt. The chip ended safe, a few metres short of the flag.

Dunn was first to putt, and sunk it for an eagle finish. Turner achieved a two-putt for a birdie, leaving Yacoub three up with a few metres to go. His first putt was short by a metre and his second a couple of centimetres away. But it did not matter, with a tap-in for six, Yacoub became the champion.

Prizes were presented by Peter Bartlett, chief executive of platinum sponsor Bapco, in the presence of Club Captain Abdul Elah Fakhroo.

Results: Champion – Nasser Yacoub (140: 66/74), 2nd Simon Dunn (141: 70/71), 3rd Matt Turner (141: 68/73), 4th Daniel Owen (144: 76/68), 5th Yousif Al Murbati (147: 74/73), 6th Mohammed Diab Al Noaimi (147 (72/75), 7th Sultan Al Hakam (147: 71/76), 8th Khalid Al Aathem (149 (75/74), 9th Hamad Mubarak Al Afnan (153: 80/73), 10th Ryan Wooley (153: 79/74). Best gross day-1 – Diab Sagar Al Noaimi (73), best gross day-2 – Hamad Fares Al Qutami (74), best nett day-1 – Fahad A Sultan (69), best nett day-2 – Rashid Bu Harab (70), best nett overall – Ali Mohammed Al Hakam (134: 64/70).