Essa-Ahmed duo win

Essa Al Qutami and Ahmed Mohammed triumphed with a soaring 45 points in the 21st edition of the NHSC Greensomes competition hosted at the Awali Golf Club.

This Greensomes competition format had both players in ‘drawn pairs’ teams teeing off from each hole. The best ball was then selected and played alternate-shot until holed. Stableford scoring was used with team handicaps calculated by multiplying the lower handicap of the two players by 0.6, the higher by 0.4 and adding the result.

Although temperatures had eased a little by the end-of-the-week, it was still warm and humid in the desert conditions and it was obvious that some golfers were wilting towards the end.

After players had enjoyed refreshments and an early supper, club captain Bill Scarth thanked Hamed Fares for organising the competition and remarked on the appearance of the new paparazzo seen lurking with his camera all day. He noted the excellent condition of the course – thanks to the efforts of Abdulla Mubarak – and urged players to continue their efforts to pick up litter blown onto the fairways by the recent wind.

The captain also made a special mention of the team of volunteer ‘dinner ladies’ who spend so much of their spare time preparing the food and refreshments for the competitions and he presented each of them with a special gift.

Prizes were presented to the top six overall winners by Rodney Abreu, sales executive of NHSC, and to the ‘nearest the pin’ competitors.

Coming second with 43 points were Bill Scarth & Nicola Park, followed by Tim Beynon & Jasper Meinema (43) in third place, Steve Diaper & Serwin Rampersad (42) in fourth, David Bailey & Jac Parker (42) in fifth and Jo Pawson & Farooq Ahmed (42) in sixth.

‘Nearest the pin’ were Jac Parker, Essa Al Qutami and Floris Brand.