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Awali Golf Club celebrated its long-standing sponsorship received from the Kanoo Group with the 50th Abdulla Ali Kanoo Cup competition on Friday.
Scores reflected the calm playing conditions, the prize winners all returning nett numbers in the 60s.
The overall winner was Balbir Singh, securing the trophy probably the highlight of his season as he received his initial handicap only in November. Superb Singh achieved a nett 62 (gross 85) and as a result received a four-shot handicap cut.
Chasing him into the runner-up slot was Adel Al Gaoud on nett 63 (gross 78).
Prizes, a variety of golf clubs, were presented by Kanoo representative Steve Wagstaff, assisted by Bryan Webster.
The tussle at the top was most keen in Flight-1, which is limited for those with playing handicaps up to 10, as a further eight players returned sub-70 nett scores: Rashid Yacoob (64), Ali Al Kowari (66), Salem Khalifa (66), Essa Abdulla (67), Ali Musbah (69), Daij Khalifa (69), Rashid Al Qutami (69) and Jasper Meinema (69). Flight-2 had nine players carding sub-70 scores and Flight-3 two players.
As is common for a singles medal format competition at AGC, the player with the lowest gross score is awarded a commemorative physical medal. Unusually, two players scored gross-70 and shared the accolade of lowest gross score: Rashid Yacoob and Ali Al Kowari.
As the occurrence of this dead-heat is rare, the club only ever procures a single medal, so tournament director Susan Scott was left with the decision of which player it should be presented to.
On this occasion, and even more unusually, Al Kowari’s and Yacoob’s countback scoring was identical too.
The only options were to either toss a coin or choose in some other subjective manner. After forming the requisite committee, and having the necessary deliberations, Al Kowari, the younger of the two players and a hopeful to become an adult member of Bahrain’s national golf team in the future, was awarded the gong.
Full results:
Overall winner Balbir Singh (nett 62/gross 85), overall runner-up Adel Al Gaoud (63/78). Flight-1 1st: Rashid Yacoob (64/70), 2nd: Ali Al Kowari (66/70). Flight-2 1st: Jeffrey Barrett (66/84), 2nd: Dong Jin Jeong (66/80). Flight-3: 1st Eui Mo Koo (63/83), 2nd: Paul Odendaal (65/93). Nearest-the-pin side prizes: Flight-1; Rashid Yacoob, Flight-2: Rick de Groot, Flight-3: Jin Keun Kim.
Recently joined member Hyunje Jo was also presented with his initial handicap certificate by club captain Paul Anderson, this bringing AGC’s new-handicappers total to 15 for this season.
AGC will stage the ESB International Stableford competition on Friday. A 3pm Ball sweep contest will be staged every Saturday afternoon for the rest of March and the Wednesday Wackers will tee-off at 9am, both of which are open to non-members as well as members, handicapped or not. For more details visit www.awaligolfclub.com.
