Teeing off to glory

ACE golfer Sam Hobday excelled in the 13th King Hamad Trophy Golf Championship placing his best professional finish to date and is gearing up to make his mark during the highly-competitive Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Tour, writes Mai Al-Khatib-Camille.

The former St Christopher’s School student came fourth in the competition held at the Royal Golf Club (RGC), which featured 90 players from around the globe vying for cup and glory.

“I have been competing in the King Hamad Trophy for the past six years and my best finish previously was eighth,” said the 27-year-old Brit from Saar, who is also the RGC’s ambassador. “The course was in great shape with some difficult weather conditions but the challenging set up really made for a great competition.

“The Bahrain Golf Association did a great job organising the tournament so a genuine ‘thank you’ must be given to Daij Khalifa and his team for what was a fantastic event.

“I was also delighted to see so many familiar faces following me around on the golf course. It gave me a massive boost and I just want to say another big ‘thank you’ to everyone who was out there supporting me!”

Hobday, who walked away with a prize purse of $2,500 (around BD943), had shot 70, 69, 75 to finish -2 (2 under par) for the tournament. He had only returned to the kingdom a couple of months ago from the UK and has used every moment to sharpen up his game.

And although he was disappointed with his performance on the last day, his aim was to be in contention so he was still thrilled to be in the final group with a chance to win.

He also applauded Moroccan Ahmed Marjan who won the Championship by 2 shots from Sweden’s Jesper Alm.

Louis Campbell from England finished third at 3 under par one shot better than Hobday while defending champion Luke Joy finished tied 5th with Zane Scotland on 1 under par.

In the Amateur division, Ireland’s Keith Egan took the top honour with 3 over par beating Jake Wiltshier from the UK on countback. One shot back were India’s Rohan Dhole Patil and Marc Boucher from Ireland. Moroccan Almehdi Fakori finished 5th at 6 over par.

The top Bahraini honour went to Khalifa Alkaabi who finished 8th in the Amateur Division with 7 over par.

Meanwhile, Hobday is now looking forward to the forthcoming MENA Tour challenge.

“Although a schedule has not been released as of this moment, all being well, I should have some events to play in the New Year,” said Hobday, who attended university in Tennessee in the US on a golf scholarship.

He graduated in 2016 and returned to the island where he then turned professional in 2017. Since then, he has been playing mainly in the region, along with other tournaments in the UK and the US.

Over the years he has collected several accolades including being crowned the Royal Golf Club’s Scratch Champion in 2014 and clinching the Club Championship in 2017.