RIYADH — Noel Alipoyo and Jeff Arellano joined hands for the first time and the Filipino pair topped a field of intrepid golfers that braved the scorching sun during the Dirab Monthly Medal Tournament at Dirab Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Riyadh.
The tournament was held on the eve of the World Cup football final Saturday. Cashing in on the occasion and just to add to the fun, the organizers named the event “FIFA World Cup 2018 Golf Tournament.”
Alipoyo and Arellano, of course, had the most fun from among the players as they shot a winning net total of 62 from a gross score of 72 and team handicap of 10. The ribbing they got from Dirab Golf & Country Club Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani at the awards ceremony was that they will have a long reign as champions and it will take four years for them to defend their crown, as the World Cup is held every four years.
For Alipoyo, a senior cameraman with OR Media (Madarat), the victory ended a long drought while the hard-hitting Jeff scored his second win in a team event. Jeff, a field service engineer with software-industrial company Honeywell, has had a winning partnership with his uncle, Alex Arellano, in the Xerox qualifying tournament last year.
The duo combined Alipoyo’s precision hitting and Arellano’s long game in a round of 37-35 that contained two birdies against two bogeys.
Alipoyo and Arellano bogeyed their opening No. 5 hole but birdied the next hole, a par-4, off a tee-shot by Noel who converted an eight-footer after a wedge from 100 yards. They again bogeyed the seventh hole in what turned out as their only other dropped shot.
Another birdie on 12, a straight away par-4 where their approach from 115 yards landed 10 feet from the cup, gave Alipoyo-Arellano a 35 coming home for the back nine score they needed to edge Mark Trzepaez and Bernie Jacques in the countback, after the latter team also finished on 62 (71-9) but had a back nine score of 38 and settled for runner-up.
Ronny Lidman and banker Abdulaziz Al-Helaisi clinched third place also via the countback from M. S. Kim and Emad Tareen in the two ball Texas Scramble format competition where each player is required to play a minimum eight tee shots. Both pairs posted a net score of 64, Lidman-Al Helaisi off 73-9 and Kim-Tareen 70-6.
The children of Korean taekwondo master Kim, son Jal Han Kim and daughter Joeun Kim, made it a family affair when they claimed fifth place on 65 from the day’s low gross of 68 and 3 handicap.
Resty Sibug won the longest drive which was actually Bouchaib’s but then forfeited the award in favor of the Filipino ace, while another Filipino, Nick Palce, nabbed the closest to the pin plum.
This is the last event of the off-season before the new wraparound 2018-2019 season kicks off in September. — SG
