RIYADH —

Veteran golfer Prince Khaled Saud Al-Faisal and Faisal Salhab, a talented twenty-something in Saudi Arabia’s talent pool, won the 88th Saudi National Day Golf Tournament sponsored by Almarai Saturday at Dirab Golf & Country Club.

Prince Khaled, 48, and Salhab, a 22-year-old Instructive Management engineering student at Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, pulled through in a tight race to win by countback from two other sides in this prestigious event celebrating their country’s national day.

“To win the Saudi National Day Golf Tournament with Faisal is fantastic. I’m very happy we made it,” said Prince Khaled.

“We understand how to play each other. Comfortable,” shared the young Salhab, who started playing golf at 13 here at Dirab and, with a commitment and dedication to the game, became a national golfer that has seen him represent the Kingdom in the international stage a number of times.

Prince Khaled and Faisal, with a 1 team handicap, shot a net score of 65, 7-under on the flat tree-lined layout, in a tie with golf-playing diplomats Ambassador Khan Hasham Bin Saddique and Ambassador Zainol Zainuddin of Pakistan Embassy and Malaysian Embassy respectively, and Kamal Fareed and Sandy Gupta.

When the back nine scores were compared to break the tie, the winning pair had 32, while the diplomat-duo and Fareed-Gupta remained deadlocked on 35. The tiebreak system went to the last six holes 24-25 in favor of the diplomats, who took the runner-up position while Fareed and Gupta had to settle in third place.

Rounding out the podium finish Phil Gandier-Richard Salisbury claimed fourth position and Tariq Khan-Moiz Ahmed fifth spot by countback after the sides tied on 66.

It was the first major victory for Prince Khaled and Salhab together as a team. To prepare for this event Prince Khaled had been playing practice-rounds three times a week during the long Eid holidays.

On a windless sunny day Prince Khaled and Salhab hit the golf ball pure and true — the 22-year old bombing drives of 320 yards and Prince Khaled saving par on the last hole.

They easily could have made 10 birdies in a bogeyless round. Following two birdies going out, they added four more in back-to-back fashion, on 10 and 13, and on 15 and 16, coming in.

“The ball’s literally just skirting the holes,” said Prince Khaled of the missed birdie opportunites.

The skill prizes for longest drive men’s and ladies went to Chris Roberts and Michelle Esch and closest to the pin Zainuddin.

Almarai Co. Public Relations Abdullah Al-Otaibi handed out prizes to the winners during the prize distribution ceremony after the 18-hole Texas Scramble format competition. Assisting Al-Otaibi was Almarai Vice president Richard Salibury.

Also present were the Almarai senior management and marketing teams.

The event that attracted a full field of 56 teams and 112 players marked the start of the 2018-2019 wraparound season at Dirab. — SG