Bahrain bag double titles

Bahrain enjoyed a fantastic title double yesterday in the 2019 GCC Golf Championships at Ghala Golf Club in Muscat. The Kingdom’s men’s team were crowned champions in their competition category while Bahraini star Mohamed Diab Alnoaimi clinched the individual men’s title following the fourth and final round of action. Aside from their two championships, Bahrain had a third reason to celebrate as the under-18 squad also claimed the bronze medals in their age group.

All the competition’s winners were awarded their respective trophies and medals during the official awarding and closing ceremony held following the completion of yesterday’s play. The Bahrainis captured the men’s team crown by a comfortable 11 strokes ahead of their closest rivals after starting the final day with a narrow twoshot lead.

The nationals carded a fiveover-par 221 for round four to bring their overall total for the teams’ competition to 23-overpar 887. Their fourth day gross added to their other scores of 224, 220 and 222. Alnoaimi was in scintillating form on the last day, scoring a three-under-par 69 to spearhead Bahrain’s campaign. Sultan Mubarak added a 75 total and Al Mohamed Al Kowari scored a 77. Khalifa Mohamed Almerisi was also on the course with a score of 80 which was not counted to their overall tally.

Saudi struggled on the final day with a round of 230, giving them a 34-over-par four-day tally of 898. Saud Abdullah Al Sharif, Abdulrahman Al Mansoor and Khalid Al Faisal were all in action for their team yesterday. The UAE finished as bronze -medallists with a 37-over-par final total of 901. Qatar were fourth a further three shots behind, while Oman and Kuwait completed the final men’s teams’ classification well behind the leaders. Omar had a 105-over-par total of 969 while Kuwait were 129-over-par for 993.

Meanwhile, Alnoaimi was the men’s individual champion after defeating Al Sharif in a sudden-death playoff. The pair were tied with fourover-par scores of 292 after yesterday’s last 18 holes. Alnoaimi was red hot with his personal score of 69, while Al Sharif carded a 72 as they extended play for a decisive extra hole. Ahmed Skaik of the UAE claimed the bronze medal after finishing a single shot from the leading pair.

He also had a strong last day with a gross 69 score. Bahraini Sultan Mubarak, who was started the tournament as the solo early leader, had to settle for fourth overall three shots behind. Qataris Saleh Ali Al Kaabi and Jaham Jassim Al Kuwari rounded out the top six. Bahrain’s Al Kowari was eighth with a 12-over-par 300 total while Almerisi was 16th from 24 players with a score of 35-over-par 323.

In the under-18 competition, the Bahrainis claimed the bronze medals with a 77-overpar 509 total. Their team comprised of Eid Aeel Meftah, Faris Isa Alqetami and Manaf Yusuf Ahmed. They were 11 shots behind winners Qatar while the UAE were three shots ahead of Bahrain as silver-medallists.