Attieh goes atop leaderboard

TDT | Manama                                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Khalid Attieh from Saudi Arabia ascended to the top of the leaderboard yesterday after a sensational first round of play in the fifth Bahrain Amateur Open golf championship, currently taking place at the Royal Golf Club.

Attieh carded a seven-under-par 65 over the opening 18 holes to take a three-shot lead into day two today. Countryman Ali Sakha followed in second place with a four-under 68 score, while a further shot back on three-under-par 69 was Saleh Al Kaabi of Qatar.

Attieh’s round yesterday featured seven birdies, including four on the back nine, with no bogeys. Sakha had six birdies but bogeyed the 15th and 18th holes to drop him back. Al Kaabi registered four successive birdies from the 10th to 13th holes but couldn’t finish his day strong as he played a bogey on the 18th.

A field of 100 amateur players from all over the world are competing in the 54-hole, individual stroke play event, including top names from across the region and the Kingdom’s leading national team golfers.

In tied-fourth place were Ali Al Shahrani and Mousa Shana’ah of Jordan on one-under-par 71 scores, while in sixth was Jake Wiltshire from the UK with an even-par 72. Four players were tied seventh with a one-shot-over 73, including Britain’s Marcus Dutton, the UAE’s Dan Byrne and Jay Mullane, and Yousif Al Janahi, Bahrain’s top-ranked golfer after day one.

Four other Bahrainis were tied-12th, three shots over par, including Yaseen Le Falher, Fahad Al Hakam, Nasser Yaqoob Saleh and Khalifa Al Kaabi. Former champion Khalifa Al Meraisi was amongst five players in tied-19th, and defending champion Ahmed Al Zayed was amongst another five in tied 24th.

Day two is scheduled to be held today, with the first group teeing off at 7am. A cut will be made at the end of the second round’s action for the leading 45 gross scores and ties. The competition, which is a World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) event, also acts as a qualifier for the 2023 King Hamad Trophy, set to take place 23 to 25 November at the same Colin Montgomerie-designed 18-hole championship course.

This year—following the mega announcement of the first-ever Bahrain Championship on the 2024 DP World Tour, also known as the PGA European Tour—the Bahrain Amateur Open offers an additional bonus.

The tournament’s overall winner plus the leading Bahraini amateur will come away with spots at the Bahrain Championship, scheduled to take place 1 to 4 February next year with a US$2.5million prize fund.

The winner of the King Hamad Trophy as well as the leading Bahraini player will tee it up alongside DP World Tour Professionals in the much-anticipated tournament.