Attieh extends advantag

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Attieh extended his lead atop the leaderboard yesterday heading into the final round of play in the fifth Bahrain Amateur Open golf championship, currently taking place at the Royal Golf Club.

Attieh carded a four-under-par 68 on day two of the 54-hole stroke play event to widen his advantage over the rest of the field to five shots from three overnight.

Attieh now boasts an 11-under-par gross total from his two rounds of 65 and 68 for an aggregate of 133.

The title frontrunner posted four birdies yesterday on the front nine but also had one bogey, and then finished off with another birdie over the back nine.

Saleh Al Kaabi of Qatar moved into second place behind him.

He played a three-under 69 yesterday to match his round one score for a six-under-par 138 total. Sam Mullane and Jay Mullane from the UAE were tied-third on three-under-par total gross scores of 141.

Sam carded yesterday’s best score of five-under 67 to recover from his opening day outing of 74.

He had six birdies over the second round’s 18 holes but also bogeyed the 12th. Jay also had an impressive showing yesterday of a four-under 68, which added to his 73 on day one.

Mousa Shana’ah of Jordan followed in fifth place with a one-under-par 143 total, while Ali Sakha, who was ranked second after the first day, struggled yesterday with a four-over-par 76 to go to an even par 144 heading into today’s concluding round.

Top-ranked

Yousif Ali Janahi remained as the top-ranked Bahraini in seventh overall with a one-over 145 total, but compatriot Fahad Abdulla Al Hakam is just one shot behind in tiedeighth along with Alistair Hess of the UAE.

Yaseen Le Falher of Bahrain and Johan Van Jaarsveldt of Saudi completed the top 10, tied on three-over-par 147 totals.

Former champion Khalifa Al Merisi improved to tied-12th yesterday with countryman Khalifa Duaij Al Kaabi, both on four-over-par 148 totals, while defending champion Ahmed Al Zayed was tied-19th on eight-over-par 152.

Following yesterday’s play, 50 players made the cut for today’s concluding round, with Bahraini Hussain Salem being the last to qualify with a 29-overpar 173 total.

The fifth Bahrain Amateur Open golf championship is a World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) event. It 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.

Additionally, 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.