MENA tour event in Saudi starts today

With a full field of 96 players from 23 countries seeing action the first round in the American Express Dirab Golf Championship, the first professional golf tournament to be staged in the Kingdom, starts today at the Dirab Golf & Country Club. This is the third event on the MENA Tour and the culmination of three years of work to bring a tournament of this kind to Saudi Arabia. “We have close ties with the Saudi Golf Federation and worked very hard to have the MENA Tour here. It has been three years in the making,” Tour Commissioner Adrian Flaherty told Arab News by telephone interview from Riyadh. “The exposure will have a huge impact on the Saudi game as it will show how people are able to play golf in Saudi Arabia with its fantastic golf facilities and world-class golf course,” said Flaherty. The pairings were finalized and the opening ceremony took place yesterday to begin the tournament week that ends on Wednesday with the final round and awards ceremony. Prior to the opening ceremony a press conference was held with Mohamed Juma Buamaim, chairman of the MENA Golf Tour, Flaherty, and American Express Saudi Arabia CEO Priyen Attydalle. Also, a commemorative marble marker was unveiled at the host club to mark the MENA Tour’s first-ever tournament in Saudi Arabia. Ibrahim Abunayyan Sons Group Chairman Mohammed Abunayyan and Saudi Golf Federation President Khaled Abunayyan presented an appreciation trophy to a GPYW official for his support in making this event a reality. The 54-hole event is organized under the patronage of Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, president of General Presidency of Youth Welfare, with American Express as the title sponsor. The major sponsors are: Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, Mercedes-Benz, Omega, R & A, Arab Golf Federation, Golf Citizen, General Presidency of Youth Welfare, Saudi Arabian Golf Federation, Dirab Golf & Country Club, Al Khozama Management Company(AKMC), Almarai, Radisson Blu and Go Etihad Atheeb Telecom Company. The players will start in groups of three with the first group at 7:39 a.m. featuring Saudi national player Abdulrahman Almansour with Morocco’s Kamal Bensouda and Andreas Finn of Sweden. The nine Saudis entered are among the 28 amateurs to tee it up in the tournament along with the 68 professionals from in and around the region particularly Morocco, Bahrain, UAE and England. The country’s leading player Othman Almulla has arrived from the US, where he is now based, to reinforce the Saudi challenge which will be led by Prince Khalid bin Saud Al Faisal, who tees off at 9.54 a.m. today along with England’s Zane Scotland and Pakistan’s Matloob Ahmed. Almula starts at 11:15 a.m. in the 25th group with Pakistan’s Aadil Jehangir and Daniel Wardrop of England. Arab news