To their pleasant surprise, the Rolling Hills Club tandem earned a bonus on their trip to Riyadh after winning the Saudi leg of the Xerox Corporate Golf Challenge 2010 at the Dirab Golf & Country Club.
Lee and Jane won on countback from John Morris and Matt Martin after the sides tied on 62 in the two-person best ball medal pairs tournament with 3/4 handicap allowance.
Despite the scorching sun a total of 124 players and 62 teams participated in the second round of the annual competition in which winners in the qualifying rounds spread across the Middle East including four in the UAE slug it out in the grand final on Dec. 9 at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai with the winning pair to earn a spot in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships Pro-Am in January next year.
The Els Golf Club hosted the first round on May 27. The next stop after the Dirab tournament is at Lebanon Golf Club in Lebanon on June 20 followed by the qualifiers at Montomerie Golf Club in Dubai on Oct. 7, Doha Golf Club in Qatar on Oct. 16, Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in the UAE on Oct. 30, Riffa Golf Club in Bahrain on Nov. 5, Abu Dhabi Golf Club in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 20 and The Allegria Golf Club in Egypt on Nov. 27.
Third place went to Richard Gaas and Flore Bouzanne on 63 with another husband and wife team, Australian Patrick Kennedy and Liz Kennedy, claiming fourth position on 64. Lebanese Rabie Fares and Korean M. S. Kim rounded out the first five winners on 65.
The Kirks played like Dirab golf course was not unfamiliar to them, hitting eight net birdies and a net eagle in nines of 30-32.
Lee, with an 11 handicap, carded the eagle on par-4 No. 3, where he has a stroke according to the stroke index. He drove the ball down the middle of the fairway followed by an equally good approach shot that landed within club length of the cup and made the putt.
The awards for longest drives (men’s and ladies) went to George Mackay and Georgia Coughlin and closest to pin to Paul Thunder on No. 7 and Talal Sarieddine on No. 11.
The raffle prize winners were Ronny Lidman and Richard Bridgeford, who each won a Xerox laser jet printer, Chris Hodder, Eijaz Naqshbandi and Kevin Spackman. Hodder took home a Callaway hybrid wood while Naqshbandi and Spackman each received a golf bag.
The sponsors’ representatives that Dirab Golf Manager Bouchaib El Jadiani acknowledged during the awards ceremony were: Peter Dadzis, president Olayan Financing Company; Xerox MEA Business Development Manager Ayman Mattar; Ehad Guindi, GM; Halim Ammoura, marketing director; Zamil A. Kasim, senior marketing executive; Khaled Bou Antoun, sales manager Riyadh; Ahmed Kasaby, XGS sales manager; and Mohammed Diab, territory manager, all of Saudi Xerox; and ABB’s Gary Foote and Paul Byrne.
ABB and Avis are the tournament main sponsors with Renaissance Dubai Hotel, Ecco and Crystal Gallery as co-sponsors.
