UAE juniors still best in region after retaining GCC Championship title

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia // The UAE's junior team successfully defended their GCC Golf Championship Junior Title this weekend at Dirab Golf and Country Club in Saudi Arabia, while Khalid Yousuf finished third in the individual senior championship.

The junior team of Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Ahmad Skaik and Saeed Al Balooshi shot a gross score of 473 over three rounds, beating Qatar by seven shots with Bahrain finishing a further 14 shots back.

The other teams competing were Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

“We knew we were the favourites to win, but we still had to play well. The whole team did that and we are all very pleased to get the job done,” Al Qubaisi said. “We’ve all put a lot of hard work in over the last few weeks and this is our reward. We look forward to heading back to Saudi Arabia later this year for the Pan Arab Championships.”

Al Qubaisi shot rounds of 74, 85 and 75 for a gross event total of 234, giving him second place in the individual gross category, with Skaik (239) finishing third.

Al Balooshi shot a first round of 86, net score, but after battling with an illness, he took a medical withdrawal for the last two rounds.

The senior side were looking to regain the title they last won in 2012, but the squad of Yousuf, Sohail Al Marzouqi, Rashid Hamood and Hassan Al Musharrekh came in fourth, three shots off third-placed Qatar.

Bahrain stormed to the title with an 18-shot lead over Saudi Arabia.

Yousuf shot a gross 222 to finish third in the individual rankings. He missed a play-off for first by one shot.

“I am happy with the way I played this week,” he said. “Finishing third was both good and bad for me personally. The fact that I played so consistently throughout the week was definitely a positive. The only negative was the fact that I lost out on first place by one shot; the fact that I bogeyed three of the last four holes on the third day makes it all the more annoying.

“However, it was a successful tournament and gives me a good boost of confidence going into the Pan Arab Championship.”

Jason Froggatt, the UAE national team coach, said the junior team’s victory was a result of plenty of hard work.

“We went with a job to do and clearly did that and reset the benchmark as the best juniors within the GCC,” he said. “These gentlemen all deserve this after putting in a lot of hard work both technically and physically. I’m sure they can build on this with forthcoming events within this season and with international events coming up later this year.”

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