Musharrekh clinches UAE C’ship

Abdullah Al Musharrekh staged a tremendous comeback to win the UAE National Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Saturday. Starting the day a good three shots off the pace, Abdullah closed with a solid two-over-par 74 at the Earth course for a 36-hole total of a gross 150, which was good enough to beat his closest challenger Sohail Al Marzuqi by a healthy six strokes. A three-time winner of the championship, Khalid Yosuf, finished third on a gross 176 after signing off with a 76 while overnight leader Faris Al Mazroui missed out on a podium finish, stumbling to a disappointing 84 on the final day. Competition was also held in the junior division where Omar Al Shehi posted a gross 48 over the nine holes at the Fire course to beat Ahmed Sakik and Abdullah Al Qubaisi on a countback. The day, however, belonged to Abdullah, a senior member of the UAE National team, who needed to dig deep into his experience to win the championship for the first time. “I scrambled really well on the front nine and that made the difference,” said Abdullah. “It has always been my dream to win this championship, and I am really proud to add my name to the roll of honours. To be honest, I had no big expectations coming to this championship, but I managed to pull it off which is great. “I thought Khalid (Yousuf) would be the biggest threat since he is quite experienced and has been a lot of competitive golf these days, but I found rhythm in my game coming down the stretch and that helped,” he added. Khalid Yousuf, usually a very steady player, just failed to find the spark in his game and simply struggled to string together his rounds. He shot a head-scratching 80 in the opening to lose the early initiative. He did make some amends in the final round, but a 76 was not good enough to threaten the leaders. Marzuqi matched Abdullah’s closing 74 to jump to second place, his best finish in the championship. In-form Ahmed Al Musharrekh was forced to withdraw because of a back injury. In line with the long-tradition of the championship, first played in 1995, the juniors will also competed in a separate nine-hole event over the Fire course from white tees. The fight went down to the wire with the top three carding an identical gross 48 before Omar Al Shehi settled the issue in the countback. Shaikh Fahim bin Sultan Qasimi, chairman of the Emirates Golf Federation, and Saeed Hareb, Managing Director of Nakheel Leisure, presented the prizes in the company of Khalid Mubarak, a board member of the Emirates Golf Federation.