2019 Toyo Golf Tournament

Toyo Golf Tournament was organized on Friday 8th Feb 2019 at the Sahara Golf Club. It was the 36th year of this prestigious event, which started in 1983 and since then has been held each year with the exception of 1991. The trophy is appropriately called the Liberation Cup as the tournament is organized in February for commemorating the National and Liberation Days.

The tournament is quite popular among golf enthusiasts. Being an Open event, the participation is not just limited to Sahara Club members but includes golfers from all over. As always, there was an overwhelming request for participation, and eventually, 100 players were shortlisted. To ensure a level playing field, the players were categorized into two divisions based on their handicap levels: Division A (Handicap 0 to 14) and Division B (Handicap 15 to 28).

Toyo Golf has traditionally followed the ‘Stableford’ format, which allows for relatively fast play. Though it has been relatively cold & windy over the past few days, thankfully the weather was quite pleasant on Friday with sunny conditions in the morning and a mild breeze followed by light rains in the afternoon.

The veteran Adnan Assaf came up with a fabulous score of 37 points net (and 69 gross in a par-70 course) so as to win the trophy in Division A. He was followed by Luiz Swarez in the second place with 35 points. In Division B, Dr. Seemant Raizada achieved a whopping 44 points to win the prize. Incidentally, this is his second successive win – he was the winner last year also. The second prize in Division B was won by Yahya Bakir at 35 points.

Among other prizes, Nearest to Pin was won by Alison Peterson and Brett King in Ladies and Men’s categories respectively. As regards Longest Drive, Fadia Emadi was the winner in Ladies, whereas in the Men’s group, the corresponding prize was won by Scott Dunning. Last but not the least, the coveted Best Gross trophy was won by the experienced Abdulwahab Al-Mussalam, who has always come up with remarkable performances in this tournament, even in the past.

Finally, the highlight of the day was an amazing shot by Mr. Sisonxay Ngaovongsi, the Ambassador of Laos, who hit a ‘Hole-in-One’, a rarity in golf, at Hole no. 11, a par-3 hole.

Prize distribution was organized in the afternoon in the gracious presence of Mr.Keishi Inoue, General Manager, Toyo Tires Japan who had specially flown in from Osaka for the tournament. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kuldeep Lamba, Managing Director, AlMailem Group expressed his satisfaction at the enthusiastic turnout, and complimented Razmic, Richard, Xuxon, Jason, Cameron and other Sahara Club staff for their professional administration of the event.