Neale Fires 68 to triumph in Emirates Amateur Open in Dubai

Joele Neale, representing Emirates Golf Club, started the day five shots off the overnight leader Michael Saunders. The familiar surrounds of his home course enabled him to produce a superb 4-under par tally over the exact layout that Alvaro Quiros triumphed on last weekend.

Fantastic golf by Neale got him to 1-under par as he teed up on the famous par five eighteenth. A perfect drive left him in the middle of the fairway with only a long iron left to the well guarded green. A solid shot found the heart of the green and Neale rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt to post a clubhouse lead of 2-under par. His closest rivals, Khalid Attieh (Arabian Ranches GC) and Harry Diamond (Belvoir Park GC), also entered the 18th at 1-under par for the championship but both contenders hooked their tee shots into the trees. Diamond’s challenge ended when he took two more shots to find the fairway and Attieh left himself 200 yards to the flagstick. A superb shot gave him a 30-footer to force a playoff but it stayed on the lip of the hole to gift a well deserved championship to Neale. Attieh settled for runners-up position on 216, one under par and Diamond was a further shot back in third.

Michael Saunders (Dartford GC) finished fourth on 222, plus five for the championship.  Two shots further back was Ronan O’Reilly (Els Club) in fifth with Dubai Creeks Miki Mirza in sixth on a 225 tally.

The overall nett prize went to Nasser Saleh (Bahrain Golf Federation) on a 54-hole tally of 226, also on the same mark and missing out on the count back was Billal Isamil from Shanklin and Sandown Golf Club. Last years champion, Hamed Afnan (Bahrain Golf Federation) clinched third in the nett category on 227.

The other highlight of the day was a hole in one by Mark Williams on the par three 11th, coming 6 days after Quiros achieved the same feat in his Omega Dubai Desert classic victory.