Saudi Arabia in lead after round one of Arab Championship

The tournament is a team event involving 10 four-man teams, one three-man team representing Palestine, with Iraq and Jordan entering an individual each, who will compete in the individual division of the tournament only.

The team scoring involves the best three scores from the team of four players for each day counting towards the team score. The course is set up at 7,205 yards with two nines of 36.

The UAE playing captain Khalid Youssef, after the first round, said: “The UAE team is just seven shots behind the leaders Saudi Arabia after day one. It has been cold and windy today, which took us all a bit by surprise. I played quite nicely to score 77, one more than our top UAE player Ahmed Skaik. I missed a few easy putts, that I hope to learn from for the rest of the week, and made a disappointing double bogey 5 on the par three 13th where I missed the green with a six-iron tee shot and found water.

“I was pleased with my finish of two birdies on holes 15 and 16, but dropped a shot on the home hole. The golf course is in good shape and we are playing preferred lies. There is a long way to go and it is going to be a challenging and demanding week for us all.”

The Arab Championship Individual Division is currently led by Dean Naime (Egypt) and Faisal Salhab (KSA) both shooting level par rounds of 72. Salhab, the winner of the recent Saudi Open, had 5 birdies matched by 5 bogeys and Naime also managed 5 birdies but had 3 bogeys and a double on hole 6.