JEBEL ALI // "The Shaikh Rashid Trophy is back," declared Adel Zarouni, the general secretary of the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) after the successful staging of the amateur strokeplay event which was removed from the UAE fixture list in 2006.
"We have a mandate to make the revived competition stronger than ever," Zarouni said. "And we will do so. We have promises from overseas golfers to come and play in future years and that can only be good for the status of the competition."
The awarding of world amateur ranking points is also a big plus for the event which is unofficially the amateur championship of the UAE and Michael Harradine will benefit most, having taken the honours over the past three days with an 54-hole aggregate score of 224.
Saeed Albudoor, the general manager of the EGF, was also delighted to see the Rashid Trophy re-established having suffered from the demolition of the Dubai Country Club course four years ago as part of the development plans for Meydan Racecourse.
"It is important for the good of the game in this country that we have as many prestigious events like this one as possible," said Albudoor, grateful to accept entries from 80 low-handicap players, including two from Saudi Arabia and one from Spain. "Our main objective is to provide players with a busy calendar of top tournaments and getting this one back is a positive step for us.
"The winner [Harradine] can now call himself the amateur champion of the UAE.
"We are grateful to those who have made it possible to stage this tournament after the long gap, especially the three clubs who have hosted it for us [Al Badia, Els Club and Jebel Ali Resort]."
wjohnson@thenational.ae