GOLF – Ahmed Ali from the US and Joel Stalter from France emerged as joint overnight leaders yesterday following the opening round of the 17th King Hamad Trophy golf championship, which got underway at Royal Golf Club.
Nearly 90 players, both professionals and amateurs representing more than 20 nations from around the world, teed off to play the first 18 holes in the three-day, 54-hole event, which is being held under the royal patronage of His Majesty King Hamad.
Ali and Stalter both carded six-under-par 66 scores yesterday to top the leaderboard.
Ali’s round featured an impressive eight birdies, including three in a row from holes 15 to 17, and two bogeys.
Stalter had six birdies for the day to take a share of first place.
Both players were one stroke ahead of Irish amateur golfer Aodhagan Brady, who holed five birdies to play a 67 on day one.
Britain’s Zain Scotland and Portuguese amateur Luis Ferreira Da Silva were tied-fourth on four-under-par 68 scores, while four others were tied sixth on three-under 69, including defending champion and two-time title winner Tom Sloman, his fellow-Briton and also former champion Luke Joy, Frenchman Maxime Goupy, and Egyptian amateur Adam Elshamy.
Two other ex-King Hamad Trophy winners, Ahmed Marjan from Morocco and Cole Madey from the US, were tied-10th after the opening 18 holes on two-under-par 70 scores.
Mohammed Diab Alnoaimi was the best-ranked Bahraini golfer from round one, carding a five-over-par 77 to place tied-42nd. Yaseen Le Falher and Khalifa Mohamed Khalifa both followed one stroke behind in tied-46th.
The King Hamad Trophy is organised and run by the Bahrain Golf Association (BGA).
Following today’s second round, a cut will be made with the leading 45 players and ties making it through to tomorrow’s final day.
The winner of this year’s tournament will receive an invitation to compete in the DP World Tour’s Bahrain Championship in 2026.
The leading 10 professionals will also receive cash prizes, with the champion pocketing $10,000.
The runner-up will come away with $6,800 and the third-placer gets $4,600.
Furthermore, the leading 10 amateurs will receive in-kind prizes, while there will also be a special prize for the best Bahraini player along with other consolation prizes.
The 2026 edition of the Bahrain Championship will take place from January 29 to February 1 as part of the DP World Tour’s international swing.
It will be one of more than 40 tournaments in at least 26 different countries on the DP World Tour’s schedule next year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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