Abu Dhabi delight for Gane

Left-hander Chris Gane withstood searing heat to show his mettle in the final round of the 2016 OnCourse Golf Abu Dhabi Pro-Am at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

The 41 year old from Lefthandedgolf, Silvermere, kept his cool to card a 73 to post a six-under par (210) total and clinch a resounding 13 shot victory over second placed Simon Lilly.

“It’s always great to win, and it’s nice to win over three days,” he said.

“The team struggled a little bit today…we were all pretty exhausted but we’ve had a great week and it’s been a great Pro-Am and I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”

Gane began the day with a comfortable lead, but with hot conditions at the event, supported by Fine & Country Golf, and temperatures reaching 39 degrees it was always going to be a high performance battle.

A birdie at the first hole was a dream start to move to eight-under par but with two bogeys and a further birdie, he finished at level par for the front nine.

A single bogey on the back nine at the 13th hole gave Gane his only over-par round of the tournament – his final round 73 added to his 66 in Round 02 at Yas Links Golf Club and Round 01 71 at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, was still more than enough to secure victory.

A PGAs of Europe Sanctioned event win also sees Gane receive an invite to the 2016 UniCredit PGA Professional Championship of Europe later this year.

“I got into Pravets two years ago and it’s a great event,” added Gane.

“A chance to go and play the PGAs of Europe Club Pros, well…I can’t wait – it’s nice to win [here] and that’s a real added bonus.”

Lilly also got off to a good start with a birdie at the second but bogeys at three and nine, and a further three bogeys on the back nine resulted in a four-over par 76 but his seven over total of 223 was enough squeeze stand-alone second place by two strokes.

Third place went to the PGA of Spain’s Adam Sagar after his even-par 72, the low round of the day.  His one-under front nine and one-over back nine was a consistent finish to the tournament, completing a total of 225 (+9).

The Team Pro-Am honours went to wire-to-wire leaders Team Makszin – PGA of Hungary Professional Áron Makszin and his amateurs Csaba Nagy, Zsolt Bohacs and Adam Osztovits culminated their tournament with 85 points (-13) taking their overall total to an outstanding 269 points (-53).

PGA of UAE Professional, Ross Bain, and his amateurs, Stephen Rutter, Scott Horne, David Minchin, took scond place with a 252 point (-36) total, whilst individual winner, Gane, and his amateurs Neil Foulkes, Andrew Doswell & Stuart Munro took third place with 243 points (-27).