Net Division
Sami Butt started his claim to be the Airarabia Net Summer Matchplay Champion back in June with a victory against Akeel Zafar. He then moved onto face Aadil Khan, there was little to separate them but Sami managed to come out on top. The toughest challenged he faced was in the semi finals when had to overcome his father Shaheen Butt. Thankfully for Sami he had the bragging rights as he come out with a 3&2 victory. On the opposite side of the draw, Samiuddin Siddiqui was on an impressive run leaving some of SGSC most in-form players in his wake. Samiuddin defeated Ben Mulvaney in the first round then Ali Tiwana in the second setting up a semi final against Arnel Valencia. Arnel had been playing some of the best golf of the summer at SGSC but couldn’t overcome Samiuddin who won the match and saw himself in the final against Sami Butt. The final itself was one of great sportsmanship & competitiveness as the two went head to head, and there was nothing separating the two going into the back 9 as the match remained all square. Sami Butt put his foot on the gas and played the back nine in just one over par gross to win the match on the 17th hole giving him a 2&1 win taking home the title and a very healthy Pro Shop voucher & Air Arabia flight tickets.
Gross Division
With the low Handicap Division growing year on year at SGSC the competition & level of performance needed to win, a Matchplay championship is at the highest level. In the end it came down to a battle of the pros, Golf Events Manager Samuel McLaren and Director of Golf Martin Duff. The Two had to overcome stiff competition including Sami Siddiqui, Namir Al Naimi and Ramli Sulaiman for Martin. Samuel fought of the challenge of Max Hibbert, Paul Nightingale, and Ben Mulvaney to secure his spot in the final. The two players had certainly earned their place in the final & they weren’t going to give up the championship easily. Both players started very steadily and never more than one in it, Samuel was first to go one up with a birdie at the seventh. Samuel then found the water on nine to go back to all square moving to the tenth. The back nine was a tight affair with both players making birdies, Martin found himself one up on the fourteenth but birdies from Samuel on fourteen, fifteen, and a three put from Martin on sixteen saw Samuel two up with two to play. Samuel held his nerve to win seventeen and win the match 3&1 and he was delighted to be the Gross Division champion and claim both a pro shop voucher and Air Arabia flight tickets.
Plate Division
The Plate Division was won by Shaheen Butt and it wasn’t easy, he beat off stiff competition from SGSC regulars the likes of Mohan GC and Michael Coneely. In the final Shaheen would meet Rajesh Chitti both players know each other’s games very well. The final was a closely competed game but Shaheen managed to overcome the challenge from Rajesh and in doing so took home a very healthy Pro shop voucher and the 2019 Plate division Air Arabia Summer Matchplay Champion title.
