Rayhan Thomas underlines his class with fine victory at The Els Club

Joy Chakravarty 20:55 23/05/2015
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  • Kim Chiang, Tiago Lobo and Rayhan Thomas pose with their trophies at the Els Club.

    With a delectable chip to less than a foot for a birdie on the 18th hole of The Els Club on Saturday, Rayhan Thomas brought his astonishing 2014-2015 season to a fitting conclusion by the winning the men’s division title in the Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) Order of Merit (OoM) Championship.

    The 15-year-old from Dubai Creek, a ninth grade student of St Mary’s School, started the day four shots ahead of Chris Alderman, and followed up his opening-round  72 with a four-over par 76.

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    The two-day tally of 148 was seven shots better than runner-up Zi Hao Su, who had the day’s best round of one-over par 73 to finish on 155.

    Two other players were tied on 155, but Zi’s 73 on day two comfortably won on a countback over Andrew Smolak (77-78) and Miki Mirza (77-78). Mirza’s back-nine struggles on Saturday saw him lose the last podium finish to Smolak.

    “It was an incredible end to the season and I am delighted to have won the OoM Championship,” said Rayhan.

    “It was getting extremely tight during the front nine as I was struggling with my game. The greens were a lot faster than Friday and it was hot out there. The pins were also a lot trickier.

    “I just knuckled up on the back nine and tried to concentrate harder. I made a few birdies coming in and that really saved the day for me.”

    Despite Rayhan’s achievement, the spotlight on the final day of EGF’s season-ending championship – which is open only to select topper of the various orders of merit – was firmly on another 15-year-old. Arabian Ranches’ Kim Chiang shot a brilliant five-under-par 67, which included a storming finish of one eagle, four birdies and a bogey on the back nine, which she covered in five-under par 31.

    Chiang’s round not only gave her the ladies title over the pre-tournament favourite and this season ladies Order of Merit winner Anastasia Bakal.

    Chiang had a one-shot lead at the start of the day over Bakal, who opened with a 77. On Saturday, Bakal made a spirited charge on her home course and went about in 70, matching the previous course record which is held by Sana Tufail.

    But that still wasn’t enough to beat Chiang, who finished on 143, four better than runner-up Bakal.

    After collecting the trophy, Chiang said: “I played really well today. I was all right on the front nine, but on the back nine, it felt like everything clicked. I was swinging well, and I holed a few putts.”

    The eagle two came on the par-16th hole, where Kim smacked a driver to 20 feet on the 250-yard driveable hole and made the putt.

    The Junior championship was wrapped up by another day one leader. Tiago Lobo of Abu Dhabi Golf Club started the day four shots ahead of Kabir Nanda, and a second straight 73 on Saturday gave him a eight-shot win over Dhruv Nair (78-76). Aarkesh Bhatia shot the day’s best – a 71 – to leapfrog to third place.

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