Rahm, who won the men’s Order of Merit this year after winning four of the 11 events he played in, could not finish the season in style, but his superb round of four-under par 68 did liven up the proceedings on the final day of the tournament.
Rahm paid the price of an inconsistent opening round over the Earth course (78) and had to settle for the second place behind Lobo, who closed with a one-under par 71 on Fire following his 73 over Earth.
One player who did all the hard work over the much tougher Earth course on Friday was ladies champion Kim Chiang. The 15-year-old, who defended her Order of Merit Championship title, could afford to shoot a 79 at the Fire course yesterday after a stunning bogey-free round of six-under par 66 – a course record for ladies – on the opening day.
Chiang aggregated 145 for the two rounds and was a two-shot winner over Els Club’s Anastacia Bakal and Jumeirah Golf Estates’ Alison Muirhead.
Lobo, who finished his schooling at British School Al Khubairat this year, started the final round two shots ahead of Stephen Loftus, and was never in danger of losing the title as he played solid golf.
The Brazilian led all the way through, dropping just one shot on the 17th hole.
“I really wanted to finish the season with a trophy. But I knew Chris was playing really well ahead of me. I wanted to play a bogey-free round and just hang in there and make things a little difficult for him,” said Lobo.
Nice touch! OoM champion Chris Rahm congratulates tournament winner Tiago Lobo at @JGEGolf. @EGFuaegolf pic.twitter.com/YTmLbU9rBr
— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) May 28, 2016
Rahm, who is a member at Jumeirah Golf Estates, was delighted with his round, but disappointed to miss out on some more silverware.
“I have never played well in a tournament in JGE. So, to finally shoot 68 and give myself a chance was good, but my opening round left too much work to be done to catch Tiago,” said Rahm, who is a student at Dubai American School.
Chiang, who studies at Dubai American Academy, said: “It was a completely different day from yesterday when I just could not do any wrong. It was easily the best round of golf I ever played. Thanks to the 66, I could make all the mistakes today and still win.”
One of the perks of winning the championship for Lobo and Chiang is that along with Rahm and ladies Order of Merit champion Alison Muirhead, they will be sent by the EGF on an all-expense paid trip to attend the Singha Thailand Amateur Golf Championship in Bangkok at the end of August.
RESULTS
Men’s Division (Gross)
144 – Tiago Lobo 73-71
146 – Christofer Rahm 78-68
148 – Bilbo Perrot 76-72, Stephen Loftus 75-73
150 – Martin Fenandez 79-71
151 – Matthew Baxter 79-72
156 – Aarkesh Bhatia 83-73
Ladies Division (Gross)
145 – Kim Chiang 66-79
147 – Anastacia Bakal 76-71, Alison Muirhead 76-71
155 – Madeleen Grosskopf 77-78
160 – Sahana Paravantavida 81-79
Junior Divison (Gross)
139 – Zubair Bin Mohd Firdaus 72-67
151 – Aryaan Kumar 75-76
156 – Tariq El Chaib 85-71
