UAE HOST FANTASTIC NOMURA CUP AT YAS LINKS ABU DHABI

Japan wins team event, Chinese superstar Cheng Jin the individual event and UAE team perform well for the future

(Abu Dhabi, UAE) – The first ever Nomura Cup to be held in the GCC was declared a fantastic success by David Cherry, the Chairman of the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation at the prize giving last night attended by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development.

Cherry reiterated his comments from last week about Yas Links “being the best links golf course in the world” and congratulated The Emirates Golf Federation and specifically its Chairman His Excellency Sheikh Fahim Bin Sultan Al Qasimi and Vice Chairman Adel Zarouni for putting on such “a fantastic event for Asia’s future stars of golf.”

Zarouni was pleased with the success of the Organising Committee: “It was a team effort. The Emirates Golf Federation were delighted to be given the opportunity to host such a prestigious event. We attracted the Nomura Cup’s largest ever field. The world class winners of the team and individual events are testament to Abu Dhabi, Yas Links and all our sponsors and partners of a job well done.”

The Nomura Cup 2015 went right down to the final putts on Day Four where Team Japan came out victorious. Japan Captain Katsuii Hotta was incredibly proud of their first Nomura Cup victory in 26 years, as Japan builds for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He dedicated the victory Head Coach Gareth Jones, who made it 3-0 in the Nomura Cup as he was previously coach of Australia for their last 2 victories.

“We started a new program just 3 weeks ago.” commented Hotta. “This is a great unimaginable result. This is all about Gareth Jones. The Gareth Jones effect!” A combined team scores of -22 was enough to grasp success from current Asian Games Golf Gold medallists Chinese Taipei.

China’s Cheng Jin picked up a second major amateur Asian prize within a month with scores of 67, 69, 70 and 69 (-13) winning the individual prize in Abu Dhabi. The 2015 winner of the Asian Pacific Amateur Championship Jin commented: “This was a good tournament for me personally but I am disappointed for my team. I am excited for April 2016 as I will live every golfer’s childhood dream by playing at the US Masters at Augusta National following my victory a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed playing Abu Dhabi this week and I hope that I will come back soon to play in the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.”

The UAE finished 20th in the Tournament but 3rd behind Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in the GCC participants. Head Coach Greg Holmes was pleased overall: “The Emirates Team players performed well in hard conditions.”

UAE Captain Khalid Mubarak Al Shamsi was also pleased: “We need to remain realistic with our ambitions. We are scoring better than in previous Nomura Cups, so that’s good. We have two juniors in our team and they are learning which is important.”

“Ahmed Skaik, our youngest team member, was 3 under through 3 on the final day. For us, this is great. Our team is improving and learning to play better in high pressure tournaments and I am happy for the future.”

Skaik, only 18, learned a lot at Yas Links Abu Dhabi: “I thrived on the experience this week. I shot 4 back to back rounds in the 70s, which I have never done before in a tournament. It was a great learning experience for the future. ”