Sana Tufail came in from the cold and celebrated the New Year by winning the first Audi Medal Event of the Year at Yas Links Golf Club with a solid one-under par 71.

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Adjudged the ‘The Lady Amateur Golfer of the Year’ at the 2014 MEGAs last month, Sana showed her mettle with two fine rounds of 69 and 71 on the first two days of the year over perhaps the most challenging course in the region.

In fine form despite a four-month moratorium from the game as she changes her university in the USA, a delighted Sana said: “It was great to be back playing competitive golf.

"I hit the range and played a few practice rounds as soon as I got off the plane and it was really great to hit balls again.”

Sana, who won the EGF Ladies Order of Merit for the last three years, is currently a student at Tulsa but will be transferring to Vanderbilt University.

Scratch player Ricus Lehmkuhl posted a fine challenge with a gross 72 only to be piped in both net and gross, with Randy Bradley taking net honours with a 71 in division A.

In Division B (Handicap 13-28), Tim Taylor’s net 67 won him the top honours by a massive margin of five shots over Joshua Herron.

Salem Dasmal bags first Mashreq Medal of new season

A new season of the Mashreq Medal Championship got underway at the Majlis course recently and Salem Dasmal, with a one-under par 71 round, secured early bragging rights in Division A of the popular tournament which is co-sponsored by BMW and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Dasmal, who started on hole 10, birdied the 14th and 18th holes to set up a winning round. He was one better than Tony Azoulay and Humayun Shahryar, with the latter taking the runners-up place after a countback. Shahryar made six pars and a birdie over the final nine holes.

However, Azoulay took the honours for the lowest gross of the day for his 75 which included birdies at the second, 10th and the tricky 15th.

The B Division (handicap 11-20) was closely contested with one point separating the top-three players. The winner Imran Qayyum claimed back-to-back medal in the tournament with a net 69, followed by Ishu B Rupani and Sammy Eldin.

New Year joy for Bird and Stewart at Al Hamra

Callum Bird and Terri Stewart began their New Year perfectly by winning their respective divisions in the annual New Year’s Cup at Al Hamra Golf Club.

Callum won the Men’s division after carding a staggering 44 points. With identical nines of 22 points including net eagles on Holes 10 and 18, he finished a massive eight points ahead of his nearest competitor Dave Hoggins.

The steady Dave carded a level-par round of 36 points, one better Paul Joseph on 35 points, who took the third place after beating Luca Carstanjen in a countback.

Stewart had a much closer battle in the Ladies division, winning by one point after her round of 35 points. She began well with 19 points on her outward nine, but let it slip on the inward nine managing just 16 points including a triple bogey seven on the 10th hole.

Diana Brown and Annette Carstanjen both scored 34 points and were placed second and third respectively.

Turlik trio just too strong at Titleist New Year Scramble

The family trio of Chris, Alex and Rosemary Turlik played some great golf to dominate the annual Titleist New Year’s Day Scramble at Emirates Golf Club.

Eighty competitors took part in this fun event over the Faldo Course, but none came close to the Turliks, who finished with a fantastic score of 57.1 after making 11 birdies in a bogey-free round.

Runners-up were the team of elite juniors, represented by Zubin Chandra, Rayhan Thomas, Bradley Mogire and Vaughn Reed. The juniors also had a bogey-free round with 11 birdies and an eagle on hole 13. They posted a gross 59, but due to their low handicaps, only deducted 0.7 strokes to sign for a net 58.3.

The team of Naresh Bhambhaney, Komal Sharma, Sameer Joshi and Bhupesh Sharma were third with net 60.1.