Scotland’s Richie Ramsay produced a blistering ten under par 62 over the Yas Links Golf Cub to win the 2012 Emirates Airline Invitational hosted by Abdulh Al Naboddah today.
Ramsay topped the field of 50 European Tour players in the pro-am event in Abu Dhabi, which helps raise money for a number of charities including the Tour Players Foundation along with Friends of Cancer Patients, the UAE Down Syndrome Association, the Special Care Centre Abu Dhabi. The Gala dinner following the Invitational was aiming to raise over$250,000 through a charity auction.
Bathed in glorious sunshine, the Yas Links Golf Club provided the ideal setting for the gathering of European Tour champions, celebrities and international businessmen. The Kyle Phillips-design, reminiscent of Kingsbarns, certainly met with the approval of Scot Ramsay.
“To shoot 62 in one of the best fields you are ever going to see in the world is fantastic,” said Ramsay, who prize includes a $50,000 donation to a charity of his choice. “It’s great you can put some money back to charities. I’ll be donating it to Help for Heroes, which does a tremendous job with guys who come back from serving their country, and Cornerstone, a Scottish charity I was asked to be Patron of a few years ago that works with people with disabilities in Scotland to make their life a little easier. Hopefully that will be a big boost for them.”
Ramsay started his round in blistering fashion with a front nine of 29, the highlight being a 35 foot putt for eagle on the seventh. “There was a lot of good in there and I kept the momentum going on the back nine. Just a brilliant day and hopefully we can raise more tonight through the auction”
Ramsay finished three ahead of Richard Finch and Thorbjorn Olesen in a field that also included Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell, last year’s champion Retief Goosen – who made a hole-in-one on the eighth – and Ryder Cup Captains past and present Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal in a star line-up.
“Every guy teeing up is a European Tour player and the majority a champion and it’s a great boost to get a win under your belt against a field of this quality.”
