Starting from the first hole of the Faldo course, he got off to a shocking start by dropping two shots but revived the situation with some fine golf.

He went on to tear the difficult back nine apart by recording an eagle three on the 489-yard 10^th and picked up birdies on the 12^th, 13^th and 17^th holes.

His inward half of 32 gave him a 3-under gross tally of 73 and nett 66. Hendry completed his round in the morning and must have thought the gross medal was his. However, Joel Neale matched his tally of 70 in the afternoon and his back nine of 32, 5-under par.

Hendry’s better back 6 holes gifted him the honour of best gross and best nett of a 94-strong field.

Tony White produced one of his best performances at Emirates Golf Club with a nett 67 to take runners-up place in Division A (handicap 0-10). Andrew Robinson, another player in fine form, signed for a 70 to take third place.

Vijay Devnani clinched a 3-stroke victory in Division B (handicap 11-19) following his nett 69, with A.E Ravi and Alan Salem taking the second and third places respectively after returning rounds of 1-under par 72.