Captain’s Profile

Shk. Abdulla Al Khalifa

Abdulla joined the Club in 2020 just when Covid started after being unable to play the game he loves, which is football with all football pitches being closed. This was the longest time Abdulla can remember not touching a football. One of his friends suggested to come and try out golf and he didn’t expect golf to be such a challenging sport. He wasn’t pleased with his own golfing ability and decided to become a Member, where he has spent a lot of time playing and practicing on a daily basis.

What Abdulla loves about the game of golf is the social aspect of it, and how you can meet new people every time you play. The struggle that you go through in every round with your fellow group of Members can really build a wonderful relationship that can last a lifetime. Abdulla has met and has made countless life-long friends from the game of golf and can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Lauga Sigfusdottir

Lauga is from a small village on the east coast of Iceland where there are only 1300 people.She studied Law and Languages as well as Spanish Culture in university of Iceland and university of Alicante.

Having a passion for different cultures and countries, she later joined the airlines as cabin crew for Iceland Air completing 8 years.

Her main base was Iceland, but she was fortunate to experience life in other bases such as England, Denmark and Sweden.

Lauga moved to Bahrain in 2012 due to her husband’s job in Aviation, where he works for DHL.

Like most expats, they planned to stay in Bahrain for 3-5 years, but almost 11 years later and counting, it is safe to say they like it here.

Although there are four kids in Lauga’s family, Arnina, Thora, Elva and Sebastian, three have fled the nest. Elva and Arnina are in Iceland, Thora is in Dallas and Sebastion who is the youngest still lives and schools here in Bahrain.

Sport has always been a passion of Lauga’s, apart from being a massive Liverpool supporter, she was also a competitive sports person herself.

From her childhood into her late teens, she was very involved in playing sport such as, football, volleyball and Handball and swimming.

During covid she decided to take up Golf, she had no idea she would have such a passion for the sport. Lauga fell in love with the game, the socializing and fun that comes with it.

Having invested so much of herself into the sport and the social side of it, she is so proud and honoured to be chosen as this year’s Captain.

Lauga is excited for the DP tour which is coming to Bahrain this year and looking forward to over coming any challenge that she may face.

This year will be a great year for the club and all its members.

Salman Riaz

Salman, a 57-year-old banker, was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. He began his professional career in Karachi, working for a multinational bank. After spending 18 years in Karachi, he discovered his passion for golf in 1997, which quickly became his primary sport, surpassing his previous hobbies of squash and basketball.

In 2008, Salman took an assignment in Egypt, where he played his first Troon course, Algeria. This experience exposed him to the impeccable standard and franchise of great golf courses. Later, in 2016, he moved to Bahrain for another work assignment. During his time in Bahrain, he joined RGC (Royal Golf Club) and continues to enjoy playing there every weekend, even during the summer months.

Now that his children have left for university after studying at St. Christopher’s, Salman and his wife find themselves as empty nesters. He is thrilled and honored to have been chosen as the vice captain and eagerly looks forward to supporting the club and its members. Additionally, Salman is excited about the DP World returning to RGC, which will provide him with the opportunity to witness top golfers up close and enjoy a world-class experience.

Maliha Syed

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Maliha grew up amongst a large family where her childhood was spent playing a variety of sports with her cousins and neighbors. As a result of her competitive nature, she managed to become good at most sports she played, including squash, badminton, cricket and netball.

Maliha obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the Lahore University of Management Sciences after which she went to London, England to pursue her dream of becoming a certified patisserie chef at Le Cordon Bleu, a World Class French Cullinary Institute. She also has a Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Sussex. After completing her Master’s, she went back home and joined her family’s telecom business. She never gave up on her dream and eventually ventured out and opened her own all-day dining and dessert cafe called Cheeky Joe’s. She poured her heart and soul into making her business a success with eight franchices launched across mutiple citites in Pakistan.

In 2012, she met her husband, Ahmad, and was forced to sell her business to move to Kenya to follow his work. Just about a year later they moved to Johannesburg where Maliha was introduced to the best sport of all time, golf. It started off as trying to spend time together with her husband on the weekends, but after the first time she beat him she realized how much she loved the game and started playing more regularly.  Maliha eventually become a core part of the Bryanston Golf & Country Cub’s womens team and won several individual and team awards. 

Maliha has two beautiful daughters, Selina and Minahil. In November of 2018, Maliha, Ahmad and the girls had to say goodbye to South Africa and moved to Toronto in 2018, close to her parents and sister. Due to Covid, Maliha got the chance to play a lot more golf and improve her game.  After 4 short years in Toronto, they moved to Bahrain in 2022. Maliha joined the Royal Golf Course in November 2022 and In a very short time developed good relations with most members and staff. Maliha was happy to have been asked to take on the responsibility of becoming the Lady Vice Captain. She is excited to support her Club and encourage more women playing and becoming a part of RGC.