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They came from all points of the compass, 52 club golfers from as far afield as Chile and the Czech Republic, Italy and Ireland, Spain and Scotland, Korea and Qatar.
Twenty-four nations in all and it was the man with one of the shortest journeys of all, Doha-based American Rodney 'Wedge' Louison who took the title in Bahrain to become a 'world champion' in his own right.
Louison has this week been reliving his success at the World Final of the Volvo World Golf Challenge at the Royal Golf Club ... and making up for the disappointment of losing out on countback in the amateur pro team competition on the final Saturday of Bahrain's maiden European Tour event.
But it was a close thing once again, the Qatar-based expat winning on countback with 68 Stableford points from his second round playing partner William McManus of the UK, who took second place with the same score, with Gisela Persson in third just a single point back on 67.
"I am a self-confessed 'golf nut' and winning the Volvo World Golf Challenge is a huge thrill," said oil services superintendent Louison. "It was a very close run thing with William (McManus) pushing me all the way and the fact we were in the same group made it even more exciting."
'Wedge' had lost out to another Brit, Kevin Ahrene in the Amateur Pro Team Competition, but only because the Englishman's team mates Paul Casey and Darren Clarke had the marginally better professional score to his playing partners Christian Nilsson and David Horsey.
"That was a bit disappointing," reflected Louison, "but this more than makes up for it. I am extremely proud to have been able to represent the United States as well as my adopted home of Qatar and to have taken the title and the magnificent trophy back to Doha."
Asked if he will be back in Bahrain early next year to defend his world title, the veteran, at 60 the senior citizen in the field, said: "You bet! Wild horses would not stop me revisiting the scene of such a momentous occasion."
The final field of 52 had started out with over 50,000 club golfers playing over 150,000 rounds of golf around the world, between them striking over 12million golf shots with a single aim in mind - to book a seat on the plane to Bahrain.
Volvo Event Management - Golf president Per Ericsson said: "To have got the field down from the 50,000-plus who started out, first to the 52 players who qualified for the World Final in Bahrain and now to have the champion of the world unveiled is a great sensation."
Leading lady was Gisela Persson from Sweden, who finished a creditable third behind Louison and McManus; playing off seven, she carded the round of the world final, a fine 39 Stableford points in the second and final round, having scored just 28 on the opener.
"It was a great round of golf and I thoroughly enjoyed it," she said. "It was not just the golf but the entire occasion, on course, off course, it was just like being in a golfer's paradise."
