One of the greatest attractions of the erstwhile Nad Al Sheba Golf Club was the number of night golf tournaments it offered.
Thousands of present-day golfers in Dubai credit the club with starting their interest in the game, and then sharpening their competitive skills in tournaments with extremely attractive entry fees.
So, it is heartening to note that The Track, the new Peter Harradine- designed nine-hole golf course which has replaced Nad Al Sheba, has also started thinking on those lines and conducted its firstever Meydan Golf Night Championship recently.
Andrew Stevenson, a regular player at The Track, scored 42 points over 18 holes in the individual stableford event to comfortably beat off the competition from 39 other golfers. Ben Mulvaney came runner up with 38 points, followed by Neil Stacey with 34.
Stevenson also won the nearest to the pin competition on the second hole. The longest drive competition was won by Nick Burton, who hit a 287 yard tee shot on the ninth. Prizes for the winners were donated by Troon, Meydan and Taylormade.
On his victory, Stevenson said: “I play at the Track regularly and it definitely helped that I knew the course. It is a fantastic facility and offers golfers every opportunity to play, from being able to book quickly by email, to the night golf which I do every week on my way home.
“The course itself is excellent. It’s a bit different playing at night, particularly on the greens because they are harder to read, but they are always in perfect nick.”
Tom Rourke, Head Professional at the Track said: “I’d like to thank all the players that took part in our first Meydan Night Gold Championship for making it such a success.
“Floodlit golf is now fully operational at The Track and we will be organising further tournaments throughout 2013 – especially in the summer months.”
XEROX GOLF IS BACK
The Xerox Corporate Golf Challenge, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and is one of the longest-running corporate tournaments in the region, kicks off its 11 qualifying round schedule on February 22 in Bahrain.
The tournament was first launched in 1997 in the UAE and has now spread its wings to every country in the GCC. This year, a new qualifying round has been added in Johannesburg, South Africa, to be played on July 24.
This year, Dubai Golf replace Troon as the new organizers of the tournament, which has Avis Rent a Car and ABB as its main sponsors.
Winners of all qualifying rounds will participate in the grand finals which will be held at the Emirates Golf Club, on October 23.
IN BRIEF:
Mother-son duo reign supreme at Chivas event
Satnam Kaur and Sandeep Singh combined effectively to guide the BMW team to an impressive victory in the Chivas Corporate Challenge, organised by the Indian Golfers Society, at the Address Montgomerie Dubai recently.
The popular mother-and-son team, riding on a gross eagle for a five-pointer by Satnam, carded 42 stableford points to win the annual event. They won an all-expenses-paid trip to Scotland for five days besides attractive Claret Jug-styled trophies.
The Pools by Design team, represented by David Russell and Wayne Connor, finished runners-up on 41 points, one ahead of the Triple Crown Shipping team (Ishwar Jodha and A Ahuja). Viren Varma won the nearest to the pin prize on hole six along with Vinay Mehra (hole 8), Ashok Kumar (13) and Gurjit Grewal (17), while the longest drive prizes went to Kabir (9) and Janish Khurana (12).
Imperious Sehmi wins EGC monthly medal
The February edition of the Ladies Monthly Medal was played on the Majlis Course and Kavita Sehmi dominated the tournament. She had a superb front nine of 34 including a birdie 2 on the fourth hole and a further birdie on the eighth.
This, added to her back nine of 40, gave her victory in both overall gross (74) and also best net in Silver ‘A’ Division (Handicap 0-14) of 70. The ever-consistent Rosemary Turlik took the runners up spot with a net 73 which included a nice birdie on the 11th hole.
In the Silver ‘B’ Division (Handicap 15-23), Hiromi Ohashi took the top honours with a net 72, one shot ahead of SL Rim who finished runner up with a net 73.
Mapatla, Thompson flying high at Etihad Open
The Etihad Open Stableford is becoming a popular event in the calendar of Yas Links Abu Dhabi and each month, the event is going from strength to strength attracting a great number of members and guests.
Prizes, which are in the form of Etihad Guest Air Miles, are divided into two categories – Category A (0-18 Handicaps) and Category B (19-36).
The winner of Category A, with a personal best 42 points was Robert Mapatla. Club captain Abdulla Al Marzooqi took the second place with 41 points, while Kangho Ro was third with 37 points.
In Category B, John Thompson (pictured above with Yas Links staff members) was winner by four points at 42 with Anita Love taking the second place on a countback ahead of Stephen Paul Burnell after both scored 38 points. The next Etihad Open Stableford will be held on Friday, March 8.
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