Mashreq February Medal Championship at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club
The February Mashreq Medal Championship took place this past weekend at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. The new series has proved to be a huge success with 200 players taking part in the opening two events. Before the start of play, the field gathered to watch the traditional ‘Driving-In’ ceremony of the new 2013 Club Captains, Mr. George Horan and Mrs. Maureen Platt. They both showed great nerve as they took to the tee and confidently struck each of their shots straight down the middle of the 1st fairway and received a warm applause from the supporting crowd.
Mark Bishop also seemed to be striking the ball with confidence as he fired a superb net 62 which crowned him Mashreq Medal winner by a massive 8 shots. After being presented his prize Mr. Bishop commented; “It was a very enjoyable day and I’m happy to have won. My golf seemed to come together today; I was hitting fairways and making putts. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved from the Creek, Mashreq, and BMW for organizing such a great event and I look forward to playing many more of them in the future.”
Alok Pant also showed good form with a 1-under par net 70 to take 1st place in Men’s Division A. Stephen Clarke and Michael Nielsen both made level-par net 71, but Clarke’s strong finish saw him take the runner-up spot on a better inward half. Another net 70 came from Mitseh Desai, and this secured him top spoils in Men’s Division B by two shots over Haridas Kondath who finished with a net 72.
New Ladies Captain Maureen Platt had a dream start to her Captaincy year, as she fired a solid 1-over par net 72 to take the Ladies Division title. Mark Williams continued his recent form and took the overall gross prize with a 2-over par score of 73. Fardeen Meeran stormed the Junior Division with a fantastic net 65.
It was birdies galore from Stephen Clarke, Neil Taylor, Paul King, Alok Pant, Bharat Ghodkindi, Jai Bhalla and Miki Mirza who were all winners in the 2’s Club. Pascal Bartette and Tony Hutchinson were rewarded for their sound judgement off the course as they correctly guessed the yardages for the Captains Drive-In’s.
At the prize presentation ceremony Mashreq’s Vice President & Head of Mashreq Gold, Mr. Caetan Fernandes commented; “It’s wonderful to see such a successful reception to this event. Having not been in Dubai very long either it is a great pleasure to see such great golfing facilities here at Dubai Creek. On behalf of Mashreq I would like to say thank you to all of you for participating in these events and I look forward to being a part of their continued success in the coming years”.
