Salem’s, Charlet and Sfeila Clinch Season Opener at Emirates Golf Club
The 2013-2014 season officially teed off yesterday with 128 members competing in a 4-ball team shamble competition.
The day commenced with the traditional ceremonial tee shot from the incoming captain. Past Captain Moshe Kohli handed the reins and the Captains green jacket to Dick Purchase who despite the pressure of 128 pairs of eyes dispatched his tee shot 234 yards down the first fairway. Ian Scott guessed the yardage exactly and won a bottle of champagne. Unfortunately Barbara Head, the new ladies captain, couldn’t make the season opener but did officially start the Ladies season on Monday at their season opening event.
The quartet of Alan Salem, Soumaya Salem, Marc Charlet and Rabih Sfeila followed their victory in the Pro’s Day two weeks ago with another triumph, this time by a three shot margin. The team captained by Alan Salem has taken a liking to the shamble format and Alan, a 13 handicapper, contributed on 12 holes including eight net birdies. The team combined well with Soumaya, Marc and Rabih all helping the team on eight holes a piece.
Moshe Kohli, Ramesh Prabhakar, Surabhi Prabhakar and Baraj Singh Kohli produced an excellent score of 120 to take runners-up place. One shot further back and in third was the team of Martha Wong, Bill Wong, Naima Maya and Tej Chhabra. A count back on the last six holes separated them from Maura Duggan, Frank Duggan, Saeed Fahim and Paul Byrne. The count back calculation was helped significantly by the highlight of the day that saw Bill Wong record a fabulous hole in one on the 178-yard par three fifteenth hole, a tremendous effort on arguably the hardest short hole on the course. Bill also rang the bell in the spike bar during the prize giving, kindly offering each one of his fellow members a celebratory drink. In two mixed events now we have had two hole in ones, who will be next at the Aldobowi Emirates Mixed Amateur Open on 25th and 26th October?
Also in the prizes were Surabhi Prabhakar, Rosemary Turlik, Patrick Mulligan and Bill Wong for their accuracy on the nearest the pin prize holes. Ian Scott won the long drive honors on the par five third.
