Sim’s Captains Day a Great Success a the Emirates Golf Club

Mike Sim’s Captains today was well received by the 115 competitors that played in a Pro-Am Scramble format. Each team consisted of four members and a PGA Professional from the region. Despite teams teeing off from the Black Championship tees for most of the tournament there was some fantastic scoring.

The quintet of Andy Matthews (EGC Professional), Johnny Aldridge, Steven Jones, Paddy McGrath and Cameron Bellman came out on top with a fabulous score of 57.2, a gross 60 over the par 72 Majlis course. All competitors stated their round from the blue tees, a birdie resulted in them dropping back a tee box and a bogey allowed them to come forward. The runners-up, by a slender 1.3 strokes, were Steven Deane (EGC Professional) Paul Byrne, Rory McDonald, Bill Ayres and Brian King following their 58.5. James Shippey, Director of Golf from Al Badia, captained his team to of Dave Duguid, Rohit Gupta, Gordon Wingate and Alistair McMillan to third place after signing for a tally of 58.6.

Mike Sims team (not eligible for the prizes) carded a fantastic 56.7 after great play from Tom Barry, Ritchie Sim, Mohsin Altajir and tour professional Ross Bain.

The day started with the final of Simbo’s Skills Challenge, this was the captain’s version of Big Break, which commenced in November with the top 10 making the final. In a keenly contested finale that involved a bunker shot, chipping challenge, putting, a 120yard approach and a lob shot it was Charlie Stricklin that came out on top with 56 points. Trevor Belcher was second on 38 with Kuttan Mallatiri in third on 26 points. Paul Byrne represented sponsors ABB admirably by scoring an impressive 78 points.

The traditional Captains drive in saw Mike beat his season opening drive by 23 yards with a 229 yard tee shot. Roger Cornwell guessed correctly and won the prize on offer.

NEAREST THE PIN
HOLE # 4            :    Lars Ohlsson
HOLE # 11            :    Wayne Foster
HOLE # 15            :    Paddy McGrath
HOLE # 7            :    Steven Deane                                                    
STRAIGHTEST DRIVE
HOLE # 1            :    Amresh Sangani
HOLE # 12            :    Kamal Kosta

With food and beverages on the course the day was topped off with a cabaret performance from the golf course maintenance team and Trevor Varri completed the entertainment.