The third leg of the 20th edition of the LLOYD Business Today Pro-Am of Champions teed off at the Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai, on Friday, January 15, 2016.
Located in the heart of the city opposite the race course and close to the Haji Ali circle, the Willingdon Sports Club is one of the old British era clubs. The golf course was, till recently, a 15-hole course, and in 2011 added another three holes to become a 18-hole layout.
While it is a very short course at only about 4,500 yards, it has its own set of challenges. Tight fairways, hazards galore and fast greens. The course boasts of the highest number of grass bunkers unlike any course in the country and a lot of visiting golfers are often at their wits end when playing.
With only one Par 5 hole, it might be seem like a cake-walk for the pros, but play a round here and you will be surprised with how challenging the course can be.
Played on Stableford format with Double Peoria handicap, the sunny Friday afternoon witnessed some great golfing action with players vying for both individual as well as team prizes.
The winning team comprising Paras Shah (Ace International Corp.), Jayen Ramesh Shah (Fine Organic Industries), Pramod Bhambani (Siemens) and Vivek Kudva (Franklin Templeton), prevailed with a combined score of 81 points.
The team comprising Rahul Divan (Rahul Gautam Divan & Associates), Subrat Mohanty (Hurix Systems), Sharad Kachalia (Navnit Motors) & Prashant Purker (ICICI Venture Funds Management) finished as Runners Up with 80 points.
In the individual prizes, Rahul Divan was the winner with 29 points in the 0-10 handicap category; Rohan Dalwani with 33 points was the winner amongst the 11- 18 handicap category and Pramod Bhambani played a great round for a score of 29 points to win in the 19-24 handicap slot.
The S-Cross, up for grabs for a Hole-in-One on the 18th hole, was nearly claimed by Aman Taragi who missed out narrowly. The 4moles Closest to Pin for the day was won by Navroze Marshall of Simmonds Marshall, while the Nautica Most Stylish Golfer award was won by Vijay Vaid.
Some of the other eminent golfers who participated amongst the corporate bigwigs of Mumbai included Vijay Chauhan, CMD, Parle Products, Ashok Patel, MD, GMM Pfaudler, Ravikanth Konteti, Managing Director, JP Morgan India, Dev Bhattacharya, Business Head, Corporate Strategy, Aditya Birla Group, Kapil Grover, Chairman, Grover Zampa Vineyards, Harshrai C Mariwala, Chairman, Marico, Chirag Doshi, Managing Director, Walchandnagar Industries, Hemant Luthra, Chairman, Mahindra CIE, Jaideep Bhattacharya, MD & CEO, Finplan Finserv, Mahendra Doshi, Chairman, LKP Merchant Financing, and Sudhir M Patel, Managing Director, ABC Bearings Limited.
The day's action culminated with the prize distribution ceremony followed by dinner. The winning team also earned themselves a place in the Pro-Am National finals to be held in Delhi, in March 2016.
LLOYD Electric & Engineering is the co-title sponsor; S-Cross, the 'driven by' sponsor; Nautica, the style partner; 4moles, the digital partner and Creatigies, the marketing partner of the event.