Kamte, Shrivastava and Rohini Chatterjee are winners at Royal Ranthambore BT Golf Mumbai leg

Tight competition marked the Mumbai (second) leg of Royal Ranthambore BT Golf’s 2024-25 silver jubilee edition at the historic Willingdon Sports Club on Friday, with the 0 to 14 handicap competition being the closest as Karan Kamte edged out Navnit Group CEO John Wilcox by the narrowest of margins, 41 points to 40.

Rohini Chatterjee topped the Ladies section with 34 points while Rajeev Shrivastava with 39 points won the 15 to 24 handicap event ahead of runner-up Gaurav Sahgal of HSBC India who tallied 37 points in the Stableford scoring system in use through the season.

Union minister of state for information technology and cultural affairs. Ashish Shelar, was the day’s chief guest and gave away the prizes to the winning participants while BCCI senior selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar, a keen golfer, was an enthusiastic participant.

The event saw corporate czars, movers and shakers from state and city governance, business high-flyers and a sizeable ladies field vying for the several attractive spot prizes as well.

Sohel Lalvani walked away with the Radico straightest drive on Hole 1, the ball stopping five inches off the line down the centre of the fairway while Nikhil Bardia won the IOCL closest to pin competition on Hole 2 with a tee shot that stopped eight feet away from the flag.

Anuj Mohan Singh was the winner of the Bandhan Small Cap closest to pin prize on Hole 6 landing the ball four feet and five inches from the pin and Karan Mohta blasted the ball a mighty 310 yerds to win the Bandhan Large Cup on Hole 7. The Bandhan Mid Cap straightest drive prize went to Vihang Nair (13 inches off the centre line) on Hole 11.

Anjali Patel drive the ball an impressive 270 yards to annex the Radico longest drive prize on Hole 17 and Pranay Singh was the winner of the Radico closest to pin competition, finishing 5 feet, seven inches from his target.

Alongside the tournament itself, the increasingly-popular putting clinic was held capped by a keenly-contested putt-off competition amongst the participants.

The seven-city silver jubilee season of BT Golf runs till March 2025 and is co-powered by IndianOil XP100, with Bandhan Mutual Fund as investment partner, Morris Garages driving the event, Sunteck as real estate partner and GMDC as associate partner.

Commencing in 1996 as a standalone single-city Pro-Am, BT Golf evolved into India’s most-desired corporate/celebrity golf event and Friday’s event was a magnet for Mumbai’s movers and shakers. A field of close to a hundred golfers teed it up and partied happily on the 19th hole when the golf had ended.

Also teeing it up were Tata Consulting Engineers MD and CEO Amit Sharma, UBS Securities India head Mihir Doshi, Devashish Das of Kotak Investment Advisors, S3K CMD S.K. Agrawal, Allcargo Logistics chairman S.K. Shetty, Ajay Chauhan of Parle Products, Bank of America’s Sudhir Jain, Marico Industries CMD Harsh Mariwala, and Akasa Air founder and CEO Vinay Dube.

Other corporate bigwigs include Rachit Modi of Lakshmi Board and Paper Mills, Ketan Desai of Grey Worldwide, HDFC Bank’s Sumit Yagnik, ICS Group chairman Deepak Premnarayen, Sudhir Patel of Essex Property and Investments, and Anandini Financial’s Rajbir Singh,

Strokeplay Prizes

0-14 Handicap – Karan Kamte 41 points (Winner); John Wilcox 40 points (Runner-Up)

15-24 Handicap – Rajeev Shrivastava 39 points (Winner); Gaurav Sahgal 37 points (Runner-Up)

Ladies – Winner: Rohini Chatterjee, 34 points

Spot Prizes (Overall)

Hole 1 – Radico Straightest Drive: Sohel Lalvani, 5 inches off the line

Hole 2 – IOCL Closest to pin: Nikhil Bardia, 8 feet

Hole 6 – BANDHAN SMALL CAP Closest to Pin: Anuj Mohan Singh, 4 feet, 5 inches

Hole 7 – BANDHAN LARGE CAP Longest Drive: Karan Mohta, 310 yards

Hole 11 – BANDHAN MID CAP Straightest Drive: Vihang Nair, 13 inches off the line

Hole 17 – Radico Longest Drive: Anjali Patel, 270 yards

Hole 18 – Radico Closest to Pin: Pranay Singh, 5 feet, 7 inches