Mumbai's high-fliers tee off

It was 7 A.M. on a Saturday morning at Willingdon Sports Club, Worli-one of two clubs in the city to have a golf course. The club was buzzing with activity, and chockful with the who's who of the corporate world. On this cool morning of January 17, Harsh Mariwala, Chairman & MD of Marico, Kabir Kewalramani, MD of BH Advisors, and V.K. Sethi, Senior VP of Vodafone Essar, among others, were here to participate in the Business Today-Honda Pro-Am Golf Championship 2009.

The tee off was scheduled at 7.30 a.m. and golfers promptly took to the course. The overhead sun didn't seem a bother and the pumping adrenaline and vigour among these business heads playing all the way up to 4 p.m.-making Mumbai the only venue of the championship where the game continued till sundown. It was time to break for lunch and cocktails.

The play's scoring format- Stableford-is specially designed to accommodate both the accomplished and proficient, as well as the not-so-adept amateur golfers. For this event, three distinct handicap categories of 0-8, 9-16 and 17-24 were played alongside a team event-the members for which were chosen randomly.

With the preferred lie rule lifted, the highest scorers in each handicap received prizes and a chance to travel to New Delhi for the finals in March 2009.

Of those who made the cut was Amit Nigam, who scored the highest number of gross birdies (three birdies and an eagle). He won a Baume & Mercier watch from Ethos Summit.

In the individual category-all winners at 33 points each-leading the 0-8 group was Amit Nigam; Pradip Patel led the handicap 9-16, while the 17-24 handicap was won by Satish Gupta. All three individual winners won a bottle of Whyte & Mackay, a Greg Norman travel bag and a free stay at the ITC Hotel, New Delhi. The team events were played on the best three out of four scores since the scores were tied at 84 points. Eventually, the team comprising Satbir Yadav, Gaurang Mahadevia, Puneet Chadda and Chander Uday Singh was declared the runners-up team. They won trophies-Greg Norman overnight bags and bottles of Pinky Vodka. The winning team comprising Akshay Kilachand, Vijay Chauhan, Vikram Sud and Kabir Kewalramani won trophies-Greg Norman Duffle Bags as well as bottles of Whyte & Mackay.

Unfortunately, no player managed a hole-in-one and the Honda CR-V is, therefore, up for grabs at other championship venues. The event culminated with dinner at the ITC Grand Central Hotel, Parel, where the prize distribution ceremony was held. The worthy winners were handed awards by Aseem Kapoor, Publishing Director, Business Today; Munaf Meghani, Zonal Manager, Honda Siel Cars; and Zubin Songadwala, GM, ITC Grand Central.

The event's sponsors include ITC Welcomgroup as associate sponsors, and the prize sponsors were Sun International and South African Airways. The official timekeepers were Ethos Summit. UB Group was the official liquor sponsor and the official magazine was Golf Digest India. Cleveland Golf was the equipment partner and the official fitness partner was Fitness First. The co-title sponsors were Business Today and Honda Siel Cars.