Slowdown swing

A misty dawn gave way to a cloudless morning, as some of Bangalore's best-known corporates took a break from incessant chatter on the slowdown for a relaxed round of golf. The Business Today-Honda Pro-Am of Champions got off to a rousing start amidst all the economic uncertainty. Eighty-four golfers gathered at the Eagleton Golf Resort outside Bangalore to compete on a stableford format.

Corporate composition at the event was as varied as Eagleton's course. Doctors and senior government functionaries mingled with corporate honchos as the event teed off in India's IT capital. The scoring was on a stableford format with handicaps reduced to three-fourths. Eagleton saw several experienced golfers hit the course, including previous winner David D'Souza, K.S. Kim of Samsung, Anees Ahmed of Mistral, Vignesh Hebbar of Marlabs Software and Vivek Nagarkatti of Hewlett-Packard Global e-business Operations.

There were big prizes to play for. A Honda CRV was the biggest of them all, on hole 17, for a golfer hitting a hole-in-one. Sadly, that prize was to remain tantalisingly out of reach. Riddled with difficult water hazards and tricky sand traps, Eagleton is seen as the most complete course in Bangalore.

There were other 'spot prizes' on offer such as the Ethos Closest to Pin (Hole 2), the Honda Longest Drive (Hole 18) and the Business Today Straightest Drive (Hole 3). M.K. Aiyappa won a Baume & Mercier watch from Ethos Summit for the highest Gross Birdies. After a nail-biting round, the team of Sunil Kunte, Chetan Meda, Ravi Shankar & K.N. Bhatt, with 100 points squeaked through ahead of Alok Malik, Vivek Verma and M.K. Aiyappa. While the runnersup won a trophy, Greg Norman Overnight bags and Pinky Vodka, the winners snapped up trophies, Greg Norman Duffle bags and a bottle of Whyte & Mackay. The winner in each category will get a chance to play at the national finals in Delhi. The individual winners in the handicap categories 0-8, 9-16 and 17-24 were Chetan Meda, Vivek Verma and Shankar Suryanarayan, respectively. They get to travel to Delhi and compete in the Pro-Am finals.

Participants were fulsome in their praise for the event and the course. "This is an excellent course," said Sandeep Kulahalli, Business Head, Overseas Retailing Services, Titan Industries. "The event was ideal for building and developing business relationships." It wasn't only the local companies that occupied centre stage. For example, Gordon W. Robinson, Managing Director, Timken Engineering and Research India, was one of a sprinkling of expats to arrive early on a Saturday morning for a relaxed round of golf. "This was my first opportunity to play in Bangalore and it was a relaxed 4-5 hours away from the office," he said after his round. Devapriya Guha of Accenture said it was a good opportunity to play with some old friends and make new ones.

Business Today and Honda Siel Cars are the co-title sponsors for the event and ITC Welcomgroup is the associate sponsor. The liquor sponsor is Whyte & Mackay, equipment sponsor is Cleveland Golf, the official timekeeper and prize sponsor is Ethos Summit, fitness partner is Fitness First and the official golf magazine is Golf Digest India.