SGS CAPTAINS DAY 2020
On the morning of Friday 31st, January 30 members and guests converged at Trump International Golf Club, Dubai to attend the first annual SGS Captain’s Day. This year’s competition format was a Captain versus Vice-Captain Stableford Matchplay Competition combined with an individual Stableford Competition running concurrently. At Registration, players were greeted with Tea, Coffee, a Bag Tag and a sleeve of Balls before heading off to locate their lockers to find out which team they had been selected for. Following this, the players made their way to the Driving Range area where a Taylor Made SIM Driver Longest Drive Activation Competition against the E-Golf Megastore Professional and a Beat the Professional 100 Yard Chip Shot Challenge Competition hosted by Trump International Golf Club Professional Malcolm Young were arranged. After some impressive drives and wedge shots the players took part in Team and Group Photos before a quick Team Briefing and then it was time for the matches to commence. Teeing off from both the 1st and 10th Tees from 12:10 pm onwards the 15 Captain versus Vice-Captain matches got underway and the individual Stapleford Competition commenced with the following prizes up for grabs:
1. 1st Place: Trophy, 500 AED Egolf Megastore Gift Voucher & TaylorMade Red Line Daytona Putter (Sponsored by Egolf Megastore)
2. 2nd Place: Trophy & 200 AED Egolf Megastore Gift Voucher
3. 3rd Place: Trophy & 100 AED Egolf Megastore Gift Voucher
4. Best Lady Player, 100 AED Egolf Megastore Gift Voucher.
5. 9th Hole Taylor Made SIM Driver Longest Drive Challenge: TaylorMade Golf Stand Bag (Sponsored by TaylorMade / Egolf Megastore)
6. 17th Hole Nearest to the Pin Competition: 1 Dozen Balls (Sponsored by Egolf Megastore)
7. Beat the Pro 100 Yard Chip Shot Challenge: Par 3 Course Voucher for Trump or Emirates Golf Courses
The Captain vs Vice Captain competition was hard fought with the Captian’s Team winning some early holes but it soon became apparent that even after some excellent individual match performances they had been outplayed on the day by a class opposition - I’ll save the depressing score-line until later!
After the matches, the player headed to Stokes for a well deserved cold beverage before a quick shower and change and then made their way to the upstairs area where preparations had been made for the Dinner and Awards Ceremony. Following a few more beverages and some fantastic buffet food the Awards took place. Firstly the individual prize awards were presented and congratulations go to the following players:
1. 1st Prize: Matt Birch – 41 Stableford Points
2. 2nd Prize: Karl Ryan (VC) – 40 Stableford Points
3. 3rd Prize: Stefan Radstrom – 38 Stableford Points (placed on count-back)
4. Best Lady Player: Kate Smith
5. 9th Hole Longest Drive TaylorMade SIM Driver Challenge: Jon Farrell
6. 17th Hole Nearest to the Pin Competition: Dave Scott
7. Beat the Pro 100 Yard Chip Shot Challenge: Tycho Wears
Then it was time for the main event; – the presentation of the Captain’s Day Trophy by the Captain to the Vice-Captain Karl Ryan for the result of the Captain Versus Vice-Captain competition. Congratulations to Karl and his Team for the result of the Stableford Matchplay which was a convincing victory winning by 9.5 to 5.5.
Following the Awards Ceremony, it was time for a few more beverages before a Raffle was conducted with some fabulous prizes up for grabs which included:
1. 1 Qty Helicopter Tourist Flight of Dubai for 2 persons kindly donated by Darren Birch.
2. 2 Qty Friday Evening Brunch Vouchers for 2 persons, kindly donated by Love Party
3. 2 Qty Par 3 Two Ball Vouchers, kindly donated by Trump International Golf Course
4. 1 Qty TaylorMade Practice Stand Bag
After all of this excitement, there was just enough time to enjoy a couple more cold ones before heading home following an action-packed day. My thanks go out to all of the players who took part for making the event both competitive and fun and also to Egolf Megastore for all of their preparation and participation on the day. My thanks also go out to Malcolm, Martin and the rest of the team at Trump International Golf Course for setting up the day and making it such a memorable event for all.