Summer – Issue #13 @dubaicreekgolf #dubaicreekgolf
EDITORIAL, BY PAULA SAVAGE….. Temperatures and humidity are rising, yes, summer is well and truly here! But the golf goes on. There are still some exciting competitions to be played over the coming months, whilst June sees the start of some fabulous summer golf promotions, so if it’s too hot for you to play, why not sign up for some lessons so that you come back in September ready for action?! Congratulations to the Creek Men’s Scratch League Team for winning the recent 2-leg final against Jumeirah Golf Estates. Champions for three years in a row now for Team Captain John Fellingham and his team, a truly great achievement. Congratulations also to the Creek Ladies Inter Club Team who made it, once again, to the final but sadly finished runners up to Emirates Golf Club, who made the most of their home advantage, playing on the Faldo Course! However, it was a great season, the Creek ladies played some amazing golf to win their league and with the new look team, it’s fingers crossed we can get our hands back on the ICC trophy next season! It’s been a very challenging time recently for the golf course maintenance team and there have been a few moans and groans around the Clubhouse about the condition of the course these past few months, so it’s good to hear from Matthew Perry, Course Supertintendent, for an update on the issues faced and what we can expect over the summer and into the new season. By the time we go to print, the Holy Month of Ramadan will be upon us and so Ramadan Kareem to all who observe this very special time in the Islamic year. Once again the QD’s Ramadan Tent will be offering the flavours and traditions of Ramadan in their ideal setting overlooking the Dubai Creek, every evening during the Holy Month. For football fans, June also sees the kick off of the 2016 European Championships in France. You can catch all the action live in Lakeview from 10th June to 10th July with a whole host of food and beverage promotions on offer whilst you cheer on your team. Have a great summer - if you are travelling, safe journey; if you are staying local, do come and take advantage of some of the wonderful promotions, both on the course and off, here at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. Until next time, keep calm and stay cool…..
SCRATCH LEAGUE 2016
LADIES SECTION END OF SEASON
Congratulations to the Dubai Creek team on winning the UAE Scratch League 6-2 against Jumeirah Golf Estates. That’s three wins in a row for Team Capt John Fellingham and his team!
It was with sadness that we had to say farewell to one of our very popular Ladies this month, Daniela Sacchini. Daniela has been a huge supporter of the ladies section over the past 4 years, playing (and winning!) regularly in our Wednesday competitions, her consistent 36points tally meant she was a valuable member of the Ladies Inter Club team and together with her husband Giovanni, Daniela was also a regular player in competition at the weekends. We will miss her but we wish Daniela and her husband the very best of luck in the future as they return home to Milan. Grazie e Ciao Bella!
GOLF ROUND UP OMA EMIRATES MEDAL CHAMPIONSHIP April edition of the OMA EMIRATES Medal Championship saw Alok Pant storm to a 3 shot victory after an outstanding 4 under par 67. In Division A, it was Ishwar Jodha winning with an excellent 1 under par score of 70. Finishing Runner-Up to Ishwar, just one shot further back, was Stephen Barker after a superb level par back 9 of 36. In Division B, Paul Khoo stole the show with a 1 over par 72, whilst Dubai Creek’s very own Club Captain, Patrick Morrow, claimed the Runner-Up spot after a fine 2 over par score of 73. Max Burrow claimed the Best Gross once again with a score of 74, whilst in the Senior Division, Barry Henderson retained his title after a score of 76. In the Ladies Division Maureen Platt claimed top honours with a 1 over par 72. The Creek Club Captain’s new prize for Last Place in the monthly medals went to Charles Jones, who has kindly been given a complimentary golf lesson from Dubai Creek’s superb PGA Professional, Jack Woods.
May edition of the OMA EMIRATES Medal Championship saw Salem Bin Dasmal not only crowned the OMA Emirates Monthly Medal Winner, but also saw him claim some valuable Order of Merit (OOM) points, after a fine round of 68 which gave him a 2 shot victory over the rest of the field. In Division A, only two shots behind Salem, was James Kachel who fired a superb 70 to win the division. Finishing Runner-Up to James was one of the OMA EMIRATES Medal Championship’s most consistent performers this season, Dhruv Chopra. Dhruv managed a solid score of a level par 71 to move him up to 3rd on the OOM standings. In Division B, Mohammed Al Musharrekh beat Arshad Waheed on a better inward half, meaning the pair claimed the division’s Winner and Runner-Up prizes respectfully. Bayhaan Lakdawala claimed the Best Gross prize after a round of 72, whilst in the Senior Division, Barry Henderson claimed the main prize for the 3rd month in a row. In the Ladies Division Glory Xavier claimed top honours with a 4 over par 75. This month’s Club Captain’s prize for Last Place in the medal went to Vinay Mehra, who won a complimentary golf lesson from Creek Professional Jack Woods.
SOFITEL LADIES MONTHLY MEDAL April edition of the Sofitel Ladies Monthly Medal saw Daniela Sacchini get back to winning ways by claiming top honours after a solid round of 1 over par 72 to cruise to a comfortable 2 shot victory. Maureen Platt and Sandra Anderson were Daniela’s closest competitors, after fine rounds of 74 to claim the Division A and B winning prizes respectfully. Two of the on course prizes, the nearest the pin in 2 on the 11th hole and the nearest the pin on the 14th were won by Maureen Platt, whilst the nearest the pin on the 8th was won by the competition winner Daniella with the prize for longest drive going to Swati Singh.
May edition of the Sofitel Ladies Monthly Medal saw a stunned Paula Savage crowned champion after a fantastic round of 66, 5 under her course handicap. Paula was 4 under net for her last 5 holes, a fantastic finish to ensure a fine 1 shot victory. Glory Xavier and Bindiya Chopra were Paula’s closest competitors after superb rounds of 67 and 68 to claim the Division A and Division B prizes respectfully. Naema Maya and Glory Xavier swooped all of the on course prizes between them; Naema the nearest the pin on the 8th hole and longest drive on the 4th, and Glory the nearest the pin on the 11th and 14th holes.
DUBAI DUTY FREE JUNIOR MEDAL CHAMPIONSHIP March after recently achieving her EGF handicap, and playing in her first ever competition, it was Hannah Alan who was crowned the champion of March’s Dubai Duty Free Junior Medal Championship with a superb net score of 32. Samuel De Souza and Aarnav Nath both scored well, posting scores of 33 and 42 to claim the Boy’s Winner and Boy’s Runner-Up prizes respectfully; whilst a 2 over par gross score of 37 saw Rishi Nair claim the best Gross Prize for the 2nd month in a row. Eshna Bhargava also managed to defend her prize from last month’s medal, winning the Girls Division once again with a superb score of 33.5. One of the most remarkable scores of the day was by the young Shreyans Bawker, with a score of 32 to take home the Non-Member Winner’s prize. Shreyans takes part in the Junior Development Programme here at Dubai Creek, and therefore qualifies for free entry into the Dubai Duty Free Junior Medal Championship each month. This 9 hole stroke play series has been very well received since its introduction a couple of years ago, and now with the addition of many UAE National Juniors taking part, the junior series will no doubt continue to grow the game of golf within the region. Our thanks go to Dubai Duty Free for their continued and generous support of our Juniors. April after an impressive score of 32 last month, Shreyas Bawkar fired a superb score of 31.5 to be crowned the champion of April’s Dubai Duty Free Junior Medal Championship. Alex Abouchacra and Aarnav Nath both performed well again this month, posting scores of 35.5 and 36 to claim the Boy’s Winner and Boy’s Runner-Up prizes respectfully. A 1 under par gross score of 34 from Samuel De Souza was enough to claim the Gross Winner prize, whilst Hannah Alan, the Overall Champion of last month’s medal, was the Girl’s Winner with a fine score of 35.5. The Non-Member division, made up of UAE National’s and juniors in the Junior Development Program here at Dubai Creek, was won by Tara Al Marzooqi with a fine score of 41.
DUBAI CREEK GOLF & YACHT CLUB JUNIOR OPEN 2016 – SPONSORED BY TITLEIST Saturday 23th April Once again this event was a great success with over 60 players battling for the title of junior champion and all important points for the EGF Order of Merit Championship. Anastacia Bakal from The Els Club is making quite the name for herself as of late with a string of fantastic performances. Anastacia, the recent Dubai Creek Ladies Amateur Open Champion, produced another fine performance this past weekend, carding a 1 under par 70 to be crowned the 2016 Titleist Dubai Creek Junior Open Champion. Jai Bhalla of Dubai Creek was only a single shot from the overall prize after a fine round of 71. This 71 however was enough to claim the Boys Winner prize whilst Jully Kang was the Girls winner for the day after carding a 76. The net divisions saw some equally impressive scoring; Ali Habib fired a superb net 62 to take the Boys Net Winner with Mattia Sparacino only 2 shots behind with a net 64 as the Boys Net Runner-Up; whilst Jamie Roslyn Camero and Ailsa Brannock were the Girls Net Winner and Runner-Up after scores of 69 and 71 respectfully. Eshna Bhargava and Anastacia Bakal were the girls nearest the pin winners on the 5th and 14th holes, with Arjun Gupta and Adam Savage claiming the same in the boy’s category on the 8th and 16th holes.
THE CAPTAIN’S TROPHY 2016 Friday 29th April marked the 2nd ever Captains Trophy at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club - a tournament designed by the past Dubai Creek captains Joe Ghossoub and Harini White and the Members Consultative Committee in 2015. This exciting competition gives the chance for The Creek members to celebrate the Captaincy of our current captains Patrick Morrow, Vanessa North and Dhruv Nair, whilst letting members enjoy the friendly four man team format of 2 stableford scores to count per hole. Winning this year’s Captains Trophy with an incredible score of 89 stableford points were the team of: Joseph Ghossoub, Adonis Nasr, John Fellingham and Yves Aboukhaled. An outstanding performance highlighted by a very rare eagle 2 on the 18th hole by the Scratch Team captain, John Fellingham. Narrowly missing out on countback and claiming the Runner-Up prize was the team of Joseph Andrade, Kurup Devanand, Farad Lakdawala and Shezad Lakdawala, whilst the team of Sammy Eldin, James McSweeney, Yasser Refai and Bilal Belaid claimed third place with 87 points. After the prize presentation, the Men’s Club Captain Patrick Morrow expressed his gratitude for the support everybody showed the event and the spirit in which it was played. Patrick thanked all of the past captains present for their attendance and continual support, but specifically Joe Ghossoub whose initiative it was to host the event for the first time last year.
BANI YAS TROPHY – DUBAI CREEK V AL BADIA The 6th edition of this popular Match Play event took place in April and with the scores at xxxxxx, the Creek team were in determined mood to get back to winning ways. And win they did, in fact the Creek team smashed it, they didn’t lose a single match, winning 10.5pts to 3.5pts. We eagerly await the return game at Al Badia later in the year and a similar result!
EDEN DHOW QUAICH – DUBAI CREEK V ST ANDREWS April saw the (brief) return of popular former Creek Professional, Craig Waddell, together with a team from his new club, the Duke’s Course, St Andrews, to take on Dubai Creek in what is hoped to be the first of many friendly battles. The format for the day was individual stableford with all scores to count towards the team’s overall score. Home advantage and warm weather (!) saw the Creek run out winners by 261pts to 181pts. There was some exceptional scoring from the home team with Michael Nielsen top scorer on 39pts, followed by Adonis Nasr on 35pts. For St Andrews, top scorer on the day was Hugh Robertson with 29pts, followed by team Capt Sandy Mitchell. Presentation and a leisurely lunch with a dram or two of some fine single Malt was the perfect end to a wonderful afternoon of golf and new friendships – Craig please come back and see us again soon!
JUNIOR MEDAL CHAMPIONSHIP – SPONSORED BY DUBAI DUTY FREE Jacobo Fisas fired a superb score of 30.5 to claim May’s Dubai Duty Free Junior Medal Championship. Both Jahaan Nanavaty and Vihaan Sharma also performed very well this month, posting scores of 34.5 and 35 to be crowned the Boy’s Winner and Boy’s Runner-Up respectfully. 39 was enough for Ali Habib to claim the Gross Winner prize, whilst Hannah Alan made it a hat-trick of wins in the Girls Division, being crowned the Girls Winner the third month in a row. The Non-Member division, made up of UAE National’s, juniors in the Junior Development Program here at Dubai Creek and juniors without an official EGF handicap, was won by Alex Le-Cocq with a fine score of 36.
THE CREEK CUP 2016 - CAPTAIN V VICE CAPTAIN Friday 13th May The Creek Cup was first established, and the cup itself donated, in 2007 by Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Creek’s first appointed captain. The event was originally played as an East vs. West event but has since been adapted into a fiercely competed Captain vs. Vice Captain team match. In the history of the event the Captain’s team are yet to taste victory, which was something that Captains, Patrick Morrow and Vanessa North were looking to fix against their Vice Captain rivals Mansour Khodjasteh and Kristi Sealey. Early on things were looking very positive for the Captain’s team in the quest for their maiden victory. However, going into the back 9 the scoring became a lot closer. The first points on the board came from the Captain’s team, a solid 4&3 victory for Adam and Paula Savage over their Vice Captain opponents Shiba Wahid Khan and club professional, Jack Woods. They were shortly followed by their team Captain’s Patrick Morrow and Vanessa North who had an emphatic 4&2 victory over the Vice Captains Mansour Khodjasteh and Kristi Sealey. However, after some courageous battling from the Vice Captain’s team the tide began to turn and the board started to be filled with the Vice Captain’s blue. Which meant that from the remaining nine matches, six went to the Vice Captain’s team, leaving The Captain’s team empty handed for another year and on the losing end of an extremely close 6 - 5 score line. So, after the completion of another successful and hard fought Creek Cup it is the Vice Captain’s team who continue their impressive winning run. It will be up to future Captains Mansour and Kristi to take their winning formula in to next year’s Creek Cup to try and get some Captain’s red on that trophy.
DUBAI CREEK CORPORATE INVITATIONAL 2016 BY BMW Wednesday 11th May Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club hosted the fifth edition of it’s prestigious Dubai Creek Corporate Invitational by BMW. The event provides a chance for Dubai Creek’s top corporate clients to come together to network and compete in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The invitation list this year consisted of BMW, DUBAI DUTY FREE, G&Co, TAS, 7DAYS, OMA EMIRATES, NEOCASA, CREDENCE and DULSCO. As always, each company was invited to enter a team of eight players to compete in the Pairs Betterball Stableford format with the top 3 pair’s scores making up the overall team score. The G&CO team stormed to a convincing victory with a superb combined team score of 131 points. The team was made up of Dubai Creek’s Club Captain, Patrick Morrow, John Fellingham, Joseph Ghossoub, Adonis Nasr, Bilal Belaid, Yves Aboukhaled, Stephen Barker and Mark Dennehy. The BMW team of Stathis Stathis, Nick Evangelouplous, Bayer Khan, Satnam Kaur, Sandeep Singh, Samiuddin Siddiqui, Gurbax Singh and Rohit Rajvanshi, finished Runners-Up with a very credible team score of 122 points. Thanks to the event sponsor BMW, and all of the events corporate guests, there were a host of on-course competitions and some great prizes up for grabs. Taking the 1st of these was Edward Davies who was awarded for his 336.7 yard drive in the Trackman long drive competition. On the par-3 5th fifth hole it was Graham Field who was awarded for nearest the pin, on the par-3 8th it was Graeme Sneddon and on the par-3 16th it was Stathis Stathis. Great tee shots on the par-4 7th and 12th holes earned Shahin Khodjasteh and Bilal Belaid the longest drive prizes, whilst the challenging 17th hole was the stage for the straightest drive and this was won by Paul Storry. Other on course prizes required good form on a number of shots, nearest the pin in 2 on the 2nd and 18th holes were won by Vivek Sharma and Ishwar Jodha, whilst the nearest the pin in 3 on the 10th hole was won by Charlie Nash.
THE DUBAI GOLF TROPHY 2016 Saturday 21st May Sixteen of the best Amateurs in the UAE had a healthy lead over the top sixteen Professionals in the first day of the Dubai Golf Trophy. The score was 10 points to 6 as they went in to the final round of singles match play at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. The Professionals held a slim lead after the morning foursomes at Emirates Golf Club thanks to victories by Ryan Smith & Captain Matthew Naylor, Jaco Stander & Rory Young and Dubai Creek duo Cennydd Mills & Mike Major. This combined with another three halved games was enough to take a 4.5 - 3.5 lead in to the lunch time break. The amateurs hit the ground running in the afternoon and despite losing the opening game went on to win six of the next eight games and halving the other. Victories for Rayhan Thomas & Miki Mirza, Stephen Loftus & Chris Alderman, Bilbo Perrot & Bayhaan Lakdawala, Craig Vance & Max Burrow, Andrew Smolak & Tiago Lobo and Rakesh Shah & Matthew Baxter put them ahead by 4 points overnight.
Sunday 22th May The Professionals were on course for a fine fight back during the initial period of the singles on Sunday; the final result was however very different, with the Amateurs winning the Dubai Golf Trophy for the first time in nine years, and only the third time in its 17 year history, with convincing 19.5-12.5 score line. Having started the second day four points behind at 10-6, the Professionals won the first game and halved the next three. The next three games then all went the Amateurs way, making the score line after the first 7 games, 8.5-14.5; meaning the Amateurs were only 2 points from victory. With the match between Joe Marshall & Martin Fernandez finishing all square and Bayhaan Lakdawala’s convincing win, it meant young Matthew Baxter went into his final two holes only needing a half for the Amateurs to claim the Dubai Golf Trophy. Matthew holed a 5 foot putt to half the 17th hole ensuring the victory and then went on to win the 18th hole 2UP, ensuring an emphatic score line of 17-11 favouring the Amateurs. An inspiring performance from the Amateurs, where all 16 players in the team contributed at least one point and ensured a remarkable 19.5-12.5 victory. No doubt the Professionals will be practicing hard for next year’s event, as the Dubai Golf Trophy continues to conclude the season of the UAE’s best Amateurs and Professionals in the most enthralling way.
INTER-SOCIETY CHAMPIONSHIP 2016 – SPONSORED BY 1847 Friday 27th May saw Dubai Creek host the fourteenth edition of this prestigious event. It is a chance to bring together the various golfing societies from across the region to compete in some fun and light-hearted competition. The invitation list this year consisted of the DOGFIGHT, SPORT 2 BUSINESS, DUBAI EXPUTTS, JIGGERS, SANDBOX GOLF SOCIETY and LEGENDS GOLF SOCIETY PAKISTAN. Each society team consisted of eight players which would compete in the Pairs Betterball Stableford format with all 4 pair’s scores counting towards the overall team score. After some great scoring from all of the teams in hot and humid conditions, it was the 2014 champions SPORT 2 BUSINESS Team 1, which consisted of Richard Aybar, Simon Earl, Russel Yeomans, Randall Mohammed, OB Sealey, Kristi Sealey, Filip Ranebo and David Minchin who emerged victorious with a superb winning team total of 154 points. It was a superb team effort, with all 4 pairings scoring under par for the day. The SANDBOX GOLF SOCIETY team finished in the runners up position, losing by a single point after scoring a superb total of 153. The stand out performance of the day came in the second placed SANDBOX GOLF SOCIETY team, with Dathan Beasley & Michael Wolff scoring an exceptional nine under par 45 points.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE PROS CENNYDD MILLS When I think of Wales, I think of Sir Tom Jones, Dame Shirley Bassey, men playing with oval balls and unpronounceable town names. Well now let’s add to that list our lovely boyo from the Valleys, Cennydd Mills, (pronounced Kenneth!) who swapped the green green grass of home course Ridgeway (Cardiff) for the desert of Dubai when he joined our team of golf professionals here at the Creek in September of last year. And he’s a busy boy is our Cen, not only teaching here at the Creek but also coaching several professional players too on the various tours, such as Rhys Davies who plays on the European Tour. Rhys and Cen played for Wales together as amateurs and also went to the same university in America, East Tennessee State University. Cen started coaching Rhys about a year and a half ago and after a great year on the Challenge Tour, Rhys got his European Tour card back at the end of 2015. Paul Doherty is a MENA Tour/Challenge Tour player that Cen has coached for several years, who recently played in the Dubai Desert Classic after finishing 3rd on the MENA Tour order of merit in 2015. Faycal Serghini (MENA Tour) is also coached by Cen and has played in many Dubai Desert Classics and most recently Cen has been working with Zane Scotland, who is probably the most prolific winner on the MENA Tour and has competed on the European and Challenge Tour over the past few years. So let’s find out where and how it all started! PS: Where were you born? CM: Born in Cardiff PS: At what aged did you first start playing golf? CM: I got my first golf club when I was 2 but didn’t start having lessons until I was 7. PS: Where is your Home Club? CM: I grew up playing at two clubs, Llantrisant and Pontyclun Golf Club and Vale of Glamorgan Golf Club. PS: How old where you the first time you broke par and on which course? CM: I first broke par when I was 14 playing in the South Wales Boys Championship at Newport Golf Club. PS: Having represented Wales at every level as an amateur, when did you turn professional and at what age? CM: I turned professional in 2006 when I was 24. PS: Which tours did you play on? CM: I played Challenge Tour, Europro Tour, Gateway Tour, Canadian Tour, MENA Tour. PS: When did you decide to become a teaching pro? CM: Even when I was playing tournament golf I always had an eye on coaching and often used to help out my friends who were also professional. It was a natural transition after I stopped playing full time. PS: Which is your favourite golf course/the best course you have played? CM: Royal Birkdale PS: Who would be in your dream fourball? CM: Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Rory Mcilroy, Myself PS: What is your favourite club in your bag? CM: Driver PS: What is your best tip for amateur golfers? CM: Hit it straight and not too often!!! PS: Any other sporting interests away from the golf course? CM: Being Welsh, I am a big rugby fan and never miss a Welsh international game. I’m looking forward to Wales being in the European football championships this summer…. the first major competition for us in 58 years!!! I also support the mighty bluebirds – Cardiff City.
WHO’S FAMOUS ON #SOCIALMEDIA? Did you know that Rory McIlroy tweeted good luck to the Dubai Creek team in the UAE 2016 Scratch League?? The tweet generated 713 likes and 79 shares!