Shanghai: From monthly medals to Best Partner Cups to the upcoming year-end grand finale to determine the club’s first champion, Silport members are never wanting for tournaments to test their competitive resolve.

At the 2008 Shanghai Silport Golf Club Membership Invitational, an event when club members could bring out their guests, 49 players tested their competitive nature under sunny and hot conditions over the North and West courses.

With the weather so hot to the point where it could be dangerous to players, Silport made sure everyone involved was in the best of care through the presence of two trainers from SinoUnited Health, a U.S.-based health training organization.

Prior to their shotgun start, the trainers put the players through a series of exercises designed to help people avoid injury while golfing. In addition to stressing the need to drink plenty of water during their round, the competitors were treated to iced cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon and chilled towels to raise their comfort levels.

Playing under the New Peoria scoring system, Qin Guorong played to his 8.4 handicap and shot an 80 to win the low gross champion title. Hyung Hahn, a 14.4 handicap, shot an 84 for a low nett 69.6, just ahead of Chen Shichun (69.8) and Yang Fanglin (70.4). Xu Qiping was the ladies nett champion as the 26.4 handicap shot a 97 for a low nett 70.6.

Other honors on the day saw Gao Dinggui (240 yards) and Lie Jie (207 yards) each win a long drive, while Jiang Ruichang (three feet) and Jurgen Fritz (11 feet) had the nearest-the-pin prizes.

Among the Lucky 7 winners were Cai Xinxiong, Aymeric Chandavoine, Ron Marwick, Mal Djalali and a Ms Li.

Qin Wenyi provided proof that it’s never wise to leave a tournament early when his name was the second to be drawn in the lucky draw after the first person drawn, Xu Fengxian, had gone home. For his patience, Qin received a business-class, round-trip ticket between Shanghai and Seoul.