 Silport paid tribute to the people who support the club the most when it hosted its Autumn Membership Invitational for a field of about 140 players in wet conditions.
With a light rain falling on a cold and windy morning, each member was given a complimentary blue Silport vest when registering for the tournament. Staff member then placed a sticker on each player reading ¡°Your smile is our prize¡± to express their appreciation for their support of the club.
With Shanghai Whisky Live bringing in a Dewar promotion bus for the event, club general manager David Chen welcomed the participants, explaining the tournament marked the official re-opening of the Center and East courses since converting all the greens to Bent grass. Chen also announced Silport had once again been honored as one of the top-10 clubs in the country by Golf Digest China.
Playing under a New Peoria scoring format, Xu Jun took advantage of the improving weather as the sun made an appearance by mid-day. The 7.2 handicap showed his prowess off the tee in winning one of the two long-drive prizes on his way to a 78 for the gross champion honor.
Xu Weibiao earned the nett champion prize after the 16.8 handicap shot an 84 for a nett 67.2, just ahead of Japanese member Mr Yoshioka (nett 69.2) and Chen Yin (nett 70.2).
Kaethe Schwerer emerged the women¡¯s nett champion after a nett 76.2.
Others honored included Nan Chengmin who won the nearest-the-pin, and Huang Huai, the other long drive winner.
In this fun event created to test the competitiveness of the members¡¯ games, 18 players bested Silport David Leadbetter Academy instructor Mr Takamura in the beat-the-pro contest held on the Center Course eighth hole.
While 8,000 RMB donated by JUSTAR Media for a hole-in-one on the difficult East Course sixth hole went unclaimed, there were plenty of other prizes on offer. The lucky draw included such prizes as a Mizuno golf bag and shoes, a set of Tsuruya irons, a Shanghai-Sanya round-trip ticket on Shanghai Airlines, Aqua Di Parma gift sets, and limited edition bottles from Shanghai Whisky Live, among others.
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