Shanghai: The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai, a frequent visitor to Silport over the years, made a welcome return to the club when it hosted its annual golf tournament for 72 members under rainy conditions.

Playing over the West and North courses under a scramble scoring format, the group of Chris Hughes, Grant Elder, Marc Dawson and Robert Forman claimed the top prize as the champion team of 2008.

The runner-up team included Frank Chien, Maurice Wu, Iman Stratenus and Jesse Price, while the second runner-ups featured John Chattock, Stephen Mercer, Ainsley Mann and Andrew Slevin.

Investment banker Formon undoubtedly inspired the winning side when his 230-yard blast on the West Course ninth hole won the longest drive. Other individual honors saw Simon Park and Gordon Milne each win a nearest-the-pin prize when they put their shots with six and five feet of the pin respectively.

Silport’s resident pro Michael Dickie proved not easy for his countrymen as only six of the seventy-two could best the Scotsman in the beat the pro contest held on the North Course sixth hole. They are Harold Pang, Gordon Miline, John Ward, Neil McCallum, Simon Park and Jiang Xizhou.

With the prize presentation party in full swing and the mood festive, a BritCham Shanghai official said the chamber chose to return to Silport because of the club’s attention to service and top international standard course.