February 7th 2016, Chennai, India: On a warm Sunday afternoon 87 golfers teed off at the Madras Gymkhana Golf Course to participate in the Chennai leg of the LLOYD Business Today Pro-Am.
The par 70 golf course, playing about 6258 yards off the regular tees, is known for its tricky roughs, with tall and prickly grass bordering most fairways. The course is unique, being situated within the 2,400-m oval of the Guindy racecourse. With over 50 bunkers, most of them guarding the relatively small sized inverted saucer greens, the course poses a tough challenge to golfers due to the ever-changing winds.
Played on Stableford format with Double Peoria handicap, the afternoon witnessed some keen golf with players vying for individual as well as team prizes.
Winning Team (101 points):-
• Suman Ranjeet M (Vasan Book House)
• Ravi Kuppusamy (B. Assure Solution)
• Udaynarayana GM
• Suresh Bethavandu
Winning Team (L-R): Suman Ranjeet, Ravi Kuppusamy & Suresh Bethavandu with G. Sudheer of Lloyd
Runner-up Team (99 points):-
• Karun Jacob (Agility Logistics)
• Abhay Doshi (Conpro Enterprises)
• Krishnakumar B (Automobile Consultant)
• Sandeep Dhingra (Standard Chartered Scope International)
The winners for individual prizes under various several categories were:-
• 0-10 Handicap: Suman Ranjeet M (Vasan Book House) - Winner with 36 points
• 11-18 Handicap: Sundar K (KS Consultant) - Winner with 35 points
• 19-24 Handicap: Venkatachalam K V - Winner with 36 points
• 4moles.com Closest to Pin: Darshan V (Amaya Properties)
• Nautica Most Stylish Golfer: Yogesh Luthra (Sriram Paper)
The S-Cross, up for grabs for a Hole-in-One on the 6th hole was nearly claimed by Abhay Doshi, who missed out narrowly.
Some of the other eminent golfers who participated amongst the corporate bigwigs of Chennai included Ravi Viswanathan (Senior Vice President - Tata Consultancy Services), Srikanth K (Principle - Capgemini), Hemantkumar Sinha (CMD - Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation), Chandrasekar R (Executive Vice Chairman - Cognizant Technology Solutions), Parthasarathy SV (EVP- Head Consumer finance - Induslnd Bank), Ramaswamy P (Vice President - Bank of New York Mellon), Capt. Chandrasekar (Captain - Indigo Airlines), Krishnan (President - Star Line Travels), Thiyagarajan S (Vice President - Mantra), Mohan Rajan (CEO - Rajan Eye Care Hospital) & Sherif Dyan (Chairman - M.Sherif & Sons).
The day’s action culminated with the prize distribution ceremony followed by dinner. The winning team also earned themselves a place in the Pro-Am Finals to be held in Delhi in March 2016.
