Team UOB relishes debut as ST-BT Corporate Golf League tees off
Defending champions Orchid Country Club are off to a great start with a narrow first-leg victory
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[SINGAPORE] The Straits Times and The Business Times Corporate Golf League teed off to much fanfare on Thursday (Mar 5), with the team of golfers from UOB enjoying a memorable debut in the Social category at this annual tournament.
The first of five legs of the 15th edition of the popular annual league took place at the Singapore Island Country Club’s newly renovated Island course.
The quartet from UOB was one of 12 teams that are involved in the Social category. Like many other golfers, the players from the local bank said that the ability to network on and off the course is one of the sport’s biggest attractions.
Team captain Loo Yee Ming (handicap index 24), the head of Industry Group (Group Energy and Chemicals) at the bank, explained: “The game of golf is an important extension to our activities. We organise an annual trip for our clients, numbering about 150 golfers, mainly to the Chinese cities where our offices are located such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Chongqing.” (*see amendment note)
In 2022, the UOB Golf Challenge was held in Vietnam, and it drew a record 400 golfers from 30 countries for a five-day event in Hanoi.
At the ST-BT Corporate League, Loo was in action alongside his teammates Choong Kien Siong, Yong Jiunn Run and Christian Mens.
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Mens (handicap index 20), who was in town for the event and had to fly back to Denmark soon after, said: “I have made lots of friends and contacts from this event. And it was truly a great experience playing with other teams.”
In the Competitive category, the team from Orchid Country Club showed what defending champions are made of as teamwork played the vital role in their narrow first-leg victory.
Gavin De Luna, Stephanie Bradshaw and Allen Gong each scored 37 points each to give Orchid CC a 111-total in the best-of-three scores in the modified stableford system event.
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The trio finished a point ahead of Singapore Global Trust’s team of Winson Oh (38), Charles Tan (37) and Joey Chang (35), and Hugo Boss’s team of Tan Yong Liang (39), Andre Huber (38) and Chua Han Yew (33) in the eight-team event.
Orchid CC had further reason to rejoice as De Luna hit a whopping 299-metre drive to claim the Longest Drive prize for the first leg.
For the 10-handicapper, it was the best-ever distance for tee-shots that he has achieved in a competition. He said: “I was bent on smacking the shots and found only two fairways. I suppose the roll downhill on the hole 3, 386-metre par-four hole helped achieve the milestone.”
Hugo Boss’s newest member Tan Yong Liang, who had an eagle and a birdie in his score of 39 points, was the best individual performer on the day. “I was quite lucky with the eagle; I putted from about 20 metres from the fringe on hole 10 (par-four, 274 metres), and the ball rolled in perfectly,” he said.
Singapore Global Trust’s Oh, who had two birdies, edged out Team Boss’ Huber on countback for the runner-up spot with 38 points.
Singapore Pools, the presenters of the ST-BT Corporate Golf League, were the best-performing team in the Social category when the quartet of Simon Leong, Jon Kee, Alvin Goh and Daryl Chan totalled 107 points on the best-of-three Double Peoria system.
Leong also won individual honours on countback with 36 points.
The second round will take place at Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course on Mar 27.
Amendment note: A paragraph has been edited for clarity
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