Pascal Esparon wins inaugural Xerox Golf Open |27 February 2015

The first edition of the Xerox Golf Open, sponsored by the prestigious leading local information technology company Victoria Computer Services (VCS), was held on February 21, 2015 at the Seychelles Golf Club (SGC) Anse Aux Pins.  

An eye catching number of participants – over 50 – teed up on Saturday afternoon under an individual stroke play format with the aim of taking home the trophy and title of champion.

With challenging pin placements and hot, humid conditions to contend with, the players were keen to record good front nine scores to put themselves in contention on the back nine. The likes of Eddie Micock, 10-year-old Jaden Deltel, Jerry Jean-Baptiste, Jemmy Esther, Pascal Esparon and a handful of others set the early pace, all recording under par net scores for the first nine holes.

The back nine was a hard fought affair with the steamy conditions taking its toll on a number of golfers.  Eddie Micock, a 9 handicapper, set the club house lead at 65 net (3 under par), followed by the 14 handicapper Jaden Deltel with the same score.  A waiting game ensued to see if anyone could relegate the two players to second and third places respectively.

Ultimately, it was veteran golfer, Pascal Esparon, who played sublime golf by backing up his fantastic 31 net score on the front with a super 32 net on the back to card a magnificent 6 under par net score of 63 (69 gross).  

“I knew that the competition was going to be tough and I had to be at my best to win, thus it is an honour to win such a major and very well organised event,” said an elated Esparon.

Winning one of the main prizes, Jaden stepped out of the junior category enabling another young protégée, Yohaan Rizvi, to take the Best Junior title.  Subsidiary prizes went to Wilfred Paulowitz (Best Front Nine), Axel Andrade (Best Back Nine), Jaden Deltel (Nearest to the Pin) and big hitter Erwin Pragassen (Longest Drive).

Managing director of VCS Gilbert Lebon and other representatives from Xerox were present to give out the trophies and prizes, including state of the art Xerox Work Centres (printer/photo copier/scanner) to the top 3 winners, assisted by Club Captain Alex Ellenberger, in the presence of members and guests.  

In his closing remarks, Mr Ellenberger concluded that “it is very encouraging for our sport, when we see a multinational brand like Xerox sponsoring a tournament and attracting such a large number of golfers, including up and coming juniors; for this we are thankful”.

“This event allowed us to not only support the golfing community but also showcase the strength of the entire Xerox technical support team to the business community that was present at the event. Evidently, we are very happy that our first golfing event has been a great success and we have decided that we will now make the Xerox Golf Open an annual event,” said Stephen Faure, Xerox business development manager in Seychelles.

A brilliantly organised tournament came to a close with certificates of participation for all players as well as caps, bags and other goodies as the cherry on top!