Johnnie Walker Classic Golf Tournament-Mayadas and Rizvi win in classic style |25 November 2005

Played under the name of the “Johnnie Walker Classic”, this one-day stableford tournament with teams of two is less punishing and definitely more entertaining than the two-day “SeyBrew Classic”.

With a reasonably large field of 18 teams - a total of 36 golfers - the competition promised to be a thriller, as such formats are usually high-scoring.  Under ideal weather conditions, most teams found it easy to score at least the level par 18 points for the front nine.  It was Godfrey Andrade and Guy Adam who first threw the gauntlet with a good 22 points.

Their score looked good for only a brief while as the pair of Jayant Mayadas and Zia Rizvi played extremely well in tandem for an even better 23 points.  They were equaled only by a very challenging 23 points from the father and son duo of Robert and Johnny Savy.

Defending champions John and Andrew Richardson (not related) did not seriously threaten to repeat their last year’s feat with their relatively paltry 20 points.

The battle lines were drawn.  Patrick Asba and Joe Andrade desperately tried to overhaul their first nine fizzle with a late sizzle of 24 points for the second nine – only good enough for them to bag second place.  However, the real fight was always going to be between the two teams leading after the first nine.

Rizvi and Mayadas continued to complement each other’s game well and avoided any dropped shots to walk in with 22 points for a total of 45!  Perhaps if Johnny knew this, he would have taken more care over his last putt.  Even as he missed the hole on the 18th green, he would have thought their 21 points were good enough to get them first place.

It was only as the Savys walked into the clubhouse that they realised they had been pipped at the post by Mayadas and Rizvi.  And what was worse was they had to settle for third place because of the strong comeback by Asba  and Andrade, beating them by the countback rule.

The prize for the best first nine went to Godfrey Andrade and Guy Adam and the best second nine was won by William Weidner and Damien Hoareau with 21 points.

The longest drive was an absolute whopper by Steven Ah-Moye and nearest to pin was won by Alix Esparon.

The prizes were awarded at a dinner gala later that evening by Seychelles Breweries general manager Andrew Richardson.  He expressed strong hope that this competition would be continued equally enthusiastically in the coming years.  Club captain Johnny Savy thanked the sponsors for their patronage.