German TV celebrity golfer wins dream holiday at Ephelia |04 September 2010
But when an otherwise hot and sunny German summer took a short respite in late July and dumped buckets of rainwater on the celebrity amateur golfers who had gathered in the Black Forest for the first stage of the Race to Seychelles tournament, they certainly felt they had to go through hell to win the first prize – a heavenly vacation in Seychelles.
The tournament was organised by Seychelles’ tourism ambassador in Munich, Lindy Scheele, and hosted by her husband Dr Michael Scheele, president of the Bogey Golfers association. Its winner was actor Christian Kohlund, who has visited Seychelles before and might be a familiar face to Seychelles TV viewers.
Mr Kohlund is a passionate golfer who came here back in 2005 with a television crew to shoot an episode of the popular German TV series Das Traumhotel (The Dream Hotel), in which he played the lead – a hotel manager who travels around the world to check on fictional hotels owned by his aunt.
“Seychelles was among my favourite locations during the Traumhotel shoot,” he recalls.
The Bogey Golfers of Munich is a private initiative of some 70 amateur players that was 
Their main goal is having fun and meeting like-minded people. They also like getting young people interested in golf, regardless of their financial means or social background.
The tournament was attended by Edith Hunzinger, manager of the Seychelles Tourist Office in Frankfurt, and her husband Max Hunzinger, honorary consul for Seychelles in Germany. Also there were some of Germany’s top celebrities, including singers, photographers, painters, athletes and actors.
The first prize was sponsored by Constance Hotels and presented by the hotel group’s PR manager Katja Köllner. Air travel will be co-sponsored by Emirates.
With the first prize being a stay at the Constance Ephelia Resort at Port Launay, Mr Kohlund now gets a chance to visit Seychelles’ newest “dream hotel” in real life, together with his wife and his 17-year-old son.
The Kohlunds, who celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in August, have fond memories of the Black Forest – they spent their wedding night in a hotel close to the golf course in 1985, when Mr Kohlund was shooting Die Schwarzwaldklinik (The Black Forest Clinic), a very popular TV series that also had a successful run on SBC TV several years ago and in which he played a doctor.
The tournament in the Black Forest was the first stage of the three-part Race to Seychelles. Dr Scheele will be organising the Ephelia Golf Cup on September 26 at the Pfaffing golf course near Munich, with the award ceremony to be held in the festival tent of gourmet caterer Käfer at the world-famous Oktoberfest.
Again, winners will be able to spend a week at the Ephelia on Mahe and at the Constance Lémuria Resort on Praslin, where they will have a chance to play some “heavenly” golf.
The last part of the race will be a tournament to be played at the Lémuria Resort by a select group of up to 60 amateur golfers from Germany – including Cuban-born singer Roberto Blanco and many other showbiz celebrities — who will travel to the islands in mid-October.