Seychelles Golf Club Championship   Adrian Andrade manages to defend his title   |08 November 2021

Women’s category winner Namiko Tominaga (centre) brandishes her trophy

Adrian Andrade sealed his win with a birdie on the 54th hole to finish with a score of 204 gross and defending his Seychelles Golf Club Championship title.

The Club Championship is the club’s most prestigious event on the calendar and it involves three days of stroke play format over 54 holes. This year’s competition started on Saturday October 30 and played through to Monday November 1, with 39 golfers battling out during this event.

The players not only fought to be overall champion in different sections but also in their respective gold, silver and bronze divisions.

Over the first day some remarkable scores were posted – Nahim Agricole had set a first day 66 gross to take a 3-shot lead over defending champion Adrian Andrade, setting the tone to this year’s championship which proved to be a hard-fought battle.

In the nett side, veteran Alix Esparon shot an impressive 58 nett to take a considerable lead in both the overall nett but also in the silver division.

Day two saw some shifting in the scoring as Adrian Andrade fought back to not only close the deficit over Nahim Agricole but in the end take a 3-shot lead going into the final day.

Ron Barbé, also a past champion, had also posted a very good score which helped him close the gap and put him among the leaders with a chance to create an upset. In the nett side Esparon maintained his lead over the rest of the competitors.

On day three, the final group leaders of Adrian Andrade, Nahim Agricole and Ron Barbé battled it out throughout the last 18 holes, but young Adrian kept his calm although Nahim was putting a lot of pressure on him with some stellar play on his side, Alas on the final hole, Adrian sealed his win with a birdie on the 54th hole to finish with a score of 204 gross, six shots ahead the valiant effort of Nahim who took the runner-up spot

Alix Esparon dominated the nett category over the three days, as he shot 58, 65 and 65 for a total of 188 nett to take the overall win. In this same category, new member Ken Zhou fought hard with a final day of 59 nett, a very impressive score for him.

Best lady champion went to Namiko Tominaga who defended her title from last year, but also had to fight hard on the last day as her fellow competitor Margaret Pragassen, a former champions, was leading after two days.

Young Adrian Andrade also won the best title ahead of returning junior player Yohaan Rizvi who had been absent from the game for a while.

H- Savy Insurance were this year’s main sponsors through the Corvina Group for all the trophies awarded to the winners and making this event as successful as it was. ISPC also assisted the SGC for this event with the added prizes.

Trophies for best day I, 2 and 3 were sponsored by Jeffery Payet of Sporting Life.

 At hand for the presentation were the representatives of H- Savy, Mahe Shipping and Sporting Life and SGC club captain

The results

Overall ‒1 Adrian Andrade, 2 Nahim Agricole, 3 Ron Barbé

Gold division – 1 Adrian Andrade, 2 Gibran Rizvi, 3 Ron Barbé

Silver division ‒ 1Alix Esparon, 2Ken Zhou, 3Luca Bertoletti

Bronze division ‒ 1Theo Hansen, 2 Margaret Pragassen, 3 Makoto Tominaga

Women: 1 Namiko Tominaga, 2 Margaret Pragassen,

Other merits

Best day 1 – Sunil Shah

Best day 2 – Zia Rizvi

Best day 3 – Axel Andrade,

Nearest to the pins – Godfrey Andrade and Ken Zhou

Longest drive ‒ Adrian Andrade

Contributed