It was a fabulous day of golfing on Saturday (October 19) as some international competitors here for the premier Guyana Open International Invitational Golf Tournament, teamed up with many top golfers in Guyana to compete and at the same time promote awareness for cancer and the search for a cure.
This year, Citizens Bank, a sister company of Banks DIH Limited, teamed up with the Lusignan Golf Club (LGC) to host Saturday’s event as part of a joint Citizens Bank/Banks DIH weekend of great golf leading to the Guyana Open on October 26 and 27, 2019.
The battle for the top position was won by Patanjilee ‘Pur’ Persaud from Crown Mining. He shot a net tournament low of 64 to win the overall net title along with first place in the 10-18 Category.
A three-way tie for second in that highly contested 10-18 category between Aasrodeen Shaw from GWI (70/13), William Walker of Oasis Café (70/11) and Satrohan ‘Robin’ Tiwari (70/16) was won by Robin on the countback tie-breaker.
In the 19-28 flight, a magnificent performance was turned in by Nirmaldeo Sarwan, who scored a net 66 (off h/cap 24) to edge out Guillermo Escarraga of Macorp, who came in second with a great 67 (off h/cap 22), beating out his co-worker Jordi Pinol, who played the best round so far of his golfing career at the LGC, with a net 69 (off h/cap 28).
In the Championship 0-9 flight, veterans Patrick Prashad and Mike Mangal, (both with h/cap 9) defending Guyana Open Champion Avinash Persaud (h/cap 2) and LGC President Aleem Hussain (h/cap 9) all shot 80 gross, but it was Prashad who emerged the net winner, and Mangal the second place winner on the back nine countback.
Persaud carted off the Best Gross overall with a better back nine of 36.
Nearest-to-the-Pin was won by Maxim Mangra and once again, it was Persaud – smashing a monster drive – who won the Longest Drive for the sixth consecutive tournament.
A special prize for the Most Improved Golfer of the tournament went to Mauro Gamargo Remiro, who shot a net 76 playing in just his fifth tournament.
Another special prize, the youngest golfer prize was awarded to young Jonathan Mentore, son of veteran golfer and Georgetown Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore, who, playing in his first tournament, performed admirably under the pressure of playing with the more seasoned golfers.
On hand to distribute the prizes was the Banks DIH Communications Manager, Troy Peters, ably assisted by Julie Stevenson, one of the top female golfers from Barbados present in Guyana to participate in the Guyana Open next weekend.
President of the LGC Aleem Hussain thanked the players, who all wore pink ribbons, for showing their support for the Cancer Awareness cause.
“This is another step in ensuring that the LGC and its corporate sponsors fulfil their obligations to social involvement and giving back to our community,” he stated.
