Salah Tahlak, Sinead El Sibai, Des Smyth, and Marius Fouche during the presentation ceremony.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup is always one of the most highly anticipated events in the international travel retail golfing calendar and this year’s 28th edition was no exception.

The two-day event saw around 80 players compete to be crowned the 2021 champion, round one was played at Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai and culminated at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club for the final round.

This two-day stableford event organised by Dubai Duty Free saw competitions in Men’s, Ladies’ and Senior’s Divisions.   

Walking away with the jaw-dropping trophy of the 28th Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup with two excellent rounds of 43 and 38 points totaling 81 for the tournament was Marius Fouche, Managing Director of Maritime and Mercantile International (MMI).

Commenting on the success of the tournament, Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Colm McLoughlin said, “Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all our friends from the duty-free industry, who travel without fail to participate on this two-day competition and made this year’s event truly memorable. I would also like to thank Montgomerie Golf Club Dubai and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club for their continuous support.”

Both playing some superb golf, the Overall Local Winners in the Men’s and Ladies Divisions were AR Meeran (36 and 42) and Naima Maya (34 and 40 points). Visitors were also able to deliver some brilliant golf with Dermot Davit taking the overall visitors prize in the Men’s division with rounds of 35 and 45 points and Maria Vandooren in the Ladies division with rounds of 36 and 31.

There were no easy victories with Vikram Malhotra (76 total) and Lucas Robeerts (73 total) securing the runner-up and 2nd runner-up positions in the Overall Men’s division respectively and Rekha Bandopadhay (69 total) and Satnam Kaur (69 total) claiming the runner-up and 2nd runner-up positions in the Overall Ladies’ division respectively.

As always, there are multiple Senior Golfer categories to celebrate those who are able to continue playing late on into their lives. The Overall Senior Winner (50+) was Ashok Ahuja with rounds of 37 and 41, Overall Super Senior Winner (65+) was Gurbax Singh with rounds of 37 and 37 and the Overall Super Super Senior Winner (70+) with rounds of 35 and 30, was Cees Vandooren. Finishing runner-up to Ashok in the Senior Division was Brian King (73).

Taking the Gross prizes on Day 1 were Amarjeet Radia in the Ladies Category and JP Fitzgerald in the Men’s Category. Winning Day 1’s stableford were Jeannie Archer and Gary Byrne, with Sanne Smith and Bharat Godkhindi taking the runner-up spots.

Day 2 saw the golfers return to the ever-tricky Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. Taking the Best Gross prizes on Day 2 were Vicki Smyth and Steve Flanagan and the stableford was won by Ninu Smith and Arun Khehar with Linda Boland and Richard Thorpe finishing in runner-up.

Accuracy and power off the tee were tested with the nearest the pin and longest drive competitions over both days. The on course events were won by Satnam Kaur, Naima Maya, Kevin Meade, Phil Haine, Nick Diacon, James Finnegan, Marius Fouche, Amit Radia, and Lucas Roberts.