Chris Smerdon (JLL, 9), Danny Abraham (Espace, 9), Luke Banks (Arabian Packaging, 12) and James Dean (Alshaya Group, 18) scored 108 Stableford points, 36 under par, to win the fifth edition of the CEO Masters, sanctioned by both the Emirates Golf Federation and the Dubai Sports Council, at The Els Club, Dubai.
The format was a ‘Team Shambles’ over 18 holes in a shotgun start with a full field of 111 players in 28 teams of four players, organised by Sport2Business (S2B), an invitation only event attracting a mix of UAE business leaders.
The winning team had nines of 56 and 52 points, highlighted by some exceptional play on the four par 3’s, which accumulated on its own, 25 points against a par of 16 points.
All four players played well with the following personal scores, mindful that the best tee shot from the group was selected in this format: Smerdon, net 65, Abraham net 65, Banks net 63 and Dean net 62.
There was a three-way tie for second place, three points behind the winners on 105 points.
The winning team will now represent the Dubai CEO Masters in November’s Indian CEO Masters as the event moves outside of the UAE. There will be a Singapore event in 2023 as S2B and Thriwe expand the CEO Masters globally.
This year’s VIP’s included General Abdullah Al Hashimi, Vice-Chairman of the EGF, Abdallah Al Musharrekh, VP Mubadala, Walid Al Attar, CCO of EGA, and Saqib Mahmood, CEO of National Bonds.
The sponsors of the 2022 CEO Masters included Thriwe, AGMC (BMW), Accuracy, AARO, CARS, BackLite, Raffles (Bahrain), Entertainer, eGolfmegastore, CEO Club, National Bonds, GlenLivet, adidas and VitHit.
This year the CEO Masters adopted Red Balloon Global as their CSR partner.
“This event has gained in stature over the years, this year was particularly challenging with over 40-plus players unable to join because of the Omicron virus, yet still we managed a full field of 111 executive golfers to enjoy a Covid friendly outdoor golf event with thanks to the sponsors and the host club The Els Club,” stated Russell Yeomans CEO and Founder of Sport2Business.
Results (Stableford Points):
Winners — 108: C. Smerdon (9), D. Abraham (9), L. Banks (12) and J. Dean (18)
Second — 105: R. Janardhan (15), A. Singh (2), A. Khan (14) and R. Chitti (9)
Third — 105: C. Watson (7), R. Lambert (18), A. Kumar (14) and S. Stantchev (19)
Fourth — 105: N.J.N. Ahmad (9), C. Frealdsson (8), D. Korshunov (24) and M. Stannard (8)
Fifth and Winning Ladies Team — 103: W. Robinson (18), J. Gupta (8), C. Hibberd (17) and M. Carlsson (30).
