English pair of Gavins-Shinkwin win HERO Challenge at Al Hamra Golf Club

Golf - RAK HERO Challenge winners — Team England's Calun Shinkwin (left) and Daniel Gavins after winning the RAK HERO Challenge on Tuesday. Image Credit: Supplied photo

Ras Al Khaimah: The English pairing of Daniel Gavins and Calum Shinkwin shot an eight-under par score of 28 to win the inaugural HERO Challenge at Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al Khaimah, the curtain raiser to this week’s $2 million Ras Al Khaimah Classic on the DP World Tour. The pair collected $12,000 each with this victory, sharing $24,000.

A nine-way tie for second place, two shots behind the winners, meant they all shared $6888.89.

The nine-hole event, one of the first of its kind in the history of the DP World Tour, saw 26 teams compete in this Two-Player Team Scramble.

ALSO READ

Shinkwin said later: “It feels fantastic, it was a great fun today. I’m glad that the Tour and Hero put this up for us today because we’re here for two weeks, it was great fun to play and obviously Dan is good friend of mine, so it was great. One of our caddies said ten under was going to win but thankfully he was wrong!”

“For me, it was a little bit about getting out to see the course because I didn’t play here last week so I hadn’t seen it. It was a lot of fun though, it was nice to get out and have a laugh. We were actually a little bit annoyed to par the eighth, we wanted to birdie every hole, but it was nice to win,” chipped in Gavins.

The Richard Bland-Oliver Wilson combination, one of the nine pairs who tied for second, was all praise for the ambience. “It was good fun. When we’re here for two weeks it’s nice to have a little bit of fun in between the two tournaments, so good on the DP World Tour and Hero to put this on for us. To play with Ollie is always a pleasure. It was good fun.”

A former Ryder Cup player, Wilson said: “I’ve known Richard for a long time and he’s always been the same, still giving me stick! It was nice, two weeks in the same hotel and on the same golf course, it can be hard to keep focussed for that time in between, so something like this is good fun.”

The nine-way tie also featured 2018 Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn and his teammate James Morrison,

There is no Pro-Am on the tournament schedule this week and in effect, this HERO Challenge replaced the Pro-Am, which was shown live in international TV as well as the Social media Channels of the DP World Tour.

Previous HERO Challenges have taken place in the UAE at TOPGOLF Dubai, Emirates Golf Club prior to this year’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic and prior to a previous Anu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The tournament proper starts on Thursday with a full field of 132 players, in 44 matches each of three balls with the first tee time at 7.10 am in a two tee start morning and afternoon format.