By Shobha Rao Smilemaker
Dec 19: A number of trophies were won at 'The Pilikula Open Annual Golf Tournament 2023' Award ceremony held the Pilikula Golf Club on Sunday December 17. It was a tough competition amongst a record number of around 90 participants from other clubs too like Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Madikeri or Chikkamagaluru.
The Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, M P Mulai Muhilan who is also the President of the Pilikula Golf club was present to personally handover all the awards. The welcome address was given by the new Captain Manoj Shetty. Senior member Archibald Menezes was honored for his many contributions.
The Gross Score winner of the Pilikula Open was Dr. Ronald Menezes. First Prizes as per Handicap were won by John Salins, Brig CMF Prabhu, Neeraj Bhandhary, Dr Nithish Bhandary. Tournament prizes were also given to Vasundhara Shetty, Manoj Shetty, Yogesh Shetty and Raghuram.
The year 2023 saw tremendous participation from golfing enthusiasts at the Pilikula Golf Club Mangaluru. Many new tournaments and new formats of play were experimented upon to make the sport exciting, inclusive and more importantly buzzing with golfers.
New player Dr Nagaraj Shetty won the Rookie of the year. Prashant Rao Aroor and Eta Shrinivasalu won the Doubles format. Dr Nithish Bhandary won the coveted Emerging Player of the Year and Gautam Padival won the Player of the Year trophy for the Monthly Medal Round of 2023. The first prize of the Caddies tournament was won by Bhadruddin.
The celebrations continued with a live music band performance, some dancing, more bonding and a sumptuous buffet lunch. The Vote of Thanks was given by the the new Secretary Girish Rao who also acknowledged the many supporters of the event like the HECS group, NVY T V, John Salins, M/s School Book Company, The Avatar Hotel,Wines and Spirits, Presto Foods Corporation, Drunken Monkey,etc.
It was a perfect finale event for the sportsmanship and camaraderie of 2023 that phenomenally blossomed at the Pilikula Golf Club Mangaluru.
Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.