THE inaugural SajRice golf tournament last Saturday was a scorcher to say the least. The competition in both Flights was very hot in the winners’ row, but it was veteran Ian Gouveia, who delivered the Best Net score of the 0-15 Flight, and Patanjilee ‘Pur’ Persaud, who won the Best Net score of the 16-28 Flight.

While Carlos Carbo, CEO of SajRice, who hosted the tournament, participated, he did not attempt to dominate the scene as he did on February 2 in the ‘Speedy’ Ramdial Memorial tournament. Instead he allowed his fellow golfers to win his prizes. He expressed much appreciation for the support of the golfers and heartily congratulated the winners.

In addition to prizes for 1st to 3rd Best Net places in each of the two Flights played, 0-15 and 16-28 handicaps, two other prizes were awarded for Nearest the Pin – won by Gavin Todd – and Longest Drive – won by Troy Cadogan. SajRice also donated a 10kg sack of rice to each tournament participant.

In the 0-15 Flight, winners were: Ian Gouveia (69/15) – 1st; Mike Mangal (70/9) – 2nd and Richard Haniff (70/15) – 3rd. The keen competition for this winners’ row saw a tie for 2nd place that was resolved by reviewing the back 9 holes.

Hot on their heels were former captain Patrick Prashad – who has been in the top 3 places for the past 3 tournaments – with a score of 71/9, and tying with him for 4th place was Club president Aleem Hussain with 71/10.

In the 16-28 Flight, things were even hotter, as three persons tied for 1st place. Again, places were resolved by a review of the back 9 scores, giving the 1st three winners: Patanjilee ‘Pur’ ‘I love that winning feeling’ Persaud (67/17) – 1st; rookie Anand Persaud (67/28) – 2nd and Satrohan Tewari (67/16) – 3rd.

Other close contenders in this Flight were Guillermo Escarraga (68/21) – who won the ANSA Motors tournament of January 19 – tying with Clifford Reis (68/25); Hilbert Shields (69/16); Robert Hanoman (70/28) and Lekhnarine Shivraj (71/17).

SajRice Inc., whose vision is “to be the leading manufacturer, exporter and provider of the finest quality extra-long grain rice, with excellent customer service, and to support farmers in every possible way”, began in 2006, under a 35-year contract with the Government of Guyana, to operate the MARDS Rice Milling Complex of Burma, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.