Michael Bublé’s It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, I am convinced, got its inspiration from Kolkata, which is decked up to herald the festive season and the Royal Calcutta Golf Club has certainly not been left behind. The club is looking nice and its festive best and has been backed up by good attendance at a spate of entertaining evenings headlined first by Shaan, then a tribute to Kalyanji Anandji, the music directors, and the English music rendition by Jeffery Stevens... the club has truly lived up to the popular adage “Thank God it’s Friday.”
The members also showed their resilience and fighting spirit when “cyclone Jawad” struck and unexpected rainfall came down this last weekend. No matches were disrupted and all has gone on schedule in the Ballantine’s Golf Retreat Royal Premier Golf League 2021-22 powered by t2 and in association with Tata Housing, Grant Thornton and 360Life.
There have been hits and misses with the PB Aces showing good early form winning both their matches convincingly along with the Verdant Colts and the dark horses the Hillibillies who have won all three. Devils may have lost one but have bounced back with two convincing wins, the same as Emami G8.
There have been plenty of surprises with the Citytech team, easily the most sporting team in the competition, winning their first game and as they shared “Xmas has come early” for them.
Group Yellow is expected to have the maximum tussle for supremacy and the battlelines are already drawn with defending champions Cleantek United being pushed by the likes of Jutify Jets and the Exide White Walkers. Much is expected as a comeback from the Patriots and the IIFL Wealth Juniors. Only a truly brave man would risk predicting the line-up for the quarter-final match ups.
The games apart, the spirit in which the players have performed is very satisfying to watch and the enjoyment post-round is visible for all to see. The pop-up restaurants, include the likes of Bike and Blend, Pronto and Yauatcha and they have all seen good traction. Next week a treat can be expected from Khaao Gully and Mamasan!
The interesting asides this week was from the Sherpas whose catchline “We Are Here To Take You There” branded the direction signage and with the caddies now wearing their caps and the golf carts also similarly branded have clearly won the messaging award of the week.
Sleep, so important for all of us, got a new meaning with “Sleepy Cat” instituting a closest to the pin award, won this week by Navneet Manaksia. No one could have ever imagined that when this event started seven years ago that it could grow so exponentially and today become the event to emulate in all other major golfing centres.
Ranjit Singh
S. Tantia and Rahul Sharma need a magic wand to get back on track
Deepa Bagla
Anahita Fatehpuria
Spy vs Spy — Viraj and Vishesh Khanna. Thank god for the different pants!
The back-office team — TSM, ensuring seamless operations
Dark Horses — Hillibillies
The festive look
(L-R) Gaurav Upadhaya, Avinash Deoskar, Brandon De Souza and Jaideep Singh, recharging the batteries
IIFL Wealth Juniors — the club’s future
Brandon De Souza, tournament director, the Ballantine’s Golf Retreat Royal Premier Golf League 2021-22 powered by t2
Pictures: Rashbehari Das