Starland win Pennants, Ela Motors take second

THE Starland Dragons won the Kumul Telikom Holdings (KTH) Pennants, finishing first after the final round of competition at the Royal Port Moresby Golf Club yesterday.
The Dragons finished with 66 points followed by runners-up Ela Motors (52.5) while QPR finished third (49.5) points in a field of 12 teams.
A consistent performance by the Dragons throughout the year saw them finish by a 13.5-point margin from their nearest opponents, with Nelson Gabriel taking out the competition’s player-of-the-year award.
“The team as a whole played well and we won by a comfortable margin this year,” Dragons captain David Tan said.
“We didn’t have to really win this last game.
“We already won the title before that so that made it easier for us.
“Nelson Gabriel started on an 18 handicap at the beginning of the year and he came down to 10 handicap. So he was winning all his games throughout the year and was consistent.
“We’ll build again and do the same thing next year. We’ll pick the right players and I will be around to give them a hand.”
Meanwhile KTH operations head John Ovia highlighted the significance of the pennants, which for the last eight years had brought together organisations and businesses to help them build networks and relationships.
Ovia said KTH also sponsored the competition with its subsidiaries Bemobile, Dataco and Telikom PNG.
“We have come together as a group to sponsor the event this year,” he said.
“It’s worthwhile for all the companies to come out and relax. Executives, team members and players come out onto the field to mingle while we play and enjoy the game,” Ovia said.
Pennants is played all over the world (club versus club).
But in Port Moresby, as there is only one golf club, members form teams and play against each other in a round-robin format.
For each round, each team lined up seven players to play against another player from an other team.
The team that won four matches out of the seven, wins. If they won three and squared one, but lose three, the result is a draw.
Teams received a point for a win, half a point for a draw and no point for a loss.
Results: Starland Dragons (66), Ela Motors (52.5), QPR (49.5), More than Oil (44.5), BSP (44), AON (44), East West Transport (41.5), DHL (41), Scal Mirupasi (40), Kumul Telikom (36.5), Machaan Tigers (35.5).