By JERUSALEM POST SPORTS STAFF
Both golf courses in Israel really got into the Purim spirit over the past few weeks, each staging a tournament to help celebrate the holiday festivities.The Caesarea Golf Club held its annual Purim competition on March 18. More than 75 golfers participated in the 18-hole event that was played under a better- ball Stableford format.Many of the participants came dressed in costumes, and everyone was expected to imbibe a bit of “holiday cheer” before teeing off on the first hole.All of this added to the merriment without reducing the high standard of play.The team of Shlomo Ivgi and Eli Shrirah took home top honors with 63 points, just one point ahead of second place Yossi and Shlomo Siyag. Benny Abromov and Danny Horowitz were another six points back.The next major tournament in Caesaria will be the Ladies Miele Cup to be played on April 9th.Meanwhile, the Purim tournament at the Ga’ash Golf Club was a Texas Scramble stroke-play format.Under those rules, all four players tee off, the team then chooses which drive they want to use then all play from that position and so on each time till the ball is in the hole. Over the course of the round, each player on a team has to have at least four of his/her drives counted. The handicap is calculated by adding all four players’ handicap and dividing it by 10.A full field of 64 golfers enjoyed a fun day with the tournament played in a wonderful atmosphere.At the end of the day, two teams finished tied atop the leaderboard with a net 57 score, and after the countback first place went to Michael Cohen, Anthony Harris, Ashley Silber and David Pachima, who played the 18 holes in a gross 59 that included 11 birdies and 7 pars. The team played off a two-handicap which gave them the net 57.
Second place went to Steve Taylor, Steven Weil, Mike Ossip and Basil Katz, who carded a gross 62 that included 9 birdies and 9 pars playing off a five-handicap to also finish on net 57 .In third place, on net 59, was the team of Shmulik Almagor, Uri Mayer, Esti Noy and Ronit Kedar.The prize for the best fancy dress went to Dany Levine.In other Ga’ash news, there were a pair of hole-in-ones this week, with Eli Ziv acing the the par-3 110-meter fourth hole in his regular four-ball game and Aharon Bakshi nailing the par-3 160- meter ninth hole.