Edited by Anand Datla
The JW Marriot Pool Deck in Pune became the warm venue for golfing charity last week even on a cold night. It was made warm by the wallets of many a guest at the Nirmayan Charity Pro Am’s auction. While the day saw a great round of golf at the Oxford Golf and Country Club, the evening marked black tie, revelry, prizes for a great game and of course, money for sports memorabilia donated by well known sports people!
The evening started with some interesting spot prizes and Rohan Jaitha won the longest drive, with father Manish Jaitha, Yayati Pingle and Anant Pandit winning spot prizes for drives closest to the pin.
Pro Golfer Shiv Kapur started his golfing year with a win as he led his team of amateurs comprising of Atul Kirloskar, Mahin Tikekar and Suphal Mehrotra. Veteran Pro Golfer Gaurav Ghei led his team comprising of Pankaj Shrivastava, Rajesh Patil and Nitesh Shindey to runners up spot.
The verbal play on the off side was interesting as the fetching “prize distribution lady” and well known television presenter Neha Sareen did a fun round of questions with all the golfers. When she asked pro golfer Shiv Kapur about how he would describe himself, he said gamely, “Short, Bald and Lazy is usually how I am described… and I am guessing it would be true.”
Kapur’s who had a great run on the course in 2014 pushed for the auction of his putter as he said, “It made me get my best ever finish in the US Open. Best ever finish by an Indian so far. So I must admit, it’s one thing in my bag that truly works.”
The putter was bagged by Shaunak Choksi of Roll Mafia, a quick service restaurant chain, who made the winning bid at Rs 70,000 for his this putter as a gift for his grandson. “He’s just 8. But I would like him to use this and further his interest in golf.”
Much bidding also was done for Aniraban Lahiri’s 9 iron and putter which were respectively won by Pramod Bakre, Construction Magnate and Wasim Khan, former Mumbai restauranter at 65,000 and 50,000 respectively. Bakre bid for it, as an apology to his team mate Anirban Lahiri who he spent the day with, “I am sorry we lost the game today for you. And I hope this piece which I hang in my hall will inspire me to up my golf game to your levels!”
The bid, however reached its final peak as Robin Uthappa’s signed high scoring bat, which was bid for young scion Jay Shirke who outbid everyone at Rs.1,06,000 for this signed memorabilia and received it along with his golfer mom Padmaja Shirke. When asked why the bat and not a golf set he said, “My dad really wanted it. So it will get hung at the MCA club, at BKC now.”
The last piece on the auction was Irishman Darren Clarke’s 3-wood golf club which he used in his winning British Open 2011. The piece was bid for by Sanjay Krishnamurthi of Barclays who bid for 1,00,000 for this signed golf piece!
