Winners all the way (L-R): Kumar Gera (Category A), Gary McGarth of Amex, Chander Uday Singh (Category C), G. Ravindran (Category B) with BT's Ashish Bagga and Barun Das

Banking, according to bankers who worry about interest rate spreads, is best when it follows the '9-12-3 Rule'. Borrow at 9, lend at 12, and hit the golf course at 3.

On Saturdays, that's actually possible. And if it happens to be the Business Today-American Express Pro-Am of Championships, and you happen to be a golfing CEO, you'd want to make that earlier. A lot earlier.

How about 7.30 A.M? That was the appointed time for the event, on the 30th of November. And sure enough, the Bombay Presidency Golf Club stood witness to an early-morning turnout of the city's who's who. There was Romesh Sobti, the chief of ABN-Amro Bank. There were Ajay and Vijay Chauhan, the Parle Products duo. There was Arun Nanda of Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Patel of Procter & Gamble (P&G), Mihir Doshi of J.M. Morgan-Stanley, and many more.

Already in its eighth year, this is the first time that the tournament is holding regional rounds, with the qualifying golfers headed for the National Finals in Delhi where the second phase of excitement will culminate. The National winners will get to tee off next year at the Famous Grouse International Foursomes at St. Andrews' in Scotland.

Tough challenge (L-R): Asha Doshi (runner-up of Category C) with Gary McGarth, Chief Financial Officer, American Express TRS

In all, 99 participants, divided into three categories,vied for three places in the finals in the 5,957-yard Bombay Presidency course.

Humour On The Course

The game had its share of rib-tickling moments. At the outset, Kumar Gera and Satish Tandon, the only participants from Pune, predicted that they would bag most of the trophies-something that amused the Mumbaikars no end.

By noon, action had shifted to the lunch camp. Soothing music added to the atmosphere of corporate bonhomie. It was, as adman Nirvik Singh of Grey Worldwide put it, "nice lunch, nice course and nice company." To the 12-year golf veteran G. Ravindran of Pepsico India, playing with a handicap of 16, the affair was a "classy experience". Arun Nanda, back to golf after a three-month sabbatical, admitted that he had a little getting-into-form to do.

Another group took in all earnestness to the practicing mat. A well-regarded practice, one of the all-time golfing greats, Gary Player, used to begin every practice session by hitting a series of two-foot putts. Why? Because the very act of seeing the ball go into the hole gave him the confidence needed to score longer putts.

Some people, it seemed, couldn't agree more with this form of psychological reinforcement. Players, and even guests, were seen practicing before their first tee-off in the tournament. The practice putts proved quite contagious and there was a quite a lot of it, in fact even after the game was over. Aimed no doubt at offering a tougher challenge in the next round of BT Amex Pro Am Championship.

Asha Doshi of Exyberance was one of the few woman golfers on the course, and lived up to her initial remark, "Woman golfers may be uncommon, but the ones who play are in no way inferior to their male counterparts." Though she equalled the top score in her group, she had to content herself with the runners-up prize, as her score was comparatively less in the 'back nine' holes-the accepted tie-breaker in golf. Well, that only shows how competitive the game was.

Teeing away: An early morning tee-off didn't deter our golf enthusiasts, who got into the swing of things promptly

The Winners

So, who won? Pune's Kumar Gera of Gera Developments found himself on the top of his group's chart, and got to drive all the way home with the trophy in his back seat. That's predictive power for you.

The 16-handicap Ravindran of Pepsico drove home his advantage and bagged another trophy. No big feat for someone who's been used to winning all his life, though. He is now looking forward to the national finals in Delhi. The third winner was Chander Uday Singh, a senior advocate at the Bombay High Court, who's also off to Delhi.

And if you still think Mark Twain was right when he said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled", it's time you changed your perception of the game. Golf is a good walk strategised.