Anglo-German partnership captures MIS-HIT trophy

The Anglo-German partnership of WDF CEO Mark Riches and Gebr Heinemann Co-Owner Gunnar Heinemann captured the annual Moodie International Superstars Honorary Invitation Tournament – affectionately known as The MIS-HIT – yesterday.

A field of 24 industry colleagues from across the world took part in the event, now in its ninth year. It took place amid beautiful sunshine and great scoring conditions at Cannes Mandelieu Golf Club, with the winners registering a combined 71 stableford points.

Mark and Gunnar finished just one point ahead of Fraport’s Martin Turek and Aer Rianta International-Middle East’s John Sutcliffe, and a further point ahead of Premier Portfolio’s Andrew Webster and Mars’ Martyn Westbury.

Martin Turek (above) retained his individual title with a total of 40 points, giving him the honour of taking home to Frankfurt the coveted ‘Blue Jacket’ worn by the individual winner.

The Fashionista Award for best-dressed player was hotly contested, with King Power Group’s Sunil Tuli among those making a big play for the accolade with a Gary Player-style all-black combo. But the award went to Mark Riches (above), with a wonderfully colour-coordinated and highly detailed yellow and black outfit – right down to the matching wrist strap.

Of the other playing awards, Takako Asaki of Blanc de Blancs and Martyn Westbury won the Nearest the Pin prizes, while Martin Turek hit the Longest Drive on the 18th, with a monster effort of well over 300 yards.

Shortest drive of the day went to The Moodie Report’s own Chief Operating Officer Bob Wilby, who barely managed to hit his first drive off the tee-box, on his way to a hard-fought 12 stableford points on the day.

He wasn’t the only wayward driver on the day. Players in Sunday’s annual Gebr Heinemann and Hugo Boss tournament are likely to have a bit more room for manoeuvre off the tee, after the MIS-HIT players stripped many of the course’s long-standing trees of their branches as they journeyed around.

The residents of Mandelieu will also be pleased to see the back of MIS-HIT for at least another year. Paton’s James Kfouri hit one of his drives into the washing line of a nearby garden, surprising the woman of the house as she sat relaxing in the sunshine. Her comments to James are not repeatable in print.

We’ll bring you more highlights of the day soon.