England’s Chris Gane once again dominated proceedings at the AESGC International Pro-Am held at Ain Ain in the UAE, earning an incredible fifth title and his CPG International Series Grand Final spot in the process.
The Kent man’s closing five-under 65, together with rounds of 64, 65 and 69, were enough to take the win in the Individual professional event by a record-breaking margin of 10 shots at -17 for the week.
“It’s always lovely to win – even though I had a nice lead going into today, you never know what might happen,” said the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Member. “But I got off to really nice start and away we went. But it’s just comfort…I just love it – I know where to hit it now, I’ve got a feel for the greens, and it all adds up to another win.”
Second place was shared by Simon Zach (PGA of Czech Republic), Alex Wrigley (PGA of GB&I) and Erik Lindwall (PGA of Sweden), who were each able to go low for at least three rounds, but not low enough to keep up with the eventual winner.
In the Team Pro-Am event, the team of Christian Widhalm (PGA of Austria), Martin Leidinger, Christiane Flehberger and Alexander Dearing were victorious after their consistently high scoring gave them a 21-point win over their rivals.
Gane’s team of Andy Doswell, Warren Emery and John Harper secured second place with 343 points closely followed by Jérémie Lemaitre (PGA of France), Anne Lemaitre, Anais Arafi and Alicia Grandjean in third place on 339 points.
Gane added: “Shane and the boys, they’re there for your every whim. 23 teams for a Pro-Am is a really good number coming out here to the Middle East – I think everyone knows what they’re going to get and it’s so good that they keep coming back. They’ve made some great changes in view of the Challenge Tour event later in the year and they’ll be great. If you get wind like we had then it really adds some teeth to the golf course.
“My team were pleased [with second place]. The winning team – congratulations to them – they went off and away. So even after two days we were kind of playing for second place and they played really well. Warren played great all week; Andy and John came in, dovetailed nicely. That’s what you’ve got to do as a team.”
Gane earns his CPG International Series Grand Final invitation as leading professional whilst all the rofessionals in the field earn Order of Merit points that could earn then a spot as well.