Manama: The British Club Golf Section held the first of its four “Major” competitions of the 2015-2016 season, namely the Captain’s Cup on the Mini Monty 9 hole par 3 course at the Royal Golf Club.

What is special about this season’s competition is that the name of the trophy has been changed by the British Club Golf Section committee to be the Bob Smith Captain’s Cup in honour of the founding member of the golf section, Captain Robert (Bob) Smith, who passed away in June this year due to cancer.

Captain Bob Smith was an ex-pilot captain of both Gulf Air and Bahrain Air and was diagnosed with cancer in March this year. 

He was a founding member of the British Club Golf Section back in 2011 when golfing enthusiasts from the British Club including Bob’s eldest son Ronan decided to spend their Friday mornings playing golf around the Wee Monty as it was named then at the Royal Golf Club.

When the numbers of players grew quite substantially in early 2012, a formal section was formed under the jurisdiction of the British Club and Bob was the official starter for the last two seasons. Bob continued with this position until March this year.

Bob is the second founding member of the British Club Golf Section to be honoured with a competition named after him, the first being Harry Morton whose name is now linked to the Brit Club’s Matchplay Knockout Competition and who passed away from cancer in July 2013.

Diane Smith, Bob’s widow, purchased a new trophy for this annual event and was on hand to present the Bob Smith’s Captain’s Cup Trophy to the eventual winner, Kyran Ingram, with Ronan coming a very close second.

Results: 1st place – Kyran Ingram on nett 49; 2nd place – Ronan Smith on nett 51, winning countback; 3rd place – Gary Laing on nett 51, losing countback. Nearest the pin on hole 8 – Ronan Smith.