A sign of a good golf course is the looks on all the faces of the players when they have finished a round.

After the 2008 CRN Channel Golf Challenge, which took place at the East Sussex National Golf Resort and Spa, most of the players looked tired but happy as they filed in for their three-course lunch after more than six hours on the fairway.

The East Sussex National was used for the 1993 and 1994 European Open and has hosted five European Challenge Tour events, so it was definitely enough of a match for even the most hardened of channel golf veterans. From the gossip on the course there were a few interesting shots made during the day, but no names were mentioned to spare blushes.

Luck was on CRN’s side in terms of the weather that day because there was not a cloud in sight and the wind stayed helpfully low. This made a slight change to the week before when there had been little but torrential rain and heavy, dark clouds.

Team effort
A total of 19 teams took part in this year’s event, including teams from the Professional Computing Association, Reform Tec, Softcat, Khipu Networks, Avenquest Solutions, Gen-x IT, Repton, Comtec Enterprises, QAssociates, Computer 2000,

Kyocera, Eaton, Comms-care, FixITlocal , CAE Technology Services, and Brian Bass Computer and Networks Centre.
Two brave teams from CRN also took part, and being the sporting types that they are, kindly remained rooted to the bottom of the table to give all of the other competitors a chance.

The day teed off at 9am with bacon butties in the clubhouse, before the players took their place at their designated tee for a
shotgun start.

As usual with these events there was a halfway house serving much needed refreshments before the teams took on the final nine holes.

Trophies were awarded to the winning teams this year, to the player that was nearest the pin and to the player with the longest drive. The winning team for 2008 was reseller QAssociates.

Chris Wright, senior account manager at QAssociates, said: “It was a really good day. Well organised and a great course. We would like to extend our thanks to the golf club and the event organisers. It was also very nice to beat all our prestigious
competitors on the day.”

VAR Reform Technology was the most successful team, netting second place, with team member Stuart Wilson also walking off with the awards for the longest drive and nearest the pin.

“We all had a good day and the course was great. Everyone on the team enjoyed the golf and holed a few putts,” said Wilson. “The team seemed to click really well and it was great to come second overall. The weather also helped because it stayed dry and was not windy. That always makes a difference.”

In third place was Comms-care, also a co-sponsor for the Channel Golf Day. Richard Eglon, marketing manager at Comms-care, said the event was even better than last year.

“Our team certainly did a lot better than in 2007. The event itself exceeded our expectations and the venue was superb. Changing the time of year to September helped ensure good weather and it was a great day to spend out of the office. A good day was had by all.”

A day to remember
Ryan Manly, business development director at event co-sponsor Eaton also expressed a positive opinion about the day.
“I could not fault any of it,” he said. “Everything ran very smoothly and it was a very good turnout. The venue was great and the course was fantastic and in superb condition. It was a very successful golf day. All in all a fantastic event.”