An overview of the Mission Hills Star Trophy
They can act, they can get Oscars, but do not expect them to play golf with professionalism as they cannot! The inaugural Mission Hills Star Trophy kicked off yesterday at the Blackstone Course, which is situated in Haikou, South
China.
The 36-hole event started like red carpet reception with all the glitz and glamour. The stars arrived with cameras flashing at them and within moments, they were meeting the rest of the field. Other than focusing on golf, everything
else was being given ultimate attention.
The format of the inaugural was quite compelling: For the first two days, the field had been divided into groups of five with one amateur or professional teamed up with four celebrities. The next two rounds would be in the form
of a four-ball stroke play, between 20 teams consisting of a celebrity and a professional, with a 36-hole individual professional event running simultaneously on the Blackstone Course.
The revolutionary celebrity golf pro-am event is being held from October 28-31, and includes eight time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps, Hollywood diva Catherine Zeta-Jones, British actor Hugh Grant, movie director Feng
Xiaogang and actor Chen Daoming.
The world’s youngest winner on the European tour Danny Lee collaborated with Zeta-Jones who recently won the Tony Award. The young professional forgot how to roll a ball into the hole in the presence of the glamorous actress. He
told the press that he could not concentrate on the game with Zeta Jones around.
The 20-year-old shyly said, “I focused on giving her tips on the course instead." The duo wrapped the first round with a score of five-under 68. Zeta Jones is very fond of the sports and she is often seen at the golf celebrity
events. In early October, the 40-year-old attended the ‘Welcome to Wales concert’, which was staged in Wales to celebrate the arrival of the Ryder Cup.
The same scenario repeated with Phelps and Laura Davies. The pair failed to deliver a sound performance, and thereby, took the second last spot of the leader board. They shot a score of one-under-72. According to Davies, the reason
behind the deviation was lack of concentration on the course. With a huge star stellar cast, it was difficult for everyone to aim a straight tee shot.
Speaking to the press Phelps said, "I didn't practice golf for a long time, and only had some golf lessons recently. My goal here is just to learn from others. China will always have a special place in my heart, but to come back
and have fun playing golf in Mission Hills is a totally new experience for me. This is a chance to relax, enjoy China and really see a different side of one of my favourite countries.”
On the other hand, the movie star from Hong Kong, Eric Tsang was put into the team with Rosie Jones who is an American golfer. The group surged to lead with a score of 11-under- 62. They were followed by the Dutch football hero
Ruud Gullit and Kong Wei Hai at a score of eight-under- 65. They seized the third place of the leader board.
The first round of Mission Hills Star Trophy ended with smiles and laughter everywhere. The event is being broadcasted live to over 150 counties across the world. The purpose of the event is to support the government-led initiative
to make Hainan an eye-catching spot in the future.
Thats it for news regarding the Mission Hills Star Trophy. The tournament inaugurated on 28th October and will stretch all the way to the 31st of this month. The event is featuring 20 professional golfers,
20 celebrities and 120 amateurs.
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