Daniel Gavins and Callum Shinkwin claimed the Hero Challenge title at Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al Khaimah after the English duo teamed up to card eight birdies in the nine-hole Texas Scramble event for a winning eight under total.
Team competition for variety
The innovative team event was broadcast on television around the globe as well as on YouTube and social media, where fans could watch the stars of the DP World Tour in a more relaxed atmosphere – chatting regularly to on-course commentators and with some players miked up throughout their round.
In a classic better-ball scramble format, birdies were key and Gavins and Shinkwin looked unstoppable from the word go, birdieing every one of the first seven holes to storm into the lead. A par at the eighth briefly stunted their progress but a four at the par five 18th hole laid down the gauntlet early on.
Many teams tried, but none could get within touching distance of the Englishmen, who earned a two-stroke victory over the field with an eight under score of 28.
Second place was shared by nine teams on six under par, including that of winning 2018 Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn and his team-mate James Morrison, and in-form Englishman Richard Bland who teamed up with former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson to card four birdies and an eagle two.
Callum Shinkwin: "It feels fantastic!"
"It feels fantastic, it was a great fun today. I’m glad that the Tour and Hero put this up for us today because we’re here for two weeks, it was great fun to play and obviously Dan is good friend of mine, so it was great.", Callum Shinkwin said after the competition. "One of our caddies said ten under was going to win but thankfully he was wrong!"
Daniel Gavins used the Hero Challenge for his preparation, "For me it was a little bit about getting out to see the course because I didn’t play here last week so I hadn’t seen it. It was a lot of fun though, it was nice to get out and have a laugh. We were actually a little bit annoyed to par the eighth, we wanted to birdie every hole, but it was nice to win."
Text: DP World Tour