Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan

SWEDEN-FINLAND GOLF CHALLENGE, 5 November 2004

Venue:
Windsor Park G & C.C., Ibaraki Pref.
Team Result:
SCCJ 76.67 - FCCJ 77.28

RECAP

A beautiful morning and a fine course awaits the players (click image for bigger version)

The Golf Challenge was again a very close competition. The Swedish chamber had an average of 76.67 strokes and the Finnish 77.28, a margin of 0.6 strokes. This was the fourth consequtive win for the SCCJ team.

This time the competition was played at the Windsor Park Golf & Country Club near Mito in Ibaraki prefecture. The course was in perfect condition and the service at the club second to none. This was the first time to use a shotgun start, i.e. all players tee-off at the same time from different tees, and playing through without a lunch break.

Mitsuo Okabe had the best net score in the competition, and he also won the FCCJ Golf Cup. Second was Tuomo Kuuppo, with same net score but higher handicap. Third, and winner of the SCCJ Autumn Cup was Åke Larsson. Also the SCCJ Cup was a thightly fought competition, Carl-Gustav Eklund had same score, with same handicap, so age had to be the decisive factor.

Even if FCCJ had the two best players, and four players among the top-six, the SCCJ won with a more even team, their worst score to be counted was 82, that of FCCJ was 89 (best 80% was counted in the team scores).

This time the event was organized by FCCJ, with some help from SCCJ. We would like to thank the title sponsor Stora Enso Japan, Wilson (Amer Sports Japan) who again donated many fine prizes and all the others who brought nice prizes to the competition, and to UPM-Kymmene Japan who ensured that we did not run out of beer at the party. Our thanks go also to the Windsor Park G & C.C., Gordon Simmonds and Yusuke Kudo for helping us making this a great event at very reasonable costs.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (top 10)
Pos.	Player	Company	Team	HCP	Gross	Net
1.	Mitsuo Okabe	Nippon Felt Shoji	FCCJ	20	89	69
2.	Tuomo Kuuppo	Stora Enso Japan	FCCJ	22	91	69
3.	Åke Larsson	Invest in Sweden Agency	SCCJ	14	85	71
4.	C.G. Eklund	Höganäs Japan	SCCJ	14	85	71
5.	Isao Nishimura	Nishimura & Associates	FCCJ	24	95	71
6.	Masaoki Fujita	Coil Center Fujita	FCCJ	28	100	72
7.	Hans Porat	Gadelius	SCCJ	16	90	74
8.	Toyoaki Uchida	UPM-Kymmene Japan	FCCJ	20	94	74
9.	Dayton Hughes	AMT Group	SCCJ	16	91	75
10.	Katsuhito Hiramoto	Stora Enso Japan	FCCJ	30	106	76

Note: if players have same net, the one with lower handicap wins, if still same, the older player wins.

IMAGES FROM THE COMPETITION

The 33 players pose for a group photo before start of play.
Eero Ala-Jääski, President of Stora Enso Japan makes the first shot.	Hans Porat of Gadelius (SCCJ) with a fine tee-shot.
Clas Halling of Seco Tols Japan shoots his second at No. 7.	Eero Ala-Jääski and one cloud watch over Clas Halling's second at No. 14.
Hans Porat and Clas Halling showing confidence at the 18th hole.	The second group at the 18th green.
Timo Varhama, UPM-Kymmene Japan, Kagechika Matano, Ikea and Eero Ala-Jääski.	Isao Nishumra, Nishimura & Associates, Dayton Hughes AMT Group, Yoshinori Sano, Seiwa Accounting services, Mitsuo Okabe, Nippon Felt Shoji, Katsuhiro Hiramoto and Yoshiko Takyu of Stora Enso Japan.
Kjell Grooth, AstraZeneca, Hans Porat, Åke Larsson, Invest in Sweden Agency, Carl-Gustav Eklund, Höganäs Japan and Bettan Larsson.	"Who is going to be the winner of the team competition..."
Winner of the individual competition and the FCCJ Cup, Mitsuo Okabe.	Winner of the SCCJ Colf Cup, Åke Larsson.
Mitsuo Okabe with his prize, a golf bag by Wilson.	No.2, Tuomo Kuuppo of Stora Enso Japan with his prize, a Wilson wedge.
Eero Ala-Jääski presents the Stora Enso Cup to the winning SCCJ team, here represented by Carl-Gustav Eklund and Åke Larsson.	Åke Larsson checks the previous winners of the cup, yes, this was the fourth consecutive win for SCCJ.