The Bengal Tiger Line (BTL) Golf Masters tournament, one of the best-loved sporting events among Singapore’s shipping fraternity, was back in all its glory this year.

More than 100 shipping professionals, most from the container sector, flocked to Sentosa Island’s Serapong fairways on 19 August to compete in the 32nd annual BTL Singapore Golf Masters, which was held in its traditional pre-Covid style.

With borders fully open, and participants coming from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, South Korea and Germany, including BTL founder Joachim von der Heydt, a full scramble field was back in play.

At a lively prize-giving dinner, the comedic antics of BTL chief executive Bill Smart had everyone in fits of laughter.

This was in marked contrast to last year’s event, played under Singapore’s strict Covid protocols, which required small teams of players to don masks and play a socially distanced “Golf and go home” game.

BTL has new owners in the form of HICO Investment Group, the trust owned by the Hartnoll family of X-Press Feeders fame, but Smart assured TradeWinds that it will be business as usual at the company — and the BTL Golf Masters will remain an annual fixture on shipping’s sporting circuit long into the future.