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THE Royal Golf Club’s new captain Badea Esbai has his sights on securing victory in this summer’s member’s trip tournament – the 2015 Royal Pattaya Challenge taking place in Thailand.
He is following his older brother Ebrahim’s footsteps into the coveted role and has also set himself a series of challenging tasks, including helping junior players to adopt good habits on the course such as fixing divots, pitch marks, raking bunkers and to properly learn the etiquette of the sport.
“I hope to bring members closer to the club … and win this year’s club competition in Thailand,” said Badea, a 49-year-old businessman and former engineer.
He also wants to ensure members are clear on club rules during competitions, try to make some events more fun and to encourage them to attend club social events and make more use of the RGC’s facilities and restaurants.
The Bahraini returned to live in the kingdom seven years ago, having lived most of the 20 years previously outside the country working for NCR, Compaq, HP and finally as general manager of Microsoft covering Oman, as well as his home country.
Educated at Oklahoma State University and George Washington University, he has lived in the US, Germany and the UAE.
Badea has been married for 25 years to Eman Ali, a dentist with the Bahrain Ministry of Heath, and they have three children – Nooh, 19, Noor, 15, and Naya, 10, and live in Saar.
Ebrahim, the Royal Golf Club’s 2013 Captain, introduced him to the game of golf and suggested his younger sibling was ‘a natural’ which was enough to get him hooked on the game.
Badea was a member of Dubai Creek Golf Club for six years before moving back to Bahrain. Playing off a handicap of 11, he says he loves the sport because of the ‘constant unknown’. “You come to the game prepared and don’t know what to expect,” he explained.
“Golf is a great networking game and it comes with many rules, etiquette, dress code and equipment. Give it a serious try for about three months and I guarantee that you will be hooked. It has some sort of addiction to it – very soon you will love it and travel all around the world to play different courses by different designers.”
So who is the best player out of the two siblings? You’ll not receive a direct answer. “We always had different views about certain things, this is my opportunity to voice them up - I am 10 years younger. Why don’t you put some money on this to find out?” Badea cheekily suggested to the question.
One thing for sure, he’s determined one good cause will benefit from his lofty position at the club. Badea’s chosen charity for 2015 is the Bahrain Down Syndrome Society.
* It’s the first time in the kingdom’s golfing history that all three club Captains at the Royal Golf Club, Bahrain Golf Club and Awali Golf Club are Bahrainis during the same period.
