An ace performance from Australian Ian Penboss was not enough to prevent Mission Hills retaining its title in the third edition of the club’s annual Reciprocal Championship.

Contested over the Stone Quarry Course and Vintage Course at Mission Hills Haikou, on the tropical island of Hainan, the two-day championship featured players representing clubs from Australia and Singapore.

The individual highlight was provided by Penboss.

The 13-handicapper from the Box Hill Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia had the distinction of scoring a hole-in-one on the par-three 11th hole on the Stone Quarry Course on day one.

Thanks to that memorable effort, Penboss and his colleagues in the Box Hill Team 3 – Geoff Jones, Suzanne Burns and John McFarlane – claimed first runners-up spot.

In the event that involved mixed teams of male and female golfers playing 36 holes of better-ball using the Stableford scoring format, they amassed a two-day aggregate of 167 points.

That enabled them to pip Box Hill Team 4 – George Hoskin, Anthony Pearce, Mark Walkinshaw and David McGrail – on a countback.

But overall victory went to the Mission Hills quartet of Raymond Koot, Stephen Lo, Jason Wang and Echo Su, who proved too strong for their rivals.

Making the most of home advantage, the Mission Hills team compiled a team total of 197 points with 19-handicapper Lo and 17-handicapper Koot both contributing 84 points.

Lo won the prize for the best individual performance in the Mens’ Division, edging out Koot on a countback.

Su, playing off a handicap of 34, was the leading female with a tally of 75 points individually.

Other clubs that sent teams to the championship were Australia’s Spring Valley Golf Club and the Sandhurst Club and Singapore’s Orchid Country Club.

Tenniel Chu, Mission Hills vice chairman, reiterated his belief that the club’s Reciprocal Championship can grow into an important event on the annual amateur golfing calendar.

He said: “Mission Hills has established reciprocal arrangements with a total of 442 clubs in no fewer than 42 countries, covering five continents.

“That represents the biggest golf club networking opportunity in the world.

“Mission Hills is officially the world’s biggest golf club.

“As such it’s entirely fitting that we should play host to the world’s biggest – and best – reciprocal tournament.

“With China now firmly established on the world golfing map as a top-quality golfing destination, the potential for the Mission Hills Reciprocal Championship to expand is unlimited.”