American International Underwriters (AIU) consolidated its overall lead in the Ericsson Corporate Golf League with a net score of 52 and victory during fourth-round play at the Kau Sai Chau public golf course last Thursday. Playing a Texas Scramble format which involves each player hitting and the best shot being selected, the AIU team carded an eight- under-par 62 on the 5,938-yard South Course. The victory earned the team 30 points and a 12-point lead over Ernst & Young/MeesPierson in the overall league standings. The Ernst & Young/MeesPierson foursome, boldly captained by merchant banker Mark Beames, finished second to vault ahead of the media team in the overall standings. The South China Morning Post was named the most improved team in finishing third. Rob Chipman, the individual star of the first three legs, continued his strong performance as the Global Silverhawk removal company managing director won his second STAR TV longest drive award in leading AIU to its third victory in four tournaments. The AIU team also included captain Ross Matthews, president and managing director of AIU, Bruce Howe, actuary and management consultant for ING Financial Services International Asia, and Mike Waitkus, AIU regional vice- president (property). Chipman, a 5.8 handicapper who plays out of Fanling, said the team felt it had something to prove after finishing seventh during the third leg last month. 'It was a great day and we played really well together as a team. I was hitting it well off the tee and Bruce [Howe] was solid in sinking those six-foot clutch putts and Ross [Matthews] knocked in a 30-foot snake of a putt on the 14th which really gave us momentum as we had gone about five holes without a birdie,' he said. 'The Texas Scramble is a format that really encourages team play and we just meshed together. We knew that it was going take a score in the mid 50s or better to win and the other teams were going well so it really came down to the last putt on the last hole.' Chipman drove the ball 330 yards on the 577-yard par-five 15th to win the longest drive contest for which he received a Callaway driver. 'Rob is terrific off the tee and, whenever we are in trouble, he seems to be able to slam it right down the middle,' Howe said. 'You have to have everybody in the game at some stage and there were a couple of clutch putts that we just had to make and we did.' Other prizes went to Cathay Pacific catering manager Adrian Ort for the Alfred Dunhill best dressed golfer while playing as a guest of Johnnie Walker, and to Ted Hsiung for the Johnnie Walker nearest the pin. Hsiung, a customer service director with Hongkong Telecom playing as a guest of Ericsson, hit to within 2.5 yards of the pin on the 130-yard fifth hole to win a Johnnie Walker golf bag and cover. 'It was a short hole so I used a nine iron and I hit it just right. My friend Stephen Ho birdied the hole so it was a true team effort,' he said. John Burgess, organiser of the JBA Corporate Golf League of which the Ericsson league is a part, said he was pleased with the development of the Hong Kong tournaments which are presented by the South China Morning Post.