Tata Steel PGTI Q School begins today at Ahmedabad

By Rahul Banerji

The Tata Steel PGTI Qualifying School 2022 will be held at the Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club in Ahmedabad, from Friday, January 7, to January 20.

The Q School, which kickstarts each PGTI season, is a key component of the PGTI calendar as it is the only route for players to qualify to play on the regular in a particular season.

The tournament determines the criteria for players for the whole season.

Gujarat Tourism is the Presenting Partner for this year’s Qualifying School.

The Q School event runs for the longest duration among all PGTI events as it is staged over a period of two weeks. It is the biggest gathering of golfers in the country.

This year’s Q School event will witness participation by a total of 338 golfers including 259 professionals and 79 amateurs.

The Q School also heralds the infusion of fresh talent each year, as besides the established professionals, leading amateur and junior golfers from India and overseas compete hoping to qualify for the PGTI and turn professional.

This year’s Q School will also feature as many as 20 golfers from overseas.

The list includes eight players from Bangladesh, four from Canada, two from Australia, two from Sri Lanka, and one each from the US, Britain, UAE, and Nepal.

Two-year hiatus

This time around the PGTI is staging its Q School after a gap of one year due to the pandemic. The last such event was back in January of 2020.

The First Stage of the Q School will comprise of three 36-hole events – Pre Qualifying I, Pre Qualifying II and Pre Qualifying III.

While Pre Qualifying I will be on Friday and Saturday, Pre Qualifying II will be held on January 10 and 11 and Pre Qualifying III takes place on January 13 and 14.

A specified number of players will make it to the Final Stage from the field of 101 at Pre Qualifying I, 90 at Pre Qualifying II and 99 at Pre Qualifying III.

Qualifiers from the First Stage will join the 48 exempt players in the Final Stage which is scheduled to be held from January 17 to 20.

The 72-hole Final Stage event will feature a field of 120 players.

The top 80 and ties will make the halfway cut after two rounds of the Final Stage.

At the end of the Final Stage, the top 40 players will earn their full cards for the 2022 PGTI season. The Final Stage offers a total prize purse of Rs. 5 lakh.

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