By Rahul Banerji
Ahmedabad continues to play host to Professional Golf Tour of India, this time in the form of the Glade One Masters 2021, which comes on the calendar for the first time from Tuesday.
The Rs 30 lakh event will see a high-powered field in action just days after the action-packed Gujarat Open held at Kalhaar Blues & Greens last week.
Bangalore’s Chikkaragappa S. came from virtually nowhere last Friday to net the winner’s cheque at Kalhaar and he goes into the Glade One Masters as one of the favourites.
“I’m really looking forward to playing at this magnificent course,” he said on Monday when he also learnt he had gained 102 places (434 to 342, thanks Anand Datla) in the world rankings.
Om Prakash Chouhan, for three days in the Gujarat Open lead before it slipped away, will want to put that behind and continue his search for a fifth PGTI title at the Gary Player-designed layout.
Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kocchhar made up good ground at Kalhaar and will be keen to open a further gap at the top, especially with Chikka and others breathing down his neck.
Unique format
The Glade One Masters will be the ninth event of the wraparound 2020-2021 PGTI season and will be played on a somewhat different format than is usual.
The picturesque course designed by Gary Player is a nine-hole spread and each one has a unique character. At the Masters, the first two rounds will consist of nine holes each.
The cut will be thus be applied after 18 holes and the the final two rounds will comprise 18 holes each. The tournament will be played over a total of 54 holes.
Also in action will be Rashid Khan, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Viraj Madappa and Khalin Joshi along with the current top-ranked Indian in the world Udayan Mane.
The local challenge will be led by Varun Parikh, Anshul Patel, Jay Pandya, Shravan Desai and Arshpreet Thind.
Said Thind, also the general manager of the course and resort, “Glade One is delighted to host its first men’s professional tournament in partnership with the PGTI.
‘Memorable experience’
“Our team has worked relentlessly to put together this event and we are confident that it’s going to be a memorable experience for both the players and hosts.
“We look forward to a successful event this year and building our alliance with the PGTI.”
“The Glade One Golf Resort has some tricky holes with water bodies and its standout features are the island green and an island tee,” Chikka pointed out.
“An island tee is something that I’ve never seen before so it adds to the uniqueness of this course.”
Added Viraj Madappa, “I really like the layout here at the Glade One Golf Resort.
“It’s a very challenging course, the tee shots are quite demanding, holes quite lengthy and with the wind against you, a lot of the par-5s can play even longer.
“There are a lot of hazards here such as water bodies and bunkers which can trouble you if you don’t hit good shots.”
Also read: Chikka scores come-from-behind win in Gujarat Open as OP blows up
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