Packed Kolkata Challenge field set to face a damp RCGC test

By Rahul Banerji

Delhi leg winner and Race to Mallorca leader John Parry will face a stiff test going into the second leg of the Challenge Tour’s India swing, in Kolkata from Thursday.

France’s Martin Couvra was a frontrunner in the first leg and will want to go one better at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, whose 7,230-yard spread will provide a slightly different test that the rolling Classic course near Gurgaon.

Then there’s the oversized home contingent lined up for the $300,000 Kolkata Challenge including high-flying local boys Arjun Atwal, India’s only winner on the PGA Tour, and two-time Indian Open champion Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia.

Making things even more interesting was a spell of rain that has settled over the City of Joy and helped make for a damp Pro-Am on the day.

Both Atwal and Chawrasia, not to mention the much-travelled Rahil Gangjee, cut their baby teeth on the fairways of Kolkata’s two main venues, RCGC and the nearby Tollygunge Club.

All three have it in them to test a largely international field, having mixed it up around the world for a fair number of years. Adding spice to the mix is India’s most successful face on the Asian Tour, Gaganjeet Bhullar, and current PGTI rankings leader Manu Gandas.

Clear goal

Leading into the event, Gandas, 28, who was a DP World Tour cardholder in 2023 after topping the PGTI order of merit, told the Challenge Tour website, “The goal of getting back to the DP World Tour is definitely there.

“I realise though that it’s a long road, and there’s a lot of months to go to the end of the season.

“All I can do right now is think about the week ahead and just do what I can. My game overall is starting to come back and hopefully by the end of this week I have something good to shout about.”

A winner at the RCGC where he topped the 2022 Chawrasia Invitational, Gandas is keen to get back to grips with the course.

“I always look forward to playing here,” he said. “That was probably the win that sealed my card for the DP World Tour, and of course, at that time I was playing well.

“If you’re good off the tee, you’re sorted on this course. You need good putting and a good short game, but that goes for any course. If you’re good off the tee though, you will give yourself a chance.”

That is exactly what a field of 156 will be looking for, including Gandas’ successor on the DP World Tour, Om Prakash Chouhan, who also won the Chawrasia Invitational last year on his way to topping the 2023 PGTI rankings.

Incidentally, the RCGC also makes its debut on the Challenge Tour – bringing international golf back to the city after 25 years – and it comes with a history that stretches back all the way back to 1829, making it the oldest club outside Britain.

It is also a regular PGTI venue, making it familiar territory for the 55 Indians in the field, not to mention PGTI cardholders from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Also read: Parry ends 14-year wait, Honey Baisoya T12 at Delhi Challenge