ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship returns for its second edition

By Rahul Banerji

The second edition of the Indian Chamber of Commerce-Royal Calcutta Golf Club Open will tee off in Kolkata on Wednesday offering a prize purse of Rs 40 lakh.

Powered by Urbana, the ICC RCGC Open will feature defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka and recent Servo Masters champion Yuvraj Singh Sandhu among others.

Also in the field are the likes of Manu Gandas, Om Prakash Chouhan, Akshay Sharma, Shamim Khan, and Mukesh Kumar with a number of top PGTI professionals away in Phuket for the Asian Tour’s resumption.

The ICC RCGC Open returns after a Covid-enforced gap of a year.

The international presence is boosted by Sri Lankans Anura Rohana, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran, and Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, Badal Hossain, Md Sayum, Md Dulal Hossain and Md Akbar Hossain from Bangladesh.

Powerful presence

The local challenge will be led by former PGTI Order of Merit champion Shankar Das, former Indian Open champion Feroz Ali Mollah, Sunit Chowrasia, Divyanshu Bajaj and Mohammad Sanju.

By way of some background, the Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the second oldest golf club outside the British Isles.

The RCGC, affectionately known as the ‘Royal’, is steeped in history and was established in 1829.

It is widely regarded as the founder of Indian golf and has staged some of the most prestigious tournaments including the Indian Open and the All India Amateur Championship.

The ,7014-yard course favours long hitters and inaccurate shots are punished severely. A large number of water hazards makes the course a challenge to master.

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