By Rahul Banerji
Defending champion Yuvraj Singh Sandhu leads a field of 120 at the 22nd IndianOil Servo Masters in Digboi, Assam, that tees off on Wednesday.
The event, hosted by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Division) in Digboi will offer an enhanced prize purse of Rs 75 lakh this year, up from Rs 60 lakh last time.
The field comprises 118 professionals and two amateurs. The top 50 and ties will make the cut after round two.
The Servo Masters is the longest running tournament on the domestic circuit and on the PGTI.
It is also North-East India’s premier professional golf event in terms of the prize money on offer, the strong field and the top-class playing conditions at Digboi.
This year’s tournament will be telecast live for the first ever on PGTI’s social media platform, showcasing the event and the Digboi Golf Links to an audience across the globe.
Promoting golf
The development will also help in further promoting the sport of golf in the North-Eastern part of the country.
This year has also attracted top professionals including Khalin Joshi, the in-form Manu Gandas, besides former champions Shamim Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shankar Das, and Harendra Gupta.
Gandas is in Assam off the back of his two-shot win over Sandhu at Hyderabad and the two young guns look set to continue their battle on the Order of Merit.
Also in the field are National Games silver medallists Abhinav Lohan (individual event) and Trishul Chinnappa (team event) and bronze medallists Sunhit Bishnoi (individual event) and Sachin Baisoya (team event).
The overseas challenge would be led by Sri Lankans Mithun Perera, N. Thangaraja, Anura Rohana and K, Prabagaran, Bangladesh’s Md Akbar Hossain and Nepal’s Sukra Bahadur Rai.
Assam will be represented by the Digboi-based Biren Karmakar, Deven Bhumij, Sunil Mura, Dulal Kalowar and Deepraj Chetia and amateurs Alok Barua and Naveen Kumar Kisalay.
Larger vision
“The support to Indian professional golf and the staging of the IndianOil Servo Masters Golf is an integral part of our vision for the growth of sports in India,” said CGM and refinery head IOCL (AOD) K.K. Sarma at the pre-event press conference.
“We welcome leading professionals from India and abroad to the historic and picturesque Digboi Golf Links for the longest-running tournament on the Indian professional circuit.
“We are extremely excited about the live telecast this year which will help in further popularising the event as it will be seen by a much larger audience across the country.”
The Digboi Golf Links is a one of its kind in terms of ambience as it is situated among the lush tea estates and thick forest of eastern Assam.
The historic 6,329-yard par-72 venue is bordered by the Dehing forest reserve on three sides and the Patkai range of mountains on the fourth.
Also read: Gandas defends Golconda Masters title despite last-hole scare
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