By Rahul Banerji
Leading Indian professional golfers will tee up for the inaugural Rs 1 crore Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational to be played at the DLF Golf and Country Club from Tuesday.
The tournament will be the first-ever full-field PGTI event to be played at the testing Gary Player layout and will offer Rs 15 lakh to the winner from a total field of 126 professionals.
After two days, the top 50 players and ties will advance to the final two rounds.
Amateur teams, consisting of golfers, celebrities and corporate leaders will then get a chance to partner with the pros in Rounds 3 and 4 to compete for separate team prizes.
The field features Gaganjeet Bhullar (11 international wins) and Jyoti Randhawa (nine international wins) besides the likes of Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (four PGTI wins), Manu Gandas (4), Shamim Khan (15) and Abhijit Singh Chadha (3), to name a few.
Prominent overseas players in the field include Sri Lankans Mithun Perera (7 PGTI Wins), Anura Rohana (6 PGTI Wins), N. Thangaraja (3 PGTI Wins), Bangladeshi Jamal Hossain (3 PGTI Wins) and Australian Kunal Bhasin (3 PGTI Wins).
Bhullar, a winner on the Asian Tour this year, said, “It’s great to be back on the PGTI where I started my pro career.
All praise
“I’m also excited about returning to the magnificent venue where I have won in the past. I would like to thank Kapil Dev and Grant Thornton for putting this event together.
“I have known Mr. Dev and played golf with him on several occasions. Hats off to him, after having achieved so much in cricket, he is working towards the growth of Indian golf.
“It’ll be fun playing alongside Jyoti who I grew up watching and Yuvraj who has been in tremendous form of late.”
Jyoti Randhawa, who has had multiple wins at the host course, said, “The course is very demanding from tee to green. You have to be straight off the tees, be accurate with your second shots and need to negotiate the undulating greens.
“The unique format is something that both professionals and amateurs are looking forward to.
“While the amateurs learn a lot tackling the pressure while playing alongside the professionals, we get to learn about how the amateurs, many of whom come from the corporate world, deal with the pressures of their work.”
Also read: Kapil Dev, Grant Thornton join hands for Pro-Am event with PGTI
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