Bengal Open to be played at Tollygunj Club from Tuesday

By Rahul Banerji

The Rs 30 lakh Bengal Open Golf Championship will be played at the historic Tollygunj Club from Tuesday, the Tata Steel-PGTI said in Kolkata on the day. It marks the return of pro golf to the eastern cosmopolis after a year’s break.

Presented by West Bengal Tourism and powered by Tollygunge Club, the tournament will run till Friday with the Pro-Am to follow on Saturday.

The 2019 season’s fourth tournament will see 126 golfers in action, including 123 professionals and three amateurs in action on the Tollygunj Club course. Besides leading Indian professionals, the field will also feature golfers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, besides others.

Local challenge

Top Indian pros in the fray include local boy and two-time Indian Open winner S.S.P. Chawrasia, also a four-time European Tour winner, Rahil Gangjee (winner on the Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour), Viraj Madappa (India’s youngest Asian Tour titlist), Bangladesh Open champion Rashid Khan, Aman Raj, Chiragh Kumar, Udayan Mane and Karandeep Kochhar, to name a few.

Incidentally, all the three leading players in the field, Chawrasia, Gangjee and Madappa, either call Kolkata home or were long-time residents of the City of Joy.

The overseas challenge will be led by the Sri Lankan trio of Anura Rohana, N, Thangaraja and Mithun Perera as well as Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah.

‘Golfing history’

PGTI chief executive Uttam Singh Mundy, said,“The city of Kolkata has had a rich golfing legacy and has made a huge contribution to Indian golf having produced many world-class players.

The Tata Steel PGTI therefore looks forward to its return to Kolkata after over a year with the staging of the inaugural Bengal Open. The tournament seeks to promote Kolkata as a popular golfing destination which will in turn contribute towards boosting tourism in West Bengal.

“The stellar field which features some of India’s leading names makes for a fascinating week of golfing action.”

Capt. Ravi Dey, golf captain of Tollygunge Club added, “We are very pleased to host the Tata Steel PGTI during the inaugural Bengal Open. The tournament promises to be a great experience for our club members who will get to witness India’s top golfing stars in action.”

Tollygunge Club’s 18-hole, par-70, championship course is an all-season venue and rich in challenge and natural appeal.

Lahiri ends API on low note

Meanwhile, on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, India’s flag-bearer on the US PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri finished a disappointing campaign, capping his run with a 1-over 73 for a four-day total of 8-over par 296. He had a share of 69^th and last.

Up at the top of the leaderboard, 2018 Race to Dubai winner Francesco Molinari turned on the class with a final day round of 8-uner 64, starting five shots behind overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Stunning close

Molinari’s bogey-free round on Sunday was rounded off with a knockout 43-foot birdie putt on his last hole that gave him a two-shot margin over fellow-European Fitzpatrick.

“I tried to be aggressive from the start and it was nice to see quite a lot of putts dropping especially for my standards,” Molinari said later. “I think it’s been the best putting round ever in my career. And it’s nice to do it, obviously in those circumstances, at Arnie’s place.

“And I don’t know, there must be something going on with that line (on 18), because it seems that a lot of guys winning the tournament make that putt.”

The Italian now has three PGA Tour wins from his last 12 Tour starts and climbs all he way from 151st to 20th place in the FedExCup, and seventh in the world rankings.

A year ago it was Rory McIlroy shooting 8 under on Sunday to win. He had a chance to go back-to-back having started just one off the lead but faded to a T6 finish, his sixth recent start in the final group and no joy at the end of it.

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