By Rahul Banerji
Interesting match-ups mark the field for Thursday, the opening day of the third Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational presented by TAKE Sports at the Chandigarh Golf Club.
With a field of 120 in just the 11th event of the year thanks to the pandemic, every tournament has assumed extra value. Fittingly, India’s only regular face on the PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri, has flown all the way back home for this one.
For the first two rounds, Lahiri has been clubbed with European Tour card holder Gaganjeet Bhullar and rising star Karandeep Kochhar.
This will be Lahiri’s first appearance at a Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) event since 2014.
Another group that will bear watching is tournament host Jeev’s, along with Viraj Madappa and Abhijit Singh Chadha.
And a third one features three-time Indan Open winner S.S.P Chawrasia, 2018 winner Chikkarangappa S. and local star Aadil Bedi.
PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane lines up with former Panasonic Open winners Khalin Joshi and Chiragh Kumar.
Sunit Chowrasa, who recently shot a course record 10-under 62 at the CGC has been clubbed with Honey Baisoya and Yuvraj Singh Chauhan.
Honouring a legend
The tournament was jointly launched by TAKE Sports and the Tata Steel PGTI in 2018 as a gesture to honour Jeev, a true Indian golfing legend.
Other prominent names in the fray include Asian Tour regulars Jyoti Randhawa and leading Indian in the world rankings, Rashid Khan.
Jeev is the first Indian professional golfer to have a PGTI event named after him. He has the distinction of being the only Indian to have won the Asian Tour Order of Merit twice (in 2006 and 2008).
The Chandigarh native has also won multiple titles on the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour and Asian Tour and has 14 Major appearances to his name. Jeev achieved a career-high world ranking of 28, an Indian record.
“I’m really excited about hosting the third edition of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational presented by TAKE Sports,” Jev said on the vent launch on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t have asked for better finishes over the last two years as both the previous editions ended with playoffs.
‘Strong fields’
“The tournament has also had very strong fields and good scoring in the past. Hopefully, we’ll get to witness an even more enthralling and successful event this year.”
The winner of this third edition of the Jeev Invitational will earn Rs 24.24 lakh, with Rs 16.74 lakh going to the runner-up. The 50th and final money-earning place will walk away with Rs 63,750 from the total prize fund of Rs 1.5 crore.
Also read: Lahiri to feature at Jeev’s Invitational in Chandigarh
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