JOIN USAmbitious bunch make up for depleted field
Unlike the past few years that witnessed the top guns of Indian golf slugging it out at the Karnataka Golf Association, many pros have given this event a miss owing to their participation in the Asian Tour’s Macau Open starting on Thursday.
Eight of the top-20 players from the PGTI’s Order of Merit List will be missing with the prominent ones being Asian Tour winners Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Jyoti Randhawa and Himmat Singh Rai, who on Sunday became the latest entrant in that list.
While their absence may rob KGA of top quality action, a clutch of talented pros will be eyeing their chance in the Rs 40 lakh prize money event.
Defending champion Ashok Kumar, who has played just three events on the Indian Tour this year and five on the Asian Tour, is among the leading contenders this time. Ashok’s surprising decision to train at home instead of playing has hurt his PGTI ranking this season. “I am not really worried about the rankings,” said Ashok. “I’ve been training hard and the driving and putting are working fine.”
While Ashok is struggling to find the form of last season, one youngster who is drawing attention with every passing round is Rashid Khan. The 20-year-old from Delhi, who turned pro late last season to compete in the Indian Open, has enjoyed another promising year.
The rail-thin youngster captured his maiden pro title at the Surya Nepal Masters this March and has made the cut in all the eight tournaments he has competed in so far, securing three top-10 finishes.
Sri Lanka’s Mithun Perera, fighting it out with Rashid for the PGTI Rookie of the Year award, has the skills to make a surprise statement while veterans Mukesh Kumar and Gaurav Ghei have the experience to walk the distance.
Conditions-wise, KGA’s narrow fairways and quick greens will lay huge emphasis on accuracy in driving and putting.
Trophy apart, the biggest prize that awaits the 121-member field, including six amateurs, is a smashing BMW 5 series car. The first person to fire a hole-in-one gets the luxury sedan, cost of which is six times the winner’s cheque of Rs 6,46,600.
In the morning session of the pro-am event, Gurki Shergill led his team of Samir Hiremath, Bhusan Byragani and Arjun Anekar to victory with a score of 56. Ashok’s team of Sumit Rathor, Sudarshan Maney and N Prakash triumphed in the afternoon session with a score of 52.5.