JOIN USThe Louis Philippe Cup is all set to return from where it had started. The fourth edition of the IPL-style golf league will be held at the Karnataka Golf Association, Bengaluru from June 11-13, albeit with a few changes.
The tournament this time will be a seven-team affair, the last edition in Mumbai had nine teams, to keep the “quality high.” Also, the organisers have done away with the knockouts and introduced the strokeplay format.
While the three-day, 54-hole tournament will continue with a total prize money of Rs. 1.2 crore, there will be added attraction for the participants with the introduction of individual prize. The pro-player with the lowest individual score total in stroke-play over the three years will pocket Rs 7 lakh with the runner-up fetching Rs 4 lakh.
“The change in the format has taken place at the behest of the players. We have seen that if the top players aren’t making the cut, the crowd interest drops. The strokeplay will keep everyone in contention till the last day,” said Rishi Narain the CEO and founder of RNGM, who has conceived the tournament besides promoting it. “Also the strokeplay format will be followed in the 2016 Rio Olympics, so we thought of incorporating it for the first time in four years.”
The seven city teams- defending champions Navratna Ahmedabad, TAKE Chennai, DLF The Crest Gurgaon, who have gone for a young squad, Jaypee Greens Greater Noida which consists of two members of the 2013 winning Delhi team, new entrants Zion Hills Bengaluru, Dev-Ellora Pune led by Bangladesh star Siddikur Rahman and Laqshya Mumbai with veterans Jyoti Randhawa and Mukesh Kumar- were unveiled on Wednesday.
Teams: Navratna Ahmedabad: Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka), Anura Rohana (Sri Lanka), 3. Shankar Das
Zion Hills Bengaluru: Rahil Gangjee, C. Muniyappa, Abhijit Singh Chadha
TAKE Chennai: SSP Chowrasia, Chikkarangappa, Khalin Joshi
Jaypee Greens Greater Noida: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Rashid Khan, Shamim Khan. DLF Gurgaon: Manu Gandas, Abhinav Lohan, Shubhankar Sharma. Laqshya Mumbai: Jyoti Randhawa, Mukesh Kumar, Manav Jaini. Dev-Ellora Pune: Siddikur Rahman, Sanjay Kumar, Om Prakash Chouhan.