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This is an archive article published on April 11, 2023
Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship starts tomorrow: On home course, city lad hopes to defend his title
Sandhu, who missed winning the PGTI Order of Merit by a whisker last year with five PGTI wins under his belt, will hope to win the Rs 1 crore prize money tournament at the 7,202-yard-long Chandigarh Golf Club course.
Golfer Yuvraj Sandhu and Om Prakash Chouhan with officials during the press conference at Chandigarh Golf Club on Monday. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
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Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship starts tomorrow: On home course, city lad hopes to defend his title
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When Chandigarh lad 26-year-old Yuvraj Singh Sandhu tees off in the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship starting Wednesday later this week, it will be the first time in his career that the youngster will be defending a title at his home course. Sandhu, who missed winning the PGTI Order of Merit by a whisker last year with five PGTI wins under his belt, will hope to win the Rs 1 crore prize money tournament at the 7,202-yard-long Chandigarh Golf Club course.
“While it’s an honour for me to play at my home course as the defending champion, it also carries the extra pressure of playing in front of the home crowd. The feeling is overlooked by the comfort of playing in familiar conditions and that will be my target this week. This is the first time that I will be defending a PGTI title and to get the opportunity at my home course will only motivate me. The roughs this week are up and the greens are firmer and quicker. The golf course will be a bit dewy and rough in the morning while it gets windy and dry in the afternoon. Adjusting to the conditions will be the key here,” said Sandhu, who has so far won a total of eight titles in his professional career.
Ahmedabad golfer 36-year-old Om Prakash Chouhan who won his maiden European Challenge Tour win in Ahmedabad last month, will also be the key contender for the title in the four-day tournament starting April 12. Chauhan had carded a score of 20-under-par to win the title at Ahmedabad and it included a final round score of seven-under-65.
“The conditions here are similar to my home course. Winning the European Challenge Tour title in Ahmedabad has boosted my confidence a lot and I will be looking forward to carrying the momentum here. I will be playing in a couple of European Challenge tour events this season before I decide whether to play on the same or the Asian Tour,” said Chouhan, who had pocketed a prize money of Rs 39,84,000.
It will also be the first time that the PGTI Players Championship at Chandigarh will offer a total prize money of Rs 1 crore. Earlier, the total prize money was Rs 50 lakh for the event. “Last year, we had a total prize money of close to Rs 17 crore for the PGTI season and this year we expect it to be around Rs 23 crore. Chandigarh Golf Course is in pristine condition and we are thankful to the management, including president H S Chahal and club captain K S Sibia and other staff for the efforts,” said Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI.
A total of 126 — 123 professionals and three amateurs — players will be competing in the tournament. The leading professionals are last year PGTI Order of Merit winner Udayan mane, Sachin Baisoya, Gaurav Pratap Singh, apart from Sandhu and Chouhan.
The foreign challenge will be led by Sri Lankans Mithun Perera, N Thangaraja, Anura Rohana, K Prabagaran, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain, Badal Hossain, Md Akbar Hossain, Americans Varun Chopra, Tejas Sinha, Nepal’s Sukra Bahadur Rai, Canadians Sukhraj Singh Gill, Minwoo Park, Japan’s Makoto Iwasaki and Andorra’s Kevin Esteve Rigaill.
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