Golfers gear for final quot;majorquot;

DECECEMBER 16: Considered one of the majors' on the Professional Golfers Association of India PGAI tour, it is not surprising that req...

DECECEMBER 16: Considered one of the majors8217; on the Professional Golfers Association of India PGAI tour, it is not surprising that requests to appear for the Rs 15 lakh Mahindra Invitational Golf Tournament mostly result in affirmations. The prize-money is impressive and so is the list of players who descend on the par-70, 6198 yards Bombay Presidency Golf Club tomorrow.

Arjun Atwal, Gaurav Ghei, Vijay Kumar, Inderjit Bhalotia and Ali Sher are the well-known faces among the 100-odd top professionals and leading amateurs taking part in the four-day event. Defending champion Firoz Ali and Arjun Singh, winner at Wills Masters, the first major8217; are among the late confirmations to the event. Delhi pro Arjun Singh will be back in action after a two and half-month lay-off due to back injury he sustained couple of days ahead of the Le Meridien-Gokarna Pro-Am October 7-10 in his home city.

Also to be seen are the formidable Vivek Bhandari and Amritinder Singh who had a feel ahead of the course and like theircompatriots, have found the course in top condition though a bit on the wetter side. Heavily watered fairways have always been a part of BPGC owing to it8217;s lesser expanse than most other competitive courses in the country. The hovering dark clouds and a slight drizzle in the city for the last few days have only added to hinder the ball from rolling on the fairways. The well drained green, however, looks fast and inviting as ever, much to the delight of the pros especially Bhalotia who, alongwith Amritinder, use the long putters which are most conducive to these kinds of greens.

Of the starting field, 40 will make the cut at the end of two days 36 holes and will vie for the winner8217;s cheque, Rs 100 short of Rs 2.5 lakh.

The runner-up will pocket approximately Rs 1.6 lakh apart from other goodies at stake, including an air-conditioned Armada jeep for a hole-in-one, Rs 1 lakh for breaking the course record and Rs 4 lakh for a 11 under-par round.

Vijay Kumar, who lost to Firoz by a stroke last year, willdefinitely look to make up for that disappointment. Last year8217;s Golfer of the Year, Vijay Kumar, had a rather subdued start this year. But three wins midway through the tour and placed second on the rankings, the burly golfer from Lucknow has made his intentions for an encore clear.

Statemate Shiv Prakash of Kanpur, leading the rankings for some time now, shows no indications of stepping down. Even after adding a few extra kilos from his last visit to Mumbai, Shiv showed he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve in a pre-tournament demonstration to the media and showed that he is still in fine nick.

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Calcutta8217;s Uttam Singh Mundy, winner of the second major8217;8211; Honda Siel PGA championship Dhaulakuan, New Delhi, October 29-November 1 8212; and a vastly improved Jyoti Randhawa, who have shown a penchant for big events, will also be trying to prove their mettle.

With the Crompton Greaves match-play being reduced to an under 15 lakh event this will be the last major8217; on the Indian tour. And with so many worthycontenders for the throne, the victor could very well be a surprise.