Rs 80 lakh meet to begin with

With the Indian Open wrapped up, the new domestic golf season is all set to roll.

With the Indian Open wrapped up, the new domestic golf season is all set to roll. Having promised a bigger tour in this second season, the opening event of the 2007 Professional Golf Tour of India — the Bilt Open — was announced with an inflated bounty.

The Rs 80 lakh event — up from Rs 70 lakh — will be held at the Jaypee Greens course in Greater Noida from October 18 to 21, and though it suffers from the absence of the country’s European Tour regulars, it will see the Indian Asian Tour stars.

With defending champion Jyoti Randhawa flying back to Europe for the last few events of the season, and Shiv Kapur trying to save his EPGA card, Gaurav Ghei will be the biggest name turning up at the richest domestic event ever. Rahil Gangjee, enjoying form that saw him finish third at the Indian Open, will also be there.

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Second place finisher from last year, Singapore’s Lam Chih-bing hoped to get his hands on the bigger winner’s cheque of Rs 12.9 lakh this time. Some more international fare will be dished out in the shape of Australian Unho Park, who finished tied 22nd at last week’s Indian Open and makes his Indian domestic tour debut here.

The prize money hike is in line with the PGTI’s assertion of doubling the total money on the circuit, according to tour commissioner Ajai Gupta. “This year we have lined up an additional ten events to the ten from last season, and the prize money will go up proportionally. The season will run till December 2008,” Gupta said. The tour calendar will be released later this week.

With the qualifying school graduates joining in, new faces will be seen on the tour, a cog in the process to making the tour wider. According to Gupta, the tour will get more centres for hosting tournaments and in the pipeline are state flagship events.

“A Punjab Open, for instance, can rotate between 3-4 cities within the state.”

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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