Gurugr: Golfing stars Gaganjeet Bhullar and Jyoti Randhawa will lead the Indian side when they tee it up at the inaugural Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on September 27.
The tournament will carry a total prize money of Rs 1 crore and will feature 126 professional golfers to begin with. After two days, the top 50 players and ties will advance to the last two rounds. The tournament will give amateur teams, consisting of golfers, celebrities and corporate leaders, a chance to partner with the pros in Rounds 3 and 4 to compete for separate team prizes.
Apart from the Bhullar and Randhawa the Indian side includes names like Himmat Rai (a winner on the Asian Tour), Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (4 PGTI Wins), Manu Gandas (4 PGTI Wins), Shamim Khan (15 PGTI Wins) and Abhijit Singh Chadha (3 PGTI Wins), to name a few.
The prominent foreign names in the field are those of Sri Lankans Mithun Perera (7 PGTI Wins), Anura Rohana (6 PGTI Wins), N Thangaraja (3 PGTI Wins), Bangladeshi Jamal Hossain (3 PGTI Wins) and Australian Kunal Bhasin (3 PGTI Wins).
Gaganjeet Bhullar, a winner on the Asian Tour this year, said, “It’s great to be back on the PGTI where I started my pro career. I’m also excited about returning to the magnificent DLF Golf & Country Club, a venue where I have won in the past. I would like to thank Kapil Dev and Grant Thornton for putting this event together. I have known Kapil Dev and played golf with him on several occasions. Hats off to him, after having achieved so much in cricket, he is working towards the growth of Indian golf.
“It’ll be fun playing alongside Jyoti who I grew up watching and Yuvraj who has been in tremendous form of late.”
Jyoti Randhawa, who has had multiple wins at the DLF Golf & Country Club, said, “I would like to thank Mr. Kapil Dev and Grant Thornton for bringing a full-field PGTI event to the Gary Player Course at DLF Golf & Country Club which I feel is among the best courses in the country. The course is very demanding from tee to green. You have to be straight off the tees, be accurate with your second shots and need to negotiate the undulating greens.
“The unique format is something that both the professionals and amateurs are looking forward to. While the amateurs learn a lot tackling the pressure while playing alongside the professionals, we professionals also get to learn a lot about how the amateurs, a lot of whom come from the corporate world, deal with the pressures of their work.”
–IANS