Pro-Am event to be played today, Karan Taunk to lead local challenge
Jamshedpur, Dec 12: A massive field of over 126 golfers will tee off on Thursday at the 16th Tata Open Golf Championship at the Golmuri Golf Course in Jamshedpur which is expected to be one of the most competitive in a long time.
The four-day tournament which is offering a rich prize purse of Rs. 1 crore will be hosted at the 18-hole Golf Course from 14th � 17th December, 2017. The Pro-Am will be played on 13th December, 2017.
Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President Corporate Services, Tata Steel said, the event has grown from strength to strength over the years and it features in the top five tournament of the country.
Addressing a press conference at Golmuri Club on Tuesday, Mr Bhaskaran said, ‘There is excitement among the professionals as this is the second last tournament of the year which decided the rankings and is very well attended by the leading golfers. The golf course which has been appreciated by the professionals has also matured and we are looking forward to witness some very competitive golf’.
‘We had extended monsoon this year but golf course is in good condition and we are very impressed with the work done by the staff at Golmuri Club’, added Bhaskaran.
He further said that the excitement for the sport will grow as it has been included into Olympics.
Kulvin Suri, Chief, Corporate Communications, Tata Steel said, the holes at the Golmuri Golf Club have been relayed and course has been competitive. ‘After the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Golmuri has the second best course in Eastern India and the way we are working it will be at par with the best courses in the country’, added Suri.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India), said, ‘We thank the Tata Steel for promoting professional golf in Jamshedpur. Golmuri Golf Course, is a lush green, beautiful and very well-maintained golf course which doesn�t allow golfers any room for error and players will enjoy playing in this course.
He said that the tournament will feature some of the top Indian professionals such as Udayan Mane, Shamim Khan, Mukesh Kumar, M Dharma, Om Prakash Chouhan, Shankar Das and Amardip Sinh Malik, to name a few. The top foreign players in the field are Sri Lankans Mithun Perera, Anura Rohana, N Thangaraja and K Prabagaran, Kunal Bhasin of Australia, Bangladesh�s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, South African Damian Naicker and Swaziland�s Arthur Horne.
The local challenge will be led by professional Karan Taunk of Jamshedpur. The field also features two leading amateurs from Jamshedpur, Kurush Heerjee and Navtez Singh.
Bengaluru golfer M. Dharma will be eyeing back to back title at the Tata Open after triumphing at the Rs 1 crore CG Open 2017. Present at the press conference, Dharma who won the 12th Tata Open title back in the year 2013 said, ‘I am happy to back in Jamshedpur and would like to thank the Tatas for increasing the prize money. It would be a very competitive championship and will get tough competition from Delhi golfer Shamim Khan who tops the PGTI order of merit’.