12th TATA Open Golf in Jamshedpur from December 19

From left to right - Mithun Perera, Mr. Farzan Heerjee, Chief, Guest Relations and Sports, Tata Steel, Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, Mr. Sunil Bhaskaran, Deputy Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel & Golf Captain, Jamshedpur, Mr. Sampath Chari, Tournament Director, PGTI and Rashid Khan at the 12th TATA Open press conference in Jamshedpur on December 17

Jamshedpur, December 17, 2013: TATA STEEL and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) have announced the 12^th TATA Open Golf which will be held in Jamshedpur from 19^th - 22^nd December, 2013. The four-day tournament will be hosted at the Beldih and Golmuri Golf Courses in Jamshedpur. The Pro-Am will be played on 18^th December, 2013. The prize money for the event is Rs. 50 lakh.

The tournament will feature 124 golfers including 118 professionals and six amateurs. Top professionals (as per the PGTI’s Rolex Rankings) competing at the event include defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka, former champions Mukesh Kumar, Shamim Khan (reigning Rolex Rankings champion) and Vinod Kumar as well as other leading Indian professionals like Rashid Khan (current Rolex Rankings leader), Chiragh Kumar, Harendra Gupta, Om Prakash Chouhan, Shankar Das, Chikkarangappa S and Angad Cheema, to name a few.

Sri Lankans N Thangaraja and Anura Rohana, Kunal Bhasin of Australia, Nepal’s Shivaram Shrestha and Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah will be the other foreigners to watch out for besides defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka.

The local challenge will be led by Jamshedpur-based top Indian amateur Karan Taunk.

Mr. T V Narendran, Managing Director, Tata Steel said, “Tata steel has a proud legacy of supporting sports and has always helped in creating an atmosphere conducive to sports promotion creating champions who have made India proud. Tata Open Golf is an annual domestic professional golf tournament of repute, which gives an opportunity to the top golfing talent from across geographies to display their skill and talent. The tournament has, over the years, become one of the most talked about golfing events in the country and has been instrumental in elevating the standards of Indian professional golf. We welcome all golfers to the steel city and wish them the very best.”

Mr. Padamjit Sandhu, Director, PGTI, said, “We thank TATA STEEL for their committed support to Indian professional golf over the last decade. The 12^th TATA Open promises to be a treat for golf fans in Jamshedpur as the top professionals in the country engage in an exciting contest in order to secure berths at the McLeod Russel Tour Championship, PGTI’s year-ending championship, and also make a bid for the Rolex Player of Year title. We wish the players all the best and look forward to an exhilarating week of golf.”

The two venues for the tournament, the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses, are both lush green, beautiful and very well-maintained, with the charming Dalma Hills in the background. While the 70-year-old Beldih Golf Course flaunts long fairways, Golmuri is a smaller, greener, boutique course disallowing golfers any room for error.

Press release