Kolkata, December 25, 2013: McLeod Russel, the
world’s largest tea producer, and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI),
will be staging the McLeod Russel Tour Championship 2013, the PGTI’s
Year-Ending Championship, at the esteemed Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC)
from December 26 – 29, 2013. The tournament’s prize purse of Rs. 1.35
crore is the highest-ever for a domestic event in India .
The event will see the top 60 players from the PGTI’s 2013
Rolex Rankings compete for top honours along with five sponsor invites. The
tournament will be a 72-hole stroke-play championship and there will be no cut
applied after 36 holes. All players will be guaranteed prize money. The top-60
includes the likes of Rashid Khan (current Rolex Rankings leader), Shamim Khan
(2012 Rolex Rankings champion), rookies Chikkarangappa S and Angad Cheema (both
currently in the top-5 of the Rolex Rankings), Chiragh Kumar (2011 Rolex
Rankings champion) and Mukesh Kumar, to name a few. The five professionals
playing on sponsor invites are defending champion SSP Chowrasia, Gaganjeet
Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Jyoti Randhawa and Rahil Gangjee.
There are eight foreign players in the field and the
prominent names among them are Md Zamal Hossain Mollah (Bangladesh ), N Thangaraja (Sri Lanka ), Mithun Perera (Sri Lanka ), Shivaram Shrestha (Nepal ) and Kunal Bhasin (Australia ).
The eight Kolkata-based professionals in the fray are SSP
Chowrasia, Rahil Gangjee, Shankar Das, Feroz Ali Mollah, Divyanshu Bajaj,
Rafick Ali Mollah, Raju Ali Mollah and Mohammad Sanju.
While the inaugural edition of the McLeod Russel Tour
Championship in 2012 carried a prize purse of Rs. 1.25 crore, the second
edition has an increased prize purse of Rs. 1.35 crore. The prize money for the
next edition in 2014 will witness a further increase to Rs. 1.5 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Aditya Khaitan, Managing
Director, McLeod Russel, said, “After the success of 2012, we are very
happy to be hosting the second edition of the McLeod Russel Tour Championship.
This is our small way of giving golf a boost in this region and we hope that it
will eventually lead to the growth of the game. McLeod Russel’s heritage is
based on values, culture and commitment and a strong belief in supporting and
backing the right talent, and keeping that in mind, we will be sponsoring one
professional and two amateur golfers from Kolkata for the 2014 season. We hope
this will help the young golfers in taking the next steps in realizing their
full golfing potential. We will be on the lookout for budding golfers in the
future as well, and have put in place a committee to evaluate and identify
budding golfers. We take this opportunity to thank the PGTI and the Royal Calcutta
Golf Club for the opportunity to host the Championship this year. We are
committed to the McLeod Russel Tour Championship and in the development of
golf.”
Announcing the event, Mr. Padamjit Sandhu, Director,
PGTI, said, “It is always great to be back at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club
(RCGC). The race for the Rolex Player of the Year at the 2013 McLeod Russel
Tour Championship will make it a befitting week with our top players and
invited Indian golf icons making it the strongest ever player field at a PGTI
championship. We thank McLeod Russel for their strong support to
professional golf and look forward to an exciting week at the richest ever
prize purse domestic championship of Rs. 13.5 million.”
Mr. Gaurav Ghosh, General Committee Member, RCGC, said,
“On behalf of the members and the committee, I would like to thank McLeod
Russell and PGTI for bringing the tournament to the Royal for the second year.”
Press release
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