Bangalore, Nov 9 (IANS): Puravankara Projects Ltd has taken over the Bangalore team of the inaugural eight-city team event, the Louis Philippe Cup, according to the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).
The team will be called 'Puravankara Bangalore', after Puravankara Projects, one of South India's leading real estate developers.
The Louis Philippe Cup, to be played in March next year at the Karnataka Golf Association course here and offering a total prize-money of Rs.36 lakh, will be contested among Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkota, Lucknow, Delhi, Gurgaon and Chandigarh.
The new tournament, with its $250,000 purse will be the richest domestic event on the PGTI calendar. India's top stars like former Asian Tour Player of the Year Jyoti Randhawa (Gurgaon), European Tour regular Shiv Kapur (Delhi), two-time European Tour winner SSP Chowrasia (Kolkata), two-time Asian Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (Chandigarh), 2011 Asian Tour winner Anirban Lahiri (Bangalore), 2011 Singapore Classic winner Himmat Rai (Gurgaon) and current No.1 in the Rolex-PGTI rankings, Chiragh Kumar (Delhi) have all confirmed participation in the extravaganza.
The Bangalore team will comprise of three professionals and three amateurs. While the professional team is likely to be represented by recent Asian Tour Winner Anirban Lahiri, Abhishek Jha and R Murthy, the amateur team will be selected on the basis of the club qualifying rounds to be held in Eagleton Golf Village, Bangalore Golf Club and Karnataka Golf Association, scheduled to begin Nov 11.
Lahiri, the Asian Games silver medallist and winner of the Panasonic Open on the Asian Tour as well as two other titles on the PGTI tour this season, said: "I am delighted that Puravankara is the first to announce a team as I am excited to represent my home city and along with my team mates we hope to definitely progress to the knock out stage of the tournament and of course win the title.
"This tournament is going to be a game changer for Indian golf as we never play in the team format in pro golf which is always individual."
PGTI director Padamjit Sandhu said: "We are delighted that a reputed company like Puravankara has come forward to snap up the Bangalore team. The promoters of the event, Rishi Narain Golf Management are close to finalising deals with a number of other city team sponsors and we will be making other announcements in the coming weeks."
Event promoter and former Asian Games gold medallist, Rishi Narain said: "Puravankara will benefit from the immense appeal this event will have for golf fans. The prospect of India's two young international stars Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar playing head to head has never happened before in golf and will bring fresh following to the game.
"Imagine Jyoti Randhawa facing off with Shiv Kapur, both proven successes on the European PGA Tour - the quality of play will be inspiring and fun for fans to watch."