Chennai, Aug 19 (IANS): Top golfers from the country along with participants from Sri Lanka, Nepal, the United States, Canada and Bangladesh will be in action in the inaugural edition of the Chennai Pro Championship, which will be played from August 20 to 23 at the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation (TNGF) Cosmo Golf Course. The tournament carries a prize purse of INR 50 lakh. The Pro-Am event will be staged on August 24.
The event will witness participation by 126 golfers including 123 professionals and three amateurs. The leading Indian professionals in the field include Veer Ahlawat (PGTI Ranking leader), Manu Gandas, Rashid Khan, Karandeep Kochhar, Chikkarangappa, Shaurya Binu and Udayan Mane, to name a few.
The prominent foreign names in the field include Sri Lankans N. Thangaraja, K. Prabagaran and Anura Rohana, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain and Badal Hossain, Czechia’s Stepan Danek, Nepal’s Subash Tamang, Canada’s Sukhraj Singh Gill, South Korea’s Si In Kim, Japan’s Makoto Iwasaki and American Dominic Piccirillo, to name a few.
The local challenge will be led by Chennai-based professionals Pradyumna Prakash and S. Prasanth as well as amateurs Pranav Nandakumar and former India cricketer Murali Vijay.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, “We’re delighted to announce the inaugural Chennai Pro Championship. Chennai has emerged as an important stop on the PGTI in recent years thanks to the continued support of the TNGF Golf Course and Mr. N Srinivasan who has been a great patron of sports in India. We look forward to an enthralling contest as the competition gets more intense in the second half of the season.”
R.K. Jhaver, Honorary Secretary, Tamil Nadu Golf Federation (TNGF), said, “We at TNGF have worked to provide the best playing conditions and are confident that the players will relish the experience.
“An added attraction for the professional golfers and their families will be the Clubhouse, rated by most members as 5 stars, and the excellent F&B and other facilities available which we are sure will be enjoyed by one and all,” he added.
The Tamil Nadu Golf Federation (TNGF) continues to provide a quality course that meets or exceeds the demand of its members, guests and visitors. The tough 6,225-yard, 72-par fully integrated 18-hole course, is a haven for golfers, the organisers informed in a release on Monday.
Tiff dwarf grass, which is both robust and naturally adaptive to local conditions, was planted on the greens which are all tailor-made to USGA specifications. The course is maintained throughout the year by state-of-the-art machinery and an automated and programmable irrigation system attracting golfers from all over the country and beyond its shores.