Kolkata, March 10 The TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (TATA Steel PGTI) will stage the Bengal Open Golf Championship at the Tollygunge Club here from March 11-15.
The tournament, the third of the 2020 TATA Steel PGTI season, tees-off with the Pro-Am event on March 11 to be followed by the main event from March 12-15. The tournament carries a prize purse of Rs 30 lakh.
The top Indian professionals in the fray include Olympic hopefuls, PGTI Order of Merit leader Udayan Mane (the second-highest ranked Indian in the world at 252), Chikkarangappa S (sixth-highest ranked Indian at 374) and Aman Raj (seventh-highest ranked Indian at 402) as well as other names of international repute such as Rahil Gangjee, Viraj Madappa, Khalin Joshi and Honey Baisoya, who recently earned his maiden Asian Tour card.
Udayan Mane has been on fire, having won three consecutive titles on the PGTI circuit, including the first two events of the 2020 season. He now has an opportunity to set a record by becoming the first ever player to win four successive tournaments on the PGTI.
Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, the winner of the inaugural edition last year, returns to defend his title. Besides Zamal, the other prominent foreign names in the field of 126 players include the Sri Lankan quartet of Mithun Perera, Anura Rohana, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran.
Besides Viraj Madappa, the other leading Kolkata-based professionals in the field are Shankar Das, Divyanshu Bajaj, Sunit Chowrasia and Mohammad Sanju. All the three amateurs participating in the event Armaan Parikh, Karan Verma and Sandeep Yadav also hail from Kolkata.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "We're excited about returning to the Tollygunge Club for the second edition of the Bengal Open. The inaugural edition of the tournament last year witnessed a fascinating contest. With an impressive field this year, we look forward to yet another week of fierce competition.
Tollygunge Club's 18-hole, par-70, 100-acre golf course is designed by internationally reputed golf architects. The all season course caters to different skill levels and provides fresh insights on every visit.
( With inputs from IANS )