Jamshedpur, Dec 20 the biggest names in Indian golf such as Jeev Milkha Singh, Gaganjeet Bhullar (2020 champion), SSP Chawrasia, Shiv Kapur, Jyoti Randhawa and Rashid Khan will be in the fray in the season-ending Tata Steel Tour Championship at the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses in Jamshedpur from December 21 to 24.
Also in contention will be current leaders of the tour Manu Gandas (Tata Steel PGTI Rankings leader), Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, and Ajeetesh Sandhu in the event to be hosted by the Tata Steel Group and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), which offers the biggest-ever prize purse on the Tour at Rs 3 crore this year. The event will feature an elite field of 77 professionals.
The season-ending event of the 2022 Tata Steel PGTI season is a 72-hole stroke-play championship and there will be no cut applied. There is guaranteed prize money for all participants. The Pro-Am event preceding the tournament was played on December 19.
The format for the event is as follows: In all four rounds, half the field will play their first nine holes at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih while the other half will play their first nine at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih, the PGTI informed in a release on Tuesday.
From round two onwards, the leading/front half of the leaderboard (leading groups as per the scores) will play their first nine holes at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih. The prize presentation ceremony will be held at Beldih Golf Club on Saturday (December 24).
The glittering field will also include current top stars Om Prakash Chouhan and Karandeep Kochhar as well as Olympian Udayan Mane (2019 & 2021 champion).
The tournament will decide the PGTI Order of Merit champion for the 2022 Tata Steel PGTI season, a race which is likely to be a closely-contested one.
Sanjiv Paul, Vice President, Safety, Health & Sustainability, Tata Steel & Golf Captain, Jamshedp"r Golf said, "For golfers and fans around the world and India, the game symbolises mental endurance and stamina. Tata Steel Group considers its association with this prestigious tour as a matter of great honour and privilege and a good representation of what we stand for beyond the excitement all of us get from the game. On behalf of Tata Steel, I welcome all players, their entourage and fans world over to the Tata Steel Tour Championship 2022."
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "We thank Tata Steel for their unflinching support to PGTI for over a decade and a half. The Tata Steel Tour Championship 2022, which will be aired Live on Eurosport as well as PGTI's YouTube channel, promises to be a visual spectacle for golf fans across the country as the stellar field will boast some of the biggest names of Indian golf.
"The tournament will also decide the winner of the Tata Steel PGTI Ranking, a contest which is likely to have an extremely close finish thus adding more excitement during the week. We thank T V Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel, and Sanjiv Paul, Vice President, Safety, Health & Sustainability, Tata Steel & Golf Captain, Jamshedpur Golf, for their continued commitment to the growth of Indian professional golf," he added.
The two venues, Beldih & 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 Golf Course is a smaller, greener, boutique course disallowing golfers any room for error.
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