Corporate bosses will vie for Merchants and Telegraph cups

Kolkata, Jul 21 (UNI) A keen competition is on the cards when corporate bosses vie for the Merchants Cup and Telegraphs Challenge Cup being held simultaneously at Royal Calcutta Golf Club from July 22 to 25.

A record number of 100 teams, comprising 400 corporate members, have confirmed their participation for these two cups, which have created a lot of interest among the business people for different scoring format, Merchants Cup committee chairman Kulvin Suri said.

The Tata Steel presented Telegraph Cup in association with Ballantine's was now split into two categories, ''Merchant Cup'' open only to those corporate houses that have at least three executive golfers based in eastern region and the ''Challenge Cup'' for smaller business houses an opportunity to network with their cliants, spokesman Brandon de Souza said.

Defending champion Tata Steel, headed by its CEO B Muthuraman, will face a tough time to stave off the challenge from the Williamson Magor Groups, who have won nine times before they were dethroned by the steel giants in last edition.

In Telegraph Challenge Cup category high pitch competition was also expected as some 40 teams have already confirmed their participation for the prestigous trophy.

The scoring format for Telegraph Cup will be a scratch stroke-play competition with players in different handicap categories being permitted to discard their poorest holes. Each team will consist of four players but not less than three, and the best three scores will count towards the team agrregate.

The Challenge Cup will be played on a stableford format with a team up to four players and with only three scores counting.

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