TN Open Golf Championship to make its debut on PGTI from Aug 27

Chennai, Aug 25 (UNI) The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) will hold the inaugural Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship at the Madras Gymkhana Club (MCG), here from August 27-30.

The Pro-Am event, with a total prize purse of Rs 20 lakh, is scheduled to be held on August 31.

Tournament spokesperson Jayanan S Satagopal said, ''The focus of the tournament is to develop the Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship into the premium golfing event of this region and make it a regular feature on the Indian golf calendar.'' ''This new and exciting tournament will provide a major boost to golf in the state of Tamil Nadu,'' he said.

The cream of Indian professional golf will tee it up at the inaugural Championship to compete in PGTI's first event in Chennai.

The star-studded field would include Ashok Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Ganapathy, Harendra Gupta, Vivek Bhandari, Uttam Singh Mundy, Shamim Khan, Vijay Kumar, and local favourite Sandeep Syal, to name a few.

D Sathyanarayanan, Captain, MGC, said, ''We are delighted to hold the inaugural Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship. The course at the MGC is in great condition and the attractive prize purse of Rs 20 lakh will ensure a keen contest.'' Ajai Gupta, Tour Commissioner, PGTI, said, ''With the introduction of the Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship, the PGTI is moving towards its long-term objective of developing golf in India.

The introduction of State Opens is an important stepping stone towards developing and popularising the game at the grass-root level.

The Tamil Nadu Open follows the Bangalore Open and Punjab Open as the third property successfully created by the PGTI for the development of Indian golf, he added.

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