Pune, Dec 1 (Golf news) Abhijit Singh Chadha of Chandigarh negotiated rainy conditions to seize the early initiative at the Rs 40 lakh Pune Open Golf Championship 2021 being played at the Poona Club Golf Course on Wednesday.

Chadha's fiery seven-under 63 gave him the clubhouse lead on a day that witnessed rain from the start of play till the end.

Gurugram-based rookie Kartik Sharma and Delhi's Wasim Khan were tied second in the clubhouse with scores of four-under 66.

There was light rain at the start of play at 7am local time. The rain intensified later on, forcing the suspension of play at 5pm.

As many as 30 players are yet to finish round one out of a total field of 126. Those yet to complete round one will resume play at 7 am on Thursday. Round two will get underway immediately after the completion of round one.

Chadha, a two-time winner on the PGTI, didn't have the best of starts as he bogeyed the first after the club slipped out of his hands on his approach shot as a result of the wet conditions.

However, he fought back with a terrific tee shot on the par-3 fourth where he had a tap-in for birdie.

Chadha then got on a roll from the seventh onwards where he made a 20-feet birdie conversion. The next three holes saw him make birdie-eagle-birdie. He chipped-in for eagle on the par-4 ninth.

He capitalised on the two par-5s, the 12th and 18th, by laying up and hitting his wedge shots to perfection to pick up two more birdies.

Chadha, who made an eagle, six birdies and a bogey, said, "I didn't start well but things changed for the better from the seventh where my second shot hit the flag and rolled back off the green.

"I made a long putt there and that got me going. What followed was a good momentum stretch for me.

"The conditions were tough today but I kept myself very organized and handled the conditions really well. My caddie, the experienced Raju, did a wonderful job handling me and everything around the bag. Credit to him as he was an important part of my round today." Kartik Sharma had an eventful day as he mixed an eagle and six birdies with four bogeys. Kartik was one-under through 16 holes before he closed the day in style with birdie-eagle on the eighth and ninth.

He sank a 30-footer on the eighth and holed his second shot from 40 yards on the par-4 ninth. Earlier he had also chipped-in from just off the green for birdie on the fifth.

Wasim Khan had a poor start with a bogey on the first but then turned it around with a birdie on the ninth followed by four more on the last five holes.

Khan adjusted well to the wet conditions by using his 3-wood instead of the driver and produced the desired results with his irons and wedges.

Among the players who finished, Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta had the next best score of 67. He was fourth in the clubhouse.

Rajiv Niranjan Datar had the best opening day among the Pune-based players as he shot a 70 to be tied 16th in the clubhouse.

Also Read : Kshitij, Mukesh, Shamim to compete at Pune Open

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Kolkata, Nov 25 (Golf news) Five golfers, including multiple PGTI winners Harendra Gupta and Angad Cheema, shot matching scores of four-under 68 to enjoy the first round lead at the Rs. 40 lakh ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship here on Thursday.

Bengaluru's Mari Muthu R, Gurugram's Ankur Chadha and Vikrant Chopra of Noida are the other three golfers at the top.

On a packed leaderboard, the leading quintet was one shot ahead of six players bunched in tied sixth at three-under 69 which included Akram Ali Mollah of Kolkata, Tapy Ghai, Sri Lankan Anura Rohana, last week’s winner Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Kurush Heerjee.

It was a high scoring day that witnessed sub-par rounds by only 31 players in a field of 126.

Mari and Harendra, both room-mates this week, found themselves at the top of the pack with the former firing an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys and the latter returning a bogey-free round with four birdies to his credit.

Harendra, multiple winner on the PGTI, has had a promising run since the resumption of the tour in September having posted two top-10s and two other top-20s. He is currently 22nd on the Order of Merit.

Angad, currently 23rd on the PGTI Order of Merit, came up with five birdies and a bogey on Thursday.

Angad, a winner on the PGTI, was five-under through 17 holes when he was looking good for the sole lead. However, he bogeyed the closing ninth, missing a five-footer, for his only blemish of the day that saw him drop down into the joint lead at four-under.

Ankur got off to a whirlwind start on the back-nine with four birdies on his first five holes before dropping bogeys on the 15th and 18th. He made a recovery, picking up two birdies on the front-nine.

After being even-par on the back-nine, Vikrant too made his way up the leaderboard by firing four birdies on the front-nine.

Defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka carded a one-over 73 to be tied 42nd.

Also Read : Vani lands 5 birdies on back nine to take 3-shot lead in 13th Leg of WPGT

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Digboi (Assam), Nov 20 (Golf News) Chandigarh's Yuvraj Singh Sandhu claimed his maiden title on the PGTI in style with a dominating final round performance of eight-under 64 at the Rs 60 lakh IndianOil SERVO Masters Golf here on Saturday.

Sandhu's (66-68-67-64) tournament tally of 23-under 265 set the record for the lowest winning total at the Digboi Golf Links as he registered a thumping six-shot victory with Bengaluru's M Dharma (69-68-68-66) finishing runner-up at 17-under 271 following his last round of six-under 66.

The 24-year-old Yuvraj, the overnight leader by two shots, came up with an eagle, eight birdies and two bogeys in round four to pick up the winning cheque worth Rs. 9,69,900 and thus zoom from 11th place to sixth position in the PGTI Order of Merit for 2020-2021 with his season's earnings moving to a total of Rs. 33,69,400.

Sandhu, the son of an Army officer, had enjoyed an exceptional season prior to landing in Digboi with nine previous top-10s including six in the last seven events.

The two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour began the day with a bogey on the first but soon regained ground with birdies on the third, fifth and seventh. He chipped-in on the fifth.

From the third till the eighth hole, M Dharma was breathing down Yuvraj's neck as the former sank five birdies to trail the latter by just one shot. However, a couple of erratic shots led to Dharma's double-bogey on the ninth.

Sandhu then made a crucial chip-putt birdie on the 11th to seize the momentum as he got on a hot streak making three birdies, an eagle and a birdie on the next five holes that stretched his lead to seven shots and sealed the deal for him.

Yuvraj, the 2019 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit champion, produced two excellent drives, a 30-feet conversion and two 10-feet conversions during his dream run from the 11th to the 16th.

Sandhu's bogey on the 17th didn't change the equation as his nearest rival Dharma was a fair distance away with just three birdies on the back-nine.

Yuvraj's 23-under 265 bettered the previous lowest winning total of 20-under 268 at the Digboi Golf Links achieved by Mukesh Kumar in 2002, Shankar Das in 2015 and Honey Baisoya in 2016.

Yuvraj, the leader for the previous two days, said, "I started with the same feeling as the first three days but Dharma played some phenomenal golf on the first eight holes and he gave me a tough time on the front-nine. But on the back-nine I got the reins back and took control.

"I've let my clubs do the talking, all the hard work I've put in is paying off. I can't be more thankful to my team consisting of my coach and physio. They've all been part of this process.

It's a special moment for me and I want to treasure it. I want to let it sink in and get my tub of ice cream to celebrate." Delhi's Sachin Baisoya (66) matched his career-best finish of tied third as he totalled 15-under 273 for the week.

Om Prakash Chouhan (70) of Mhow also claimed tied third place along with Baisoya.

Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta (69) finished fifth at 14-under 274.

Local golfer Deepraj Chetia (69-71-72-76) took tied 33rd place at even-par 288. 

Also Read : Anirban Lahiri misses cut at RSM Classic

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Digboi (Assam), Nov 18 (Golf news) Chandigarh's Yuvraj Singh Sandhu surged ahead with a second round of four-under 68 at the Rs 60 lakh IndianOil SERVO Masters Golf 2021 being played at the Digboi Golf Links here on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Yuvraj (66-68), placed three off the lead in tied second position after round one, had a slow start to the day but made big gains on the back-nine to move his total to 10-under 134 on day two.

Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana shot the day's best score of six-under 66 to rise to tied second at nine-under 135 along with Harendra Gupta (68) of Chandigarh.

The cut went at even-par 144. Fifty professionals made the cut.

Earlier in the day, the start of play was delayed by 45 minutes due to fog. Play got underway at 6:45 am. The 18 players who could not finish their first round on Wednesday, came out and completed their round in the morning. The second round began simultaneously.

Among those who completed round one on Thursday morning was Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, who shot a 66, to join Yuvraj and Shravan Desai of Ahmedabad in tied second, three shots behind leader Anshul Patel, another Ahmedabad golfer.

In round two, Yuvraj, a two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, was even-par for the day through 10 holes having made a birdie and bogey before he hit his stride with four birdies between the 11th and 18th.

Sandhu came close to holing out his chip for eagle on the 11th and almost drove the green on the par-4 14th. The 2019 PGTI Feeder Tour Order of Merit champion then played two more accurate wedge shots that led to birdies on the 15th and 18th.

Yuvraj, who turned pro in 2018, said, "I was mentally in that state where I felt I had to carry forward the momentum from yesterday. Therefore, I was a little anxious to begin with. That's when I told myself that it's just another day of golf so why not enjoy it.

"The post-COVID hard work on the course and in the gym with my coach and fitness trainer seems to be paying off. I'm following the same thought process on and off the golf course for the last few weeks which has in turn contributed to the consistency in my performances.

"The key from here on would be finding maximum greens at this course which has relatively smaller greens. I need to create more birdie opportunities for myself to keep the rhythm going." Anura Rohana (69-66) fired the day's best score of 66 to climb 11 spots to tied second. Rohana, who was even-par for his first 11 holes of the day, went on a birdie-spree with five straight birdies from the third till the seventh as he converted some long putts and made a chip-in on the sixth. He closed the day with another birdie on the ninth.

Harendra Gupta (67-68), lying overnight tied fifth, moved up three spots to joint second after posting a 68. Gupta, a former champion, began the day with a bogey on the first before rallying with five birdies thereafter including a chip-in on the third and birdies on three of the four par-5s.

Chouhan (70) was placed fourth at eight-under 136 while M Dharma (68) of Bengaluru and Bangladesh's Md Akbar Hossain (69) were both in tied fifth place at seven-under 137.

Round one leader Anshul Patel shot a 76 to slip to tied 10th at five-under 139.

The only local golfer to make the cut was Deepraj Chetia (69-71) who ended the day in tied 15th at four-under 140.

Also Read : Gaurika sizzles on front nine to join Jahanvi in lead in 12th leg of WPGT

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Digboi (Assam), Nov 17 (Golf news) Ahmedabad's Anshul Patel hogged the limelight with a sizzling first round of nine-under 63 to lead by three shots at the IndianOil SERVO Masters at the Digboi Golf Links here on Wednesday.

Patel's good friend and room-mate Shravan Desai, another Ahmedabad-based professional, was tied second at six-under 66 at the Rs 60 lakh event.

Chandigarh's Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (66) too took a share of second place on day one.

The start of round one was delayed by one hour and 15 minutes in the morning due to fog.

As a result of the delayed start, 18 players out of a total of 117 could not finish their first round on Wednesday. They will come back and resume their round at 6 am local time on Thursday.

The left-handed rookie Anshul Patel, currently ranked 74th in the PGTI Order of Merit and fighting for a spot in the top-60 to retain his card for next year, played some great wedge shots on the back-nine that helped him set up four of his five birdies before the turn.

He also had a 20-feet conversion on the 16th and a bogey on the 17th.

The 26-year-old Patel, playing at Digboi for only the second time, landed it close yet again on the second, third and eighth to pick up three more shots.

Anshul found the green in two on the closing par-5 ninth before draining an eight-footer for eagle, thus ending up with his lowest score in a tournament.

“I felt I was in the zone since the start of the day. I knew if my putts rolled in, I would shoot a good number today. Closing the day with birdie-eagle on the last two holes did a lot for my confidence," Anshul said.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a few things about my game and from the Srinagar event onwards in September I picked up a few things on how I should play around my strengths. That’s given some direction to my game. I’m still looking to putt better though.” Shravan Desai, another rookie like Patel, shot an error-free 66 in his very first competitive round at the Digboi Golf Links.

Desai, currently 68th in the PGTI’s money list, is also vying for a spot in the top-60 to retain his PGTI card. He made two 12 to 15 feet conversions on Wednesday.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu produced eight birdies and two bogeys during his 66.

Gurugram’s Shivendra Singh Sisodia, former champion Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh and Panchkula’s Angad Cheema were in tied fourth having shot scores of 67.

The two local golfers who made promising starts were Deepraj Chetia (tied 13th at three-under 69) and Dulal Kalowar (tied 37th at even-par 72).

Also Read : Bakshi sisters to the fore; Jahanvi leads by one in 12th Leg of Hero WPGT

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Digboi, Nov 16 (Golf news) Former champions, including Shamim Khan and Mukesh Kumar, will vie for top honours when the 21st edition of the Indian Oil SERVO Masters golf tournament begins at the picturesque Digboi Golf Links here on Wednesday.

The Rs 60 lakh event, which is being held under the aegis of the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India, will feature a field of 117 players, including 115 professionals and two amateurs.

The top 50 players and ties will make the cut after round two.

The field will feature top professionals such as Manu Gandas, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Akshay Sharma as well as former champions Shankar Das, Harendra Gupta and Sanjay Kumar, besides Shamim and Mukesh Kumar.

The foreign challenge would be led by Sri Lankans Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera, N Thangaraja and K Prabagaran and Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, Badal Hossain, Md Sayum and Md Akbar Hossain.

The local professionals in the field are Deepraj Chetia, Karanbir Singh Lall, Biren Karmakar, Deven Bhumij, Dulal Kalowar, Bipon Murah, Arun Gowala and Binod Gogoi. The local amateurs in the field are Alok Barua and Jakir Hussain.

Also Read : Amandeep looking to maintain strong form in 12th leg of Hero WPGT

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Jaipur, Oct 15 (Golf news) Khalin Joshi's final round of three-under 67 was good enough for him to turn the tables on overnight leader M Dharma and emerge victorious at the Rs 40 lakh Jaipur Open golf tournament presented by Rajasthan Tourism, here on Friday.

Joshi (61-66-64-67), who made a dramatic three-putt from four feet on the last hole to end the tournament with a bogey, won by one shot as he totalled 22-under 258 for the week.

Khalin's fifth career trophy ended his three-year long title drought.

The 29-year-old Joshi, who hails from the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course, overcame the disappointment of his runner-up finish in Delhi last week as he bagged a winning cheque worth Rs. 6,46,600 to move up from fifth to third in the PGTI Order of Merit.

He made six birdies and three bogeys on the last day.

"I was not comfortable with my irons today, especially on the approach shots. However, I drove and putted really well. So I said to myself to keep hitting as many fairways and greens as possible and the putter will do the rest of the job," Joshi said.

"The key for me today was making some up and downs and clutch par putts. This win will help me raise my game even more in the future events." Dharma (62-62-65-70), the overnight leader by two shots, slipped to second place with an even-par 70 on the last day as he struggled to hole putts. He ended the week with a total of 21-under 259.

Sunit Chowrasia (64) of Kolkata and Harendra Gupta (65) of Chandigarh took tied third place at 20-under 260. Chowrasia's round featured seven birdies and a bogey while Gupta had an eagle, four birdies and a bogey.

Chandigarh's Yuvraj Singh Sandhu produced the best round of the tournament, a 10-under 60, to claim the tied seventh place at 18-under 262. Yuvraj sank an eagle on the 18th from five feet and also made nine birdies and a bogey during his round.

Olympian Udayan Mane (64) was tied ninth at 17-under 263.

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Jaipur, Oct 14 (Golf news) Bengaluru's M Dharma held on to the lead on the third day of the Jaipur Open golf tournament, carding a five-under 65 here on Thursday.

The two-time PGTI winner (62-62-65), who was the overnight leader by three shots, ended day three with a two-shot lead, moving his total to 21-under 189.

His good friend and regular practice partner, Khalin Joshi (61-66-64) moved from overnight tied second to sole second at 19-under 191 following his 64 in round three.

Dharma and Khalin, both belonging to the same course, the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA), have stamped their authority here this week as both have been placed inside the top-3 on the first three days of the event.

Veer Ahlawat (67) and Harendra Gupta (67) are currently placed third at 16-under 194 and fourth at 15-under 195 respectively.

Dharma, looking for his first title in four years, missed a few short birdie putts early on and then dropped a bogey on the fourth after finding the bunker.

He finally got into his stride with a great tee shot on the sixth that left him a four-feet birdie conversion.

Thereafter, Dharma added five more birdies.

"After a poor start, it was the excellent tee shot on the fourth that got me back in my rhythm. I enjoy playing at the RGC as it is a shorter course and thus suits my game since my wedge-play is very strong," Dharma said.

Joshi, searching for his first win in three years, went bogey-free for the first time this week.

His six birdies were complemented by two outstanding par-saves from a distance of 12 to 20 feet on the eighth and 16th.

Sunit Chowrasia shot the day’s best score of 63 to be placed tied fifth at 14-under 196 along with PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar (67) and last week’s winner Viraj Madappa (68).

Olympian Udayan Mane (68) was tied 12th at 11-under 199.

Hemendra Choudhary (66-70-68), playing at his home course, was tied 31st at six-under 204.

Also Read : Dharma dominates round 2 with second straight 62, opens 3-shot lead

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Jaipur, Oct 13 (Golf news) Bengaluru’s M Dharma produced a second straight eight-under 62, the day's best score, to open up a three-shot lead at 16-under 124 at the Rs 40 lakh Jaipur Open here on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Dharma (62-62), who was tied second and one off the lead after round one, is now well-placed to improve upon his two third place finishes in the previous two editions of the Jaipur Open.

The two-time winner on the PGTI, currently placed 18th in the PGTI Order of Merit, sank an eagle and seven birdies at the cost of a solitary bogey in the second round at the par-70 Rambagh Golf Club (RGC).

Gurugram's Veer Ahlawat (64-63) had an astonishing run of six successive birdies on the back-nine during his second round of 63. He moved up four spots to tied second at 13-under 127.

Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi (61-66), the round one leader, slipped to tied second along with Ahlawat after a second round of 66 that featured an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys.

The cut fell at three-under 137. Fifty professionals made the cut for the money rounds. Dharma had one of his best days with the putter in recent times. He sank birdies from a range of 10 to 15 feet on the first, third, fourth and sixth.

Dharma then missed an eagle by the narrowest of margins as his approach shot from 100 yards out stopped inches from the flag. He tapped-in for birdie there. His only bogey of the day came on the second hole.

On the back-nine, Dharma made further gains with a 20-feet birdie and a 25-feet eagle conversion on the 10th and 18th respectively. He also picked up a birdie on the 13th. Veer Ahlawat had a dream run of six straight birdies from the 13th to the 18th. He then had a relatively quieter front-nine, adding just one more birdie on his closing ninth hole.

Khalin Joshi was three-under over the first 10 holes but then had an up and down last eight holes collecting an eagle and a birdie in exchange for two bogeys.

Last week’s winner Viraj Madappa (64) of Kolkata and Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta (65) were in tied fourth place at 12-under 128.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar (64) of Chandigarh was in sixth at 11-under 129.

Olympian Udayan Mane (65) was tied eighth at nine-under 131.

Jaipur’s Hemendra Choudhary (66-70), playing at his home course, was placed tied 32nd at four-under 136. Choudhary was the only Jaipur-based player to make the cut. 

Also Read : Khalin Joshi takes lead at Jaipur Open with round of 61

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Jaipur, Oct 12 (Golf news) Khalin Joshi sunk in an eagle and nine birdies to fire a scorching nine-under 61 for the first round lead at the Jaipur Open, here on Tuesday.

The Bengaluru golfer had two bogeys.

Rookie Kartik Sharma of Gurugram and M Dharma, another Bengaluru-based pro, struck error-free rounds of eight-under 62 consisting of an eagle and six birdies each to hold joint second position.

Joshi sank some tough par putts at the start which enabled him to judge the speed of the greens. He got going with consecutive birdies on the 12th, 13th and 14th before recovering from the bunker for a birdie on the 17th followed by another birdie on the par-5 18th.

After making the turn at an impressive four-under, Joshi pushed ahead with a birdie from close range on the second.

His bogey on the third was negated by birdies on the fifth, sixth and seventh, all converted from a range of eight to 15 feet.

The icing on the cake in his extraordinary round was the eagle on the par-5 eighth hole where he drained a 10-footer. "I'm extremely satisfied with today's effort. I feel I'm carrying forward the confidence from last week's good finish," Joshi said.

"I also had a great practice round on Monday which got me in a good frame of mind. My game seems to be heading in the right direction as I feel my swing is in control and I’m rolling the putts well." Kartik Sharma, fresh from top-10s in the last three events, made some long conversions including a 40-footer for birdie on the ninth and a 15-feet eagle putt on the closing 18th.

Kartik, who last played at the RGC as a junior golfer about four years back, also chipped-in for birdie on the 15th.

M Dharma made a chip-in for eagle on the 14th. He came extremely close to adding two more eagles to his card on the 17th and eighth where he missed the hole by inches.

The Chandigarh duo of Harendra Gupta and Abhijit Singh Chadha were in tied fourth place with scores of 63.

Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa, last week’s winner, occupied tied sixth place at 64 along with Gurugram golfers Veer Ahlawat and Dhruv Sheoran.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh was in tied ninth place after a round of 65.

Olympian Udayan Mane returned a 66 to be tied 17th.

Jaipur's Hemendra Choudhary also carded a 66 to be the highest-placed local golfer in tied 17th.

Among the other Jaipur-based professionals, Vishal Singh posted a 70 to be tied 65th while Girraj Singh Khadka’s 71 placed him tied 76th.

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Hyderabad, Aug 31 (Golf news): Top golfers, including defending champion and Tokyo-returned Udayan Mane and former Asian tour winners Rashid Khan and Khalin Joshi, will vie for honours when the Golconda Masters Telangana Open tees off here on Thursday.

The tournament, which will kick-start the domestic season after a five-month gap forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, will witness participation from 129 golfers -- 123 professionals and six amateurs.

Mane (2018 & 2020 winner), who had competed at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month, will headline the field which also includes PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar, Viraj Madappa and Aman Raj as well as other leading players such as former champions Chikkarangappa S (2019 winner) and Harendra Gupta (2015 winner).

The foreign challenge will be led by the Bangladeshi duo of Md Zamal Hossain Mollah and Badal Hossain.

The local challenge will be led by Haider Hussain, Mohd Azhar, Venkkat Gautham, Rupinder Singh Gill and Sanjay Kumar Singh as well as amateurs such as Hardik S Chawda, Tarun Ajay, Tej Gangavarapu, Sankeerth Nidadavolu and Milind Soni.

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "We're excited about resuming the 2020-21 TATA Steel PGTI season with the Golconda Masters Telangana Open 2021 Presented by Vooty & Haldi.

"We are extremely thankful to Hyderabad Golf Association, Vooty Golf County, Haldi Golf County, Telangana Tourism, Incredible India, Skoda and Apollo Hospitals, for their kind cooperation and support towards our cause.

"The Golconda Masters Telangana Open has emerged as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the PGTI over the last seven years and we're confident the event will continue to be a catalyst in helping grow the popularity of the sport in Telangana and will boost golf tourism in the state." The tournament will be held at the Hyderabad Golf Club.

Also read:Disastrous start in final round sees Shubhankar finish to T-50 in Switzerland

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