New Delhi, Aug 26 (Sports news) The Tata Steel PGTI will resume its season on September 2 after a COVID-19 enforced break with men's professional golf set to return to the Kashmir Valley after a seven year-hiatus, the organisers announced on Thursday.
The combined 2020-2021 season has so far witnessed 10 tournaments, seven of which were staged between November last year to March 2021, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten events are scheduled to be played between September to December with the season resuming with the Golconda Masters Telangana Open, which will be played at the Hyderabad Golf Club from September 2-5. The prize purse for the tenth edition of the event is Rs. 40 lakh.
It will be followed by the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship, that has a prize purse of Rs. 50 lakh, to be played at the Panchkula Golf Club from September 8-11.
The inaugural J&K Open will be staged at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar from September 15-18. The event marks the return of men's professional golf to the Kashmir Valley after seven years.
The PGTI staged its last two events in the region in Pahalgam and Srinagar in July 2014. The tournament will offer a prize purse of Rs. 40 lakh.
October will see the launch of yet another new event with the inaugural TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship presented by Delhi Golf Club slated to be held from October 5-8.
Also read: Anirban Lahiri finishes T-56th at Northern Trust, bows out of Play-offs
The prize purse for the event is Rs. 50 lakh. The PGTI will be staging a full-field event (not co-sanctioned by Asian Tour) at the Delhi Golf Club after seven years.
The Jaipur Open will also be held in October from 12 to 15 at the Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur and the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational scheduled at the Chandigarh Golf Club from November 11-14. The event boasts a prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore.
The ICC-RCGC Open Golf Championship returns for its second edition at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata from November 25-28 while the Pune Open Golf Championship will be staged at the Poona Club Golf Course from December 1-4.
The season ending Tata Steel Tour Championship will carry an impressive prize purse of Rs 1.5 crore. It will be played at the Golmuri and Beldih Golf Courses in Jamshedpur from December 16-19.
In a major boost ahead of the resumption of the season, the Tour has signed two new partners — American Express and and Amrutanjan Health Care Limited.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "Our country has seen the most unprecedented and difficult times over the last few months. Fortunately, with the Covid situation having improved and life slowly coming back to normal, we at PGTI plan to restart the tour in September 2021." "The PGTI will continue to follow strict regulations in order to take all precautions against Covid-19 and ensure the smooth functioning of tournaments." World Cup-winning cricket captain and Board Member, PGTI, Kapil Dev said, "We at the PGTI are delighted to announce a healthy schedule with a number of tournaments lined up between September to December.
"We thank all our partners, tournament sponsors and host clubs for supporting our efforts despite the challenges posed by the pandemic and the tough circumstances that we find ourselves.
News source: PTI
