With Golconda Masters, it's tee time in Hyderabad
Last year's champion Ajeetesh Sandhu was excited on tournament eve.
Hyderabad: The third edition of the Golconda Masters Golf Championship will tee off at the Hyderabad Golf Club’s heritage course — nestled at the foot of the Golconda fort — from Thursday.
As many as 126 leading golfers, mostly from India, and few from countries such as Sri Lanka and Australia, will vie for top honours in the Professional Golf Tour of India event that carries a prize purse of Rs 40 lakh with the winner and runner-up taking home '6 and '4 lakh respectively.
The top Indian professionals in the fray include defending champion Ajeetesh Sandhu, inaugural edition winner Harendra Gupta, Khalin Joshi, Honey Baisoya (2017 PGTI Order of Merit leader), Mukesh Kumar, Shamim Khan, Shankar Das, Himmat Singh Rai and Udayan Mane among others.
The foreign challenge will be led by the Sri Lankan quartet of Mithun Perera, Anura Rohana, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran as well as Australia’s Kunal Bhasin.
Hyderabad will be represented by professional Haider Hussain and six amateurs — K. Shashidhar Reddy, Anantha Sridhar Reddy, C. Rohan Reddy, Hardik Chawda, Rahul Ajay and Sankeerth Nidadavolu.
Last year’s champion Ajeetesh Sandhu was excited on tournament eve. “It’s great to be back at this phenomenal course at which I have a lot of good memories. I hope I can have another good week here,” he said.
“We have a strong field yet again so it promises to be a good contest. An all-round game is required to do well at the HGC so it will be a test for all the professionals,” Ajeetesh added.
“We are proud indeed to host this prestigious tournament. It’s only fitting that the country’s top golfers will match their skills while soaking in some of the most spectacular historical beauty Telangana has to offer,” Hyderabad Golf Association president J. Vikramdev Rao said.
HGA Captain C. Dayakar Reddy said they were all geared up for the event. “The strong field and immaculate course conditions at the HGC make for a fascinating week of golf. The tournament provides much-needed exposure to local talent which in turn will help us produce champions from Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana in the coming years,” he said.
PGTI director Uttam Singh Mundy said: “The Golconda Masters is a premier tournament on the PGTI calendar and the 2017 edition which has attracted India’s leading talent will only help the event grow further. We’re delighted to be back at the Hyderabad Golf Club, one of the top championship venues in the country.”