All set for Golconda Masters
As many as 126 golfers from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will vie for top honours at the Golconda Masters that begins at the Hyderabad Golf Association course set against the backdrop of the historic Golconda Fort here on Wednesday.
The top Indian professionals in the fray include Asian Tour regulars Rashid Khan (2019 PGTI Order of Merit champion), Khalin Joshi, Aman Raj and Viraj Madappa as well as other leading players such as former champions Udayan Mane (2018 winner) and Harendra Gupta (2015 winner), to name a few. The foreign challenge will be led by the Sri Lankan trio of Mithun Perera, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran as well as Bangladesh’s Md Dulal Hossain and Md Sayum who will be in action at the 18-hole, 6,200 yard,
par-71 layout.
The local challenge will be led by Hyderabadbased players including professionals such as Haider Hussain, Mohd Azhar, Venkkat Gautham and Rupinder Singh Gill as well as amateurs — Hardik Chawda, Rahul Ajay and Shawn Reddy.
Former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey will also be playing his first event as a professional at the event. Tirkey, a threetime Olympian and Asian Games gold medallist, had last month played the PGTI Qualifying School
2020 in Ahmedabad.
HGA president J. Vikramdev Rao spoke about the increasing popularity of golf in Hyderabad and said the club was looking forward to hosting the sixth edition of the Golconda Masters.
Speaking on the occasion, PGTI CEO Uttam Singh Mundy said it was an important year for golf, given the Olympics in July-August. “We have about eight probables who can make it to the Tokyo Games — Rashid Khan, Shubhankar
Sharma and Shiv Kapur being the top three. With June 22 as the cut-off date to qualify, we have events lined up till mid-May,” he said.
Mr Mundy also said the tournament offers world ranking points. “For the players to be on the domestic circuit and earn world ranking points is something special,” he said.
“It’s phenomenal,” echoes 2018 winner Udayan Mane. “The world ranking points give us recognition not only locally but internationally. We couldn’t have asked for more.” Fellow player Aman Raj, who finished in the top three last year, concurred.
Speaking about the tournament, Mane said: “I have fond memories here, having won the 2018 edition during my birthday week. Now, the course has matured and is playing tougher. You have to do a lot of intelligent guessing there.”