Mumbai: Top Indian golf professionals, including Jeev Milkha Singh, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rahil Gangjee will feature in the Rs 1.2 crore prize money Louis Philippe Cup tournament at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club course from February 17-22.
This is the second richest tournament in the PGTI golf calendar, shared among 27 players compared to a regular event which is shared among 60 players, a media release said today.
Jeev will be representing Shubhkamna Noida for the third consecutive year, while Bhullar, No. 4 on the Asian Tour Order of Merit list, will be the face of Jaypee Greens Greater Noida for the second time.
Two-time European Tour winner SSP Chowrasia will return to bring glory again to TAKE Chennai after missing the second edition due to a commitment in South Africa.
Gangjee, who has notched three top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour this year after spending a few years on the Buy.com Tour in USA, will once again wear the colours of AVT Kolkata.
Another top pro, Anirban Lahiri, is expected to confirm participation in the coming few days.
In the Louis Philippe Cup, each member of the winning team of three players gets to earn Rs 12 lakh equivalent to what the 19th ranked player on the PGTI circuit earned during the entire season in 2012.
The winning team stands to win Rs 36 lakhs, while runners-up will earn Rs 24 lakh, team finishing in third place will earn a purse of Rs 18 lakh and the team placed fourth will receive Rs 12 lakh.
Teams ranked 5 to 8 after the two rounds of stroke play will battle it out for minor placing, while the 9th team will not compete on the final two days.
The unique format of the four-day event features two days (36 holes) stroke play in which all 9 teams will compete. The ranking on the second day shall decide the semi-finals in a a one-on-one stroke-play format.
Winner of the PGTI Order of Merit 2013, Rashid Khan, with record earnings of over Rs 46 lakh for the year, sealed his berth to defend the crown the Delhi team won in 2013 in the second edition at Jaypee Greens.
The tournament is set to see some new faces that turned pro in the beginning of this year such as S Chikkarangappa of Bangalore, who won the Rookie of the Year award on the Indian circuit this year and became the first rookie to finish second on the PGTI final rankings.
Chandigarh's Angad Cheema, overall third on the 2013 PGTI rankings will also be seen in action.
