Bangalore, March 5 (IANS) The Karnataka Golf Association is all set to witness the biggest domestic golf event – the inaugural Louis Philippe Cup – slated to begin here Tuesday.
With all the top golfers including Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chowrasia, Gaurav Ghei, Shiv Kapur, Anirban Lahiri, Chiragh Kumar all converging on the city, the event promises quality action.
With its unique concept of city based teams, Louis Philippe Cup has captured the imagination of golf fans from across India who are rooting for their cities to emerge the winner in the inaugural edition of India’s richest domestic golf event.
Speaking about the novel concept of the event one of India’s most successful golfers Randhawa, who is representing DLF Gurgaon, said: “It is a first for me; playing as part of a team. This event is great for golf and for the promotion of golf in the country.
“It is bringing in the IPL format where cities play with each other and this can create more enthusiasm. This is a great new concept.”
Excited to be playing in front of his home crowd, and sounding confident about his team’s chances SAIL-SBI Open champion Lahiri, who will be teeing off for Puravankara Bangalore said: “We definitely have some strategies in place. Over the first two days we are focusing on playing conservative aggressive golf and it is probably best to go all out on the last few days.”
Speaking about his teammates, Lahiri added: “Manav and I have played together and practiced together before. As for Abhishek, he is in good form as well. He just won some money off me, so he is doing good! The great thing about playing in a team is that you put your heads together and come up with strategies that work best for us.”
Rishi Narain, former Asian Games gold medallist and founder, Rishi Narain Golf Management, promoters of the event, said: “This is the culmination of all our hard work over the months. We are experimenting with a new format in golf with city-based teams, and we hope that it appeals to the fans. With evenly balanced teams, and no clear-cut favourites, fans can expect exciting golf over the next few days.”