All eyes will be on SSP Chawrasia when the fifth edition of the Louis Philippe Cup Pro Golf League will be played at the Karnataka Golf Association course from June 1-4. Being a golf-loving City, Bengaluru is eager to witness the veteran in action for Take Chennai team
L to R Khalin Joshi, Mani Ratnam, R Madhavan, Sharmila Nicollet, S Chikkrangappa, SSP Chawrasia and Ajit Agarkar at the fifth edition of the Louis Philippe Cup Etihad Pro AM, here in Bangalore
Having qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Chawrasia will be giving it his best before the quadrennial sporting extravaganza in August. He arrived here in the wee hours of Tuesday after playing a tournament in Wentworth (UK).
“The team composition is good this year as we have kept the same team from last year. All our players are playing well and we are confident going into the tournament,” said SSP Chawrasia on the eve of the main event. His teammates are Bengaluru-based players Khalin Joshi and Chikkarangappa S.
Take Chennai will also have the services of producer and director Mani Ratnam. Each team will have, apart from three pros, two amateurs whose scores will count for the inter-city event. This will be only for Wednesday’s action.
L-R Ankita Tiwana, Vani Kapoor and Neha Tripathi at fifth edition of Louis Philippe Cup Etihad Pro Am
Eight teams will vie for the impressive trophy apart from the Rs 1.2 crore in prize money. Navratna Ahmedabad may be three-time and defending champions but the other teams will not be going down without a fight. The other teams are Dev Chandigarh, debutants NSports Hyderabad, Laqshya Mumbai, Take Chennai, Zion Hills Bengaluru, DLF Crest Gurgaon and Jaypee Greens Greater Noida.
Being hosted in Bengaluru, the focus of this city-based franchise tournament will be the local team comprising of Rahil Gangjee, Abhijit Chadha and M Dharma.
SSP Chawrasia in action
Dharma was confident and said: “We have a definitive advantage and hope to be the winners. I have confidence in the team as Rahil is amongst the top 60 on the Asian Tour and Abhijit is amongst the top 3 on the PGTI rankings. We also have a home advantage.”
Ashok Kumar (DLF – The Crest Gurgaon) and his team are ready. He said: “We are pretty confident that we will do well since we are performing to the best of our abilities. My teammates have had a stupendous season so far. With the format being stroke play, we have a fairly good chance.”
Golf is not a team sport but the unique format of this tournament requires team effort. The best two out of three scores from each team counts.
The late afternoon showers rendered the atmosphere even more pleasant as the KGA gets ready for some serious golf from Wednesday.