Greater Noida, Sep 16 (IANS) Three-time Asian Tour winner Shiv Kapur and Karandeep Kochhar, one of the leading young professionals who divides his time between events in India and on the Asian Tour, will join last week’s winner Gaganjeet Bhullar in the IGPL Invitational NCR, the second event of the tour, at the Jaypee Greens. Bhullar is seeking back-to-back wins and getting the IGPL Tour off to a rocking start.

The three will lead a field of 54 players in the second of the 11 events, each worth Rs. 1,5 crore. The field comprises 48 professionals, made up of 36 men and 12 women, and there are also six amateurs.

The field includes the legendary Simi Mehra, a former LPGA player, who is still a fierce competitor. She often plays on the Seniors Circuit in the United States.

Kapur, the last Indian to have won an Asian Games gold medal, back in 2002, is excited about playing the event this week. He said, “The IGPL is a big leap forward, and it is about creating opportunities. What we saw last week in Chandigarh is the future of Indian golf – a bunch of brand new professionals like Veer Ganapathy, Kartik Singh and Raghav Chug, among others, plus a lot of amateurs, boys and girls, playing alongside the likes of Gaganjeet. The youngsters will learn a lot even as they push the established players.”

Kochhar, who missed the inaugural IGPL event in Chandigarh, was delighted to be making his maiden start on the IGPL Tour. He has been in good form – he finished T-18 in Indonesia Pro-Am on the Asian Development Tour and was T-14 at the Mandiri Open in Indonesia. He was the top Indian finisher at both events.

“It is good to be here. I was out on the Asian Tour and the ADT, so I am making my debut on the IGPL, and it is exciting,” said Kochhar, who in 2023 was the runner-up at the Asian Tour’s Indonesian Masters, which was won by Bhullar.

Coming back for another crack at this week’s bonanza are the new young stars, Veer Ganapathy, third last week, Kartik Singh T-8 last week, Neil Jolly T-6 last week, Raghav Chugh T-20 and Krish Chawla T-22 last week.

Kartik Singh, who made his pro debut last week, prepared himself well as he landed the first hole-in-one on the IGPL, though it came in the practice round alongside Vihaan Reddy and Sachin Baisoya. The ace came on the 7th hole at Jaypee Greens.

Amandeep Drall and Sneha Singh, two of India’s top women pros, who are looking forward to the Ladies European Tour event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open, next month, will also be teeing up.

Amandeep T-39 in the mixed field last week and Jahanvi Bakshi, the top woman last week in 19th place, are back as Sneha makes her IGPL debut.

The recent WGAI’s Women’s Pro Golf Tour winners playing this week are Amandeep Drall, Sneha Singh, Jasmine Shekar and the new pro, Heena Kang, who won on her second appearance as a pro in Bengaluru last month. Heena was T-29 last week in IGPL Chandigarh.

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO of the IGPL Tour, was thrilled to see Kapur, Kochhar and Simi Mehra in the field. “Seeing these stars interact with youngsters while the likes of Gaganjeet Bhullar put on a masterclass like he did last week, is amazing. That’s the goal of the IGPL, and we have had a tremendous response to the first event in Chandigarh last week, and it will grow as we move to other parts of India.”

The tournament host, Ghei, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, who was also the first Indian to play at the Open (British), remarked, “It is amazing to see how much golf these young kids play. They are playing so well and are not afraid of taking on the seasoned pros.”

The six amateurs this week include Neil Jolly, who finished T-6 last week in Chandigarh; Jashan Ganapathy, whose elder brother, Veer, finished third on his pro debut last week and Arshvant Srivastava, who has a series of Top-10 finishes in US Kids Championships in India, China and the UAE and was sixth at the US Kids Teen World Championships two months back;

Then there is the promising Ananyaa Sood, whose fine performances include three wins in the UAE at the JAGA International Amateur, the Robert Rock Juniors and the Tommy Fleetwood International Pathway Series. She was also T-11 at the R&A Girls Amateur Under-16 in England. The other amateurs are the talented youngsters Vihaan Reddy and Ayan Dubey,

The three-day 54-hole event from September 17-19 carries a winner’s cheque of Rs. 22.50 lakh out of the purse of Rs. 1.5 crore.

–IANS

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