Pune, Oct 27 (IANS) The Poona Club Ltd. and the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) on Monday jointly announced the second edition of The Poona Club Open golf tournament which will be held at the magnificent Poona Club Golf Course from October 28-31.

The tournament carries a prize purse of Rs 1 crore.

The tournament will feature leading Indian professionals such as DP World Tour regular Veer Ahlawat, 2025 PGTI Ranking leader Yuvraj Sandhu, Arjun Prasad, Angad Cheema, Shaurya Bhattacharya, Om Prakash Chouhan and Manu Gandas, to name a few.

The foreign challenge will be led by Sri Lankan N Thangaraja and Nepal’s Subash Tamang.

The host venue Poona Club Golf Course will be represented by professionals Rohan Dhole Patil, Pranav Mardikar, Gurki Shergill (a winner on the PGTI), Akshay Damale, Pravin Pathare, Aaron Rockey, Aditya Bhandarkar, Sameer M Shaikh, Rajiv Datar, Jaipdeep Patwardhan and Sunil Galphade. The three local amateurs are Shamit Dhakne, Ved Kakatkar and Arkin Patil.

This is a 72-hole stroke-play tournament featuring a field of 126 players including 123 professionals and three amateurs. The cut will be applied after the first 36 holes. The top 50 players and ties will make the halfway cut and continue to play for another 36 holes.

Gaurav Gadhoke, president, The Poona Club Ltd., said, “After the grand success of the inaugural edition of The Poona Club Open last year, our club members and golf enthusiasts in Pune eagerly await the second edition of the tournament. The event, staged in partnership with the PGTI, brings the top professionals of the country to our club thus providing our members exposure to the highest quality of golf. The tournament will also put the spotlight on the Poona Club Golf Course as the Live Telecast will help showcase the course to a wide audience across the country and overseas. This will help us in making The Poona Club Ltd. the best Club in the country. I wish the players all the best.”

Ikram Khan, Past Captain & Golf Advisor, The Poona Club Golf Course, said, “We are happy to host PGTI in Pune for The Poona Club Open. This tournament gives our youngsters tremendous exposure, they get inspired and definitely we will have our players winning on the PGTI tour soon. We are one club that has put tremendous effort for our youngsters.”

Amandeep Johl, CEO, PGTI, said, “We thank the Poona Club Golf Course for their continued commitment to supporting serious professional golf by partnering with the PGTI in staging The Poona Club Open — an event that carries Official World Golf Ranking and Olympic qualification points.

“The continued success of The Poona Club Open not only strengthens this legacy but also inspires the next generation of Indian golfers to aspire to global excellence. We look forward to working closely with the Poona Club Golf Course to make this tournament even bigger and better with each passing year. We thank PGTI’s Tour Partners Rolex, Amul, IndusInd Bank, Victorious Choice, Campa and Amrutanjan Electro Plus for all their support to the tour.”

–IANS

hs/ab