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Kathmandu Wednesday November 21, 2001 Marga 06, 2058.
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Surya Nepal Masters Golf from
Dec 4
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 20 – The Surya Nepal
Masters, leading golf tournament in the country, will be held at Gokarna Golf Club from
December 4 till 8, the organiser Surya Tobacco Company Limited announced at a press meet
on Tuesday.
A total of 104 golfers, including 16
professionals from Nepal and 80 from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will participate in
the Masters.
The Pro-Am, slated for December 4 will be
another highlight of this year’s event. The competition, which is being held under
the co-sponsorship of Famous Grouse will offer local amateur golfers a chance to compete
with international professionals. The event is expected to draw 72 golfers, both
professionals and amateurs.
The amateur winner of the Pro-Am tour will
qualify for the next year’s Famous Grouse International Shotgun Foursomes at St.
Andrews in Scotland. The trend put on board earlier this year by Regal Business Link, the
authorised agent of Highland Distillary – producer of Famous Grouse whiskies –
saw Nepali golfers Binod Shrestha, Prem Sachdev make their presence felt by lifting the
title in the maiden attempt.
Addressing the press meet, the vice-president
for marketing at Surya Tobacco Company, Siddhartha Wangchuk, informed that the
tournament’s prize money has been increased by 20 percent over last year to Rs 1.44
million.
According to him, the Masters winner will
pocket Rs 230,000 while the runner-up Rs 161,000.
"We’ve always tried to make this
event bigger," Wangchuk said, "so much so that a player finishing at 50th place
in the Masters event will walk away with Rs 6,600."
He also announced that the prize money for
the Surya Nepal Western Open has been raised to Rs 100,000. The tournament, taking place
in Pokhara on November 30 and December 1, will serve as a perfect avenue for local amateur
golfers to play with the leading professionals of Nepal.
The tournament, through its successful
organisation over the last eight years, has established itself as an integral part of the
Asian circuit helping put Nepal on the golfing map of the world. The tournament continues
to enjoy recognition from the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI) as a part
of their official tour.
Also present on the occasion were Prema
Singh, managing director of Regal Business Link; Deepti Rana, manager – marketing and
sales at Gokarna Golf Club and Karan S Bajaj and Rabi Raj Aryal brand managers at Surya
Tobacco. |
