The Asian Development Tour returns to India after over three years with the staging of the inaugural Gurugram Challenge PGTI - ADT. The tournament, jointly sanctioned by the PGTI and ADT, will be held at the Classic Golf and Country Club close to the national capital New Delhi. The event carries a prize purse of USD75,000.
The tournament has a field of 144 players representing 19 different countries. The prominent names participating include two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan of India and Indonesia's Rory Hie who won an Asian Tour event staged at the Classic Golf & Country Club in 2019.
The other leading players in the field consist of Indians Khalin Joshi, a winner on the Asian Tour, Honey Baisoya, Karandeep Kochhar, Veer Ahlawat, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Manu Gandas and Kshitij Naveed Kaul, as well as Sri Lanka's Mithun Perera and Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "We are delighted to jointly sanction the inaugural Gurugram Challenge along with the Asian Development Tour. The tournament is yet another initiative to provide international exposure to Indian professionals. We thank the Classic Golf and Country Club for partnering with us in staging the event. We look forward to the event emerging as a regular feature on the PGTI schedule in the coming years."
Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour, said, "One of the Asian Tour's greatest achievements over the past decade has been the successful implementation of the Asian Development Tour. Launched in 2010, our incredibly popular secondary Tour has been a conveyor belt of stars of the future - such as current Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Korean Joohyung Kim and four-time Asian Tour winner John Catlin from the United States - and so I am truly delighted that the ADT will restart this week after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic."
Rashid Khan, who was joint runner-up at an Asian Tour event at the Classic Golf & Country Club in 2019, is expecting to return to his consistent self this week.
Rashid said, "I've been shooting some low numbers recently but have somehow not been able to put together four good rounds. I'm looking to get the consistency back in my game. I feel I need to be more patient on the course as I may have been a bit too aggressive in recent events."
Khalin Joshi has some good memories of playing at the Classic Golf and Country Club as he won a PGTI event at the venue in 2016.
Khalin said, "It's good to be back at Classic where I have won in the past. The course is in great condition with the fairways and greens being immaculate. There is no rough so putting would hold the key this week. After I won the PGTI last October, I fell ill and missed an event. So the swing has not felt the same since then and I've not been at the top of my game. But I'm feeling good heading into this week. I know it's just about shooting one low score and the confidence will be back."
( With inputs from ANI )
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