The European Challenge Tour, TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) jointly launched the inaugural Kolkata Challenge.
The tournament co-sanctioned by the Challenge Tour and the TATA Steel PGTI, carries a prize purse of $300,000 and constitutes the second event in the two-week Indian swing of the Challenge Tour.
The event to be played at the historic RCGC in Kolkata from March 21 – 24, 2024, marks the return of an international event to Kolkata and the RCGC after a long gap of 25 years.
The Indian contingent will be led by legends Arjun Atwal and SSP Chawrasia, both playing at their home course. Interestingly, Arjun Atwal, a PGA Tour and three-time DP World Tour winner, won the last international event to be staged at RCGC, the 1999 Indian Open. Olympian SSP Chawrasia, a four-time DP World Tour winner, was the joint runner-up at the 1999 Indian Open.
The other Indian stars in the field include DP World Tour winner Gaganjeet Bhullar, Challenge Tour winner and 2023 TATA Steel PGTI Ranking champion Om Prakash Chouhan, current TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Manu Gandas, Rashid Khan, Olympian Udayan Mane, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Chikkarangappa and Karandeep Kochhar, to name a few.
The leading names from the Challenge Tour in the field include Road to Mallorca Ranking Number One John Parry of England, Mikael Lindberg and Björn Åkesson from Sweden, France’s Martin Couvra and Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard, to name a few.
The world-renowned Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), affectionately known as the ‘Royal’, is steeped in history, as it is the oldest golf club outside of the British Isles, having been established in 1829. It is widely regarded as the founder of the game in the country and has staged some of the most prestigious tournaments on Indian soil, including the Indian Open and the All-India Amateur Championship. The 7014-yard course favours long hitters and inaccurate shots are punished severely. The large number of water hazards makes this course a real challenge to master.
