The HotelPlanner Tour, Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) are jointly staging the second edition of the Kolkata Challenge.
The tournament, co-sanctioned by the HotelPlanner Tour (earlier known as the Challenge Tour) and PGTI, carries a prize purse of $300,000 and constitutes the first event in the two-week Indian swing of the HotelPlanner Tour.
The event is being played at the historic RCGC in Kolkata from Thursday, March 13, through to March 16. A total of 156 players from 31 different countries are participating at the event.
The Indian contingent is led by legends and Olympians Gaganjeet Bhullar and SSP Chawrasia, the latter playing at his home course. The other prominent Indian stars in the field include Rahil Gangjee, Rashid Khan, Ajeetesh Sandhu, HotelPlanner Tour winner Om Prakash Chouhan, Manu Gandas, Olympian Udayan Mane, Yuvraj Sandhu, Chikkarangappa and Karandeep Kochhar, to name a few.
The leading names from the HotelPlanner Tour in the field include the English duo of Eddie Pepperell and Jamie Rutherford, Italy’s Renato Paratore, Adri Arnaus of Spain and American Matt Oshrine, to name a few.
Jamie Hodges, HotelPlanner Tour director, said: “We’re delighted to be back at Royal Calcutta Golf Club for the second successive year, and also to be teaming up with the PGTI once again for two co-sanctioned events. It’s always great to come back to India.
“This is a golf club that is steeped in history and it will provide the perfect test for all of the players in the field this week, just like it did 12 months ago. We’re excited for play to get underway.”
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.
