CHANDIGARH: The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) has honoured ace Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh by naming a tournament, Take Open Golf Championship, after him.
The Chandigarh leg of the domestic PGTI Tour will henceforth be called the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational Presented by TAKE Solutions.
This year’s edition of the event will be held in the city from November 1 to November 3 at the Chandigarh Golf Club.
It was TAKE Solutions, the computer programs company that is known to focus on Indian golf for its CSR activities, that had suggested the PGTI to honour the golfer.
Jeev told PTI he did not have to think twice before accepting the honour.
“Not only is a tournament being named after me, it is also in my hometown of Chandigarh and being played at Chandigarh Golf Club, and I owe a lot to both these places,” he said.
“I’d like to thank TAKE Solutions, and its founder Mr HR Srinivasan. For them to propose that someone else’s name take the limelight when they are footing the bill, just shows they have their heart in the right place for the game. And thanks also to the PGTI to agree to this,” added the Padma Shree and Arjun Award winner, widely considered as a trailblazer for Indian golf because of his international achievement.
Jeev also expressed his desire to make the tournament the city’s first-ever Asian Tour event and said he would be asking all his friends on tour to participate.
“I do have a few thoughts to make the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational Presented by Take Solutions a world-class event. To begin with, I will definitely be requesting my friends and colleagues on the Tour to come and play, and make all the players feel comfortable and welcome at the event,” he said.
Managing director of Take Solutions, HR Srinavas, said: “It is to honour one of the country’s greatest sportsman and the best ambassador of golf we have. This is our little but meaningful contribution to development of professional golf and golfers in India.”
The winner of the event will bag Rs 15 million (an increase of Rs 5 million over last year) and defending champion Shubhankar Sharma is expected to participate this year as well.
