An all-star cast of Indian golf will take the field when the inaugural Rs. 1.24-crore Louis Philippe Cup, a 10-team event that becomes the wealthiest fixture on the domestic calendar, gets underway at the KGA course here on Wednesday.
The likes of Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur and Anirban Lahiri will all turn out for their cities as golf becomes the latest sport to embrace the region-based-franchise model.
Anticipation
With not many team events to come by, there is a sense of anticipation among the players. “It's a great concept,” said Randhawa, who is representing Gurgaon. “People have played for their country before, now it's your city. We all are new to it. I'm looking forward to it.”
The field, comprising India's top 30 golfers, looks evenly balanced with the best two from each city drafted into the respective teams. The three-member sides will begin with two rounds of strokeplay on Wednesday and Thursday. The top four teams — ranked on the basis of the scores of the best two performers — will then enter Friday's matchplay semifinals.
“This is a good format because you can't say the best team is going to win,” said Jeev. “The best two scores are going to be considered; so it could be anybody. The way they've set it up, the teams are evenly balanced.”
Hopes on Lahiri
Bangalore's hopes will rest on the shoulders of Lahiri, who will be playing on his home course.
“Both Abhishek (Jha) and I are very comfortable playing here. But the team format demands consistency. Even if one guy has a good day, the other two have to play well. We have been working on our strategies.”
The final will be played on Saturday with the winner and runner-up earning Rs. 36 and 24 lakh respectively.
The third and fourth placed teams will gain Rs. 18 and 12 lakh respectively.
The teams:Navratna Ahmedabad: Mithun Perera, Vinod Kumar, Vikrant Chopra.
Puravankara Bangalore: Anirban Lahiri, Abhishek Jha, Manav Jaini.
Dev Ellora Chandigarh: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Harendra Gupta, Sujjan Singh.
Take Chennai: Anura Rohana, S.S.P. Chowrasia, Gaurav Ghei.
The 3C Delhi: Rashid Khan, Shamim Khan, Shiv Kapur.
DLF Gurgaon: Jyoti Randhawa, Himmat Singh Rai, Digvijay Singh.
AVT Kolkata: Shankar Das, Feroz Ali, Chiragh Kumar.
Ansal API Lucknow: Sanjay Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Siddikur Rahman.
Oxford Group West: Mukesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Vivek Bhandari.
Shubhkamna Noida: Raju Ali Mollah, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Jeev Milkha Singh.
