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Jyoti Randhawa, after finishing 14th at the Singapore Open on Sunday, will be flying straight to the Garden City of Bangalore to take part in the Hero Honda Open South, at the pristine Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) from September 13-17, 2005, with the main event being played on the first four days and a gala pro-am bringing down the curtain on Saturday.
The Hero Honda Open South forms the second leg of the Southern Swing of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour 2005-06 season. With this professional event being one of the most-favoured stops on the Amby Valley PGAI Tour, the event sponsors -- Hero Honda Motors Limited have upped the prize-money to Rs 12 lakh from Rs 10 lakh.
Hero Honda Motors have been supporting the game for nearly a decade and have added one more event to the calendar -- the Hero Honda Open East -- thus totaling four events for a total of 4.8 million during the current season of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour.
The total prize-money for the Amby Valley PGAI Tour 2005-06 season has been raised to a minimum of Rs 3.4 crore as compared to last year's Rs 3.05 crore, which in itself was an unprecedented mark in the history of Indian professional golf.
The Southern Swing of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour is worth Rs 4.2 million and encompasses four events including the Hero Honda Open South. The new season with many changes including an extended field of 120 professionals will be vying for the winner's cheque of Rs 1,89,840 in the newly structured prize-money break-up.
The tournament will be played as a stroke-play competition over 72 holes (four rounds) and the leading 60 players and ties will play the money-making rounds when the cut is applied after round two on Wednesday.
Apart from Jyoti Randhawa, the strong field includes 'Amby Valley Champion Golfer of the Year' for the 2004-05 season Mukesh Kumar, who is fresh from a victory in the season opener, No.2 on Amby Valley PGAI Tour 2004-05 season Vijay Kumar, No.4 and defending champion Ashok Kumar, No.5 Digvijay Singh, No.6 SSP Chowrasia, No.7 Rafick Ali, No.8 Sanjay Kumar, No.9 Harinder Gupta and No.10 Feroz Ali amongst others.
The field also includes some of budding stars like the 16-year-old Raghav Wahi, who has turned
professional at the age of 15 and is the youngest to do so in the history of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour. As many as six Pakistani professionals, including Matloob Rana, who won the PGAI Qualifying school tournament in Pune this year, are also in fray.
The local challenge is led by Rahul Ganapathy, who holds the record for the lowest single-round total of 12-under par 60, Gaurav Diwan and Tarun Sardesai.
The par-72, 6786-yard course at the KGA, regarded as one of the best in the country, has geared up well in spite of the incessant rains that have hit the city in the last fortnight. While the wet conditions do not augur well for the long hitters, precision play onto the greens will be rewarded as the greens will hold.
Golf buffs can really look forward to an exciting affair on the greens and fairways at the KGA.