Men’s Professional Golf Returns To Kashmir Valley After Seven Years

New Delhi: Golf in Kashmir has excited everyone in the past, so when Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) decided that The inaugural J&K Open 2021 Presented by J&K Tourism will be launched in the month of September. The top golfers of the country, as well as foreigners, became happy and they are eagerly waiting to play at the place, which is called Paradise. Former Indian Cricket captain Kapil Dev, now a board member of PGTI said, " I have not played golf in Kashmir for six-seven years but when we go back there, I would like to play not only 18 holes but 36, 40, 70, till late in the evening 6 pm, 7 pm. Kashmir is such a beautiful place."

The tournament will be staged at the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar from September 15 – 18. The event offers a prize purse of Rs. 40 lakh and marks the return of men’s professional golf to the Kashmir Valley after seven years. The PGTI staged its last two events in the region in Pahalgam and Srinagar in July 2014.

In a major boost to TATA Steel PGTI ahead of the resumption of the 2020-2021 season, the tour has signed two new Tour Partners. Globally recognized brand American Express comes on board as a Tour Partner. American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

Amrutanjan Health Care Limited, a leading Indian health care company established in 1893, proudly comes on board as a Tour Partner with PGTI. Fruitnik Electro+ will henceforth be the Official Rehydration Partner of the PGTI.

The TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) resumes its events from September 2, 2021, after a forced break of over five months due to the ongoing restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown.

Ten events are scheduled to be played between September to December 2021. The combined 2020-2021 season has so far witnessed 10 tournaments. Seven of these 10 events were staged between November 2020 and March 2021, after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The PGTI formulated and followed strict regulations and guidelines to ensure a safe and healthy environment during tournaments which contributed to the successful staging of the seven events held after the outbreak of the pandemic.

Kapil Dev said,“We at the PGTI are delighted to announce a healthy schedule with a number of tournaments lined up between September to December. We thank all our partners, tournament sponsors and host clubs for supporting our efforts despite the challenges posed by the Pandemic and the tough circumstances that we find ourselves in.

“We’re happy to announce the beginning of our association with a global brand ‘American Express’ as our Tour Partner. American Express has seen great value in this partnership and we at PGTI would like to ensure that this is a long-term relationship. I want to personally thank American Express for this partnership. We’re also proud to announce our partnership with ‘Amrutanjan Health Care Limited’, one of the oldest and most reputed Indian health care companies, as our Tour Partner. These two new associations will help us further raise the profile of PGTI and Indian men’s professional golf. The PGTI is also currently in talks for signing a Banking Partner and Insurance Partner in the days ahead.

“I want to urge more Corporates to join the bandwagon. There is tremendous potential in the game as has been seen at the Olympics with the fabulous performance of Aditi Ashok. If we come forward and support our golf players they can easily become world champions and medal winners.”

 Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said,“Our country has seen the most unprecedented and difficult times over the last few months. Fortunately, with the Covid situation having improved and life slowly coming back to normal after the devastating second wave of Covid-19, we at PGTI plan to restart the tour in September 2021. The PGTI will continue to follow strict regulations in order to take all precautions against Covid-19 and ensure the smooth functioning of tournaments. We thank PGTI members, our sponsors, tour partners and the host venues of the forthcoming events for their support and cooperation.

“We’re also proud to announce the beginning of our association with global brand ‘American Express’ as well as leading Indian health care company ‘Amrutanjan Health Care Limited’, both over a century old brands, as our Tour Partners. Both these partnerships are a major boost to PGTI’s efforts in getting the tour back on track in these testing times.” 

“We have a long and proud history of creating exclusive experiences for our Cardmembers. In sports, we have been keenly associated with golf, which is also one of the top choice for our customers. Currently, we are offering golf benefits including complimentary access to leading golf courses in India, golf lessons from professionals and access to golf tournaments,” said Mr.Manoj Adlakha, SVP and CEO, American Express Banking Corp., India. “We are happy to partner with PGTI for its upcoming golf events where our Cardmembers will get to play with professional golfers and learn golfing nuggets from some of the best. I also wish the very best to all the teams for the tournaments.”

S Sambhu Prasad, Chairman & Managing Director, Amrutanjan Health Care Ltd, said,“Amrutanjan Healthcare Ltd is honoured to partner with PGTI in promoting the great game of Golf in India. As a 128 year old organisation we are guided by values, ethics and excellence and no other sport other than Golf best reflects these values. We wish to have a very long partnership with PGTI that is mutually rewarding.”

The PGTI season resumes with the Golconda Masters Telangana Open 2021 Presented by Vooty&Haldi which will be played at the Hyderabad Golf Club from September 2 – 5. The prize purse for the seventh edition of the event is Rs. 40 lakh. The following week is the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2021 Presented by Haryana Govt & Panchkula Golf Club which will be played at the Panchkula Golf Club from September 8 – 11. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 50 lakh.The month of October will see the launch of yet another new event with the inaugural TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2021 Presented by Delhi Golf Club being staged from October 5 – 8. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 50 lakh. The PGTI will be staging a full-field event (not co-sanctioned by Asian Tour) at the Delhi Golf Club after seven years.

The fourth edition of the Jaipur Open will be held at the Rambagh Golf Club in Jaipur from October 12 – 15. The event offers a prize purse of Rs. 40 lakh.

The IndianOil Servo Masters Golf returns for its 21st edition. The tournament will be staged in the week between October 25 – 31 at the Digboi Golf Links in Digboi, Assam. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 60 lakh. 

The fourth edition of the JeevMilkha Singh Invitational Presented by TAKE will be held at the Chandigarh Golf Club from November 11 – 14. The event boasts a prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore.

The ICC-RCGC Open Golf Championship returns for its second edition at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata from November 25 – 28. The prize purse for the event is Rs. 40 lakh.

The fifth edition of the Pune Open Golf Championship will be staged at the Poona Club Golf Course from December 1 – 4. The tournament carries a prize purse of Rs. 40 lakh.

The season-ending TATA Steel Tour Championship carrying an impressive prize purse of Rs. 1.5 crore will be held at the Golmuri&Beldih Golf Courses in Jamshedpur from December 16 – 19.

Please find below the schedule of events from September to December 2021: