PUNE: The Poona Club Golf Course and the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), the official sanctioning body of professional golf in India, today jointly launched The Poona Club Open golf tournament, which will be held at the magnificent Poona Club Golf Course from November 6 – 9, 2024. The tournament’s prize purse of INR 1 crore is the highest ever for an event in Pune.
The tournament is supported by the Host Venue, Poona Club Golf Course, Title Sponsor Venky’s (India) Ltd, Vencobb, and NECC. The Associate Sponsors are Wipro Pari, Panchshil, Shubbaan Investments, Elica, and Automech.
The tournament will feature leading Indian professionals such as DP World Tour regular Om Prakash Chouhan, Olympian and local lad Udayan Mane, 2024 TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat, Rashid Khan, Karandeep Kochhar, Shaurya Binu, Sachin Baisoya, Varun Parikh, Dhruv Sheoran and Shaurya Bhattacharya, to name a few.
The foreign challenge will be led by Czech Republic’s Stepan Danek, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain, Badal Hossain, Md Akbar Hossain, Md Jakiruzzaman Jakir, Sri Lankans N Thangaraja, K Prabagaran, Andorra’s Kevin Esteve Rigaill, Nepal’s Subash Tamang, Canada’s Sukhraj Singh Gill, Japan’s Makoto Iwasaki and Americans Dominic Piccirillo and Digraj Singh Gill.
The host venue Poona Club Golf Course will be represented by professionals Rohan Dhole Patil, Pranav Mardikar, Akshay Damale, Pravin Pathare, Aaron Rockey, Gurki Shergill (a winner on the PGTI), Aditya Bhandarkar, Sameer M Shaikh, Rajiv Datar, Sandeep Phalnikar and Jaideep Patwardhan as well as amateurs Arkin Patil, Aditya Garg and Avneesh Somayaji.
This is a 72-hole stroke-play tournament featuring a field of 126 players including 123 professionals and three amateurs. The cut will be applied after the first 36 holes. The top 50 players and ties will make the halfway cut and continue to play for another 36 holes.
Gaurav Gadhoke, President, of The Poona Club Ltd., expressed enthusiasm about hosting India’s top golf professionals at The Poona Club Open. He highlighted the importance of the event, saying, “This event offers a unique opportunity for members to witness a golfing spectacle and provides exposure to junior and amateur golfers to professional play. Additionally, the tournament serves to showcase the Poona Club Golf Course as a premier championship venue in the country. I extend my best wishes to all participating players.”
Indraneel Mujgule, Vice President, of The Poona Club Ltd., said, “We welcome all the professionals from India and overseas to the inaugural edition of The Poona Club Open and hope we can make it a memorable week for them. We thank the Title Sponsor and Associate Sponsors for helping make this event possible and facilitating PGTI’s return to The Poona Club Golf Course after two years.”
Jay Shirke, Captain, of The Poona Club Golf Course, said, “We’re excited to host the leading Indian professionals at the inaugural edition of The Poona Club Open. The top-quality golf on display during the event will go a long way in inspiring our young golfers to achieve greater feats. We’ve worked towards providing the best playing conditions and we’re confident the professionals will relish the experience of playing at The Poona Club Golf Course.”
Padmaja Shirke, Lady Captain, of The Poona Club Golf Course, said, “The Poona Club Golf Course has produced a number of talented lady professionals and amateurs in recent times who have been performing well at the national level. The staging of The Poona Club Open provides our lady golfers a great opportunity to interact with India’s leading men professional golfers thus giving our lady golfers greater exposure to the sport at the highest level.”
Ikram Khan, Past Captain & Golf Advisor, of The Poona Club Golf Course, said, “It’s a historic moment for The Poona Club Golf Course to launch The Poona Club Open which has been a result of the initiative and efforts of the President Mr. Gaurav Gadhoke. The tournament promises to be an enriching experience for the members who will get to witness top-class golfing action throughout the week and will have the opportunity to interact with the leading Indian professionals at the Pro-Am and the Golf Clinic. We look forward to jointly working with PGTI in developing this event into one of the highlights of the PGTI season in the coming years.”
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, of PGTI, said, “We thank the President Mr. Gaurav Gadhoke, Captain Mr. Jay Shirke, Past Captain & Golf Advisor Mr. Ikram Khan, and all other Committee Members of The Poona Club Golf Course for their invaluable contribution in making this event possible by raising the sponsorship fund for the event. Pune is today a major golfing center in the country which regularly produces talented professional golfers. We thus strive to work in close association with The Poona Club Golf Course in making this tournament an important stop on the PGTI in the coming years.”
The Poona Club Golf Course, the venue for the event, is spread over 100 acres and dotted with majestic banyan trees and other flowering trees. The course, which is one of the top championship venues in the country, is well appreciated for its water bodies and fast and true greens. The course has staged many National level professional, amateur, and junior events over the years. The first player to make a hole-in-one on the fourth hole will win himself a Nissan Magnite car.
