Former champions Mane, Sandhu star at Golconda Masters with World ranking points at stake

As many as 124 golfers, including defending champion Udayan Mane and two-time winner Ajeetesh Sandhu, will be vying for honours at the Golconda Masters Championship, which is set to become the first PGTI event to have Official World Golf Ranking points.

Golfers from countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia will look to give a tough fight to the home grown golfers at the Rs. 40 lakh event beginning Wednesday.

The Pro-Am event of the season-opener will be held on February 10.

The fifth edition of the Golconda Masters marks the beginning of a new era in Indian golf as PGTI aligns itself with the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system for the first time.

The break-up of OWGR points for all PGTI events will be as follows: Winner (5 points), Runner-up (3 points), Third Place (2 points), Fourth Place (1.6 points), Fifth Place (1.2 points).

The top Indians in the fray include Panasonic Open champion Khalin Joshi, 2017 Yeangder TPC winner Sandhu, K Chikkarangappa, Aman Raj, Chiragh Kumar and Abhijit Singh Chadha.

Other leading players such as Rashid Khan, and former champion Harendra Gupta are also in the field.

The foreign challenge will be led by the Sri Lankan quartet of Anura Rohana, N Thangaraja, Mithun Perera and K Prabagaran as well as Australian Kunal Bhasin and Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah.

"It is an exciting time for Indian golf as the PGTI joins the list of the elite golfing tours in the world that are a part of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system," Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said.