Pune Open Golf Championship to tees off on Thursday

A galaxy of Indian stars including Asian Tour regulars Chiragh Kumar and Rahil Gangjee, will vie for honours when the Pune Open Golf Championship tees off at the Poona Club Golf Course on Thursday.

The tournament which is the sixth event of the PGTI's 2018 season, will see the participation of Ajeetesh Sandhu (a winner on the Asian Tour last year), Khalin Joshi, Rashid Khan, S Chikkarangappa, Himmat Singh Rai and Viraj Madappa.

The other prominent Indian names in the field are Shamim Khan (2017 PGTI Order of Merit champion), Udayan Mane, Harendra Gupta (2016 champion), Mukesh Kumar and Shankar Das.

The foreign challenge will be led by defending champion Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka as well as his compatriots N Thangaraja (2018 PGTI Order of Merit leader) and K Prabagaran, Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, Australia's Kunal Bhasin and South African Damian Naicker.

The host city of Pune will be represented by professionals Gurki Shergill (winner of 8th TATA Open 2009), Pravin Pathare, Sameer M Shaikh, Akshay Damale and Sagar Raghuvanshi as well as amateurs Jay Shirke and Pratik Nirmale.

This is a 72-hole stroke-play tournament featuring a field of 125 professionals. 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.