Vijay, Rakesh qualify for National Finals on Day 1

Vijay Chabbra and Rajesh Gupta qualified for the National Finals of the MercedesTrophy on the opening day of the 12th and final leg of the qualifying tournament here today.
There will be four more qualifications in the next two days of the Noida Leg here.
Vijay Chabbra CAT - A (0-18) and Rajesh Gupta CAT - B (19-24) ended the day at a nett score of 72 and 73 respectively. They will now be playing the National Finals scheduled in the Oxford Golf Resort to be held in Pune from March 15 to 17.
The best gross winner for the day was Mukesh Thakur with a gross score of 76. Rajesh Sodhi won the Ballantine's Long Drive Challenge on the 15th hole with a drive of 360 yards, while Guntas Madan won the SWISS Closest to Pin contest landing the ball just 5 ft. From the pin on hole 12.

In the Mercedes - Benz straightest drive contest played on hole 15, Harinder Sikka was declared the winner while in the Mercedes- Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots was won by Vir Srivastava on hole 2.
The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals.
Three Winners from the National Finals will further progress to the MercedesTrophy World Finals - Stuttgart, Germany in September 2017 to compete against winners from all over the world. One winner will travel to Scotland to witness the British Open at Royal Birkdale in July.