PGTI Tour's second-half to tee-off with record prize money on offer

New Delhi, Jan 16 (UNI) The second half of the PGTI Tour tees-off with the Rs 20 lakh IOC Extra Premium Masters in Digboi from January 31 followed by the Rs 60 Lakh Solaris Open at the Bangalore Golf Club from February 22-25 as prize money soars beyond Rs three crores in a record-breaking season in India.

The events will be keenly contested among the country's leading professionals as well as Asian Tour regulars like Singapore's Lam Chih Bing, who is currently placed fifth on the PGTI Order of Merit and Myanmar's Zaw Moe.

Prize money worth 1.4 crore has already been played for on the PGTI Tour.

''We are proud of what we have been able to achieve this year as it is the PGTI's first season. This is just the beginning and it proves that the future for a Indian golf tour is very bright,'' said Jyoti Randhawa, one of the Board of directors of the Professional Golf Tour of India.

The current PGTI Order of Merit leader Harmeet Kahlon seconded this opinion and said: ''We are looking forward towards the rest of the season. There is great potential in our country for a successful and rich Indian tour and this is just the beginning," said the Chandigarh professional who has already earned Rs 1,167,000 (11 Lakh, Sixty-Seven Thousand) so far this season.'' The country's top-20 professionals will also be seen in action at the Business-Today Pro-Am, which is scheduled for March 2-3. The Rs 70 Lakh Crompton Greaves, which will be held at the Bombay Presidency Golf Course from April 26-29 is also one of the highlights of the season.

UNI