Shillong: The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), ‘the official sanctioning body of professional golf in India’ with the support of Chief Minister – Dr Mukul Sangma, Govt of Meghalaya, in association with Meghalaya Golf Promoter’s Society (MGPS), is all set to bring professional golf back to the state of Meghalaya after a gap of two years with the staging of the 2ND EDITION of the Chief Minister’s Meghalaya Open Golf at the historic Shillong Golf Club.
The event will be staged from November 10 - 13, 2016. The Pro-Am event will be played on November 9th, 2016.The tournament is being conducted by Meghalaya Golf Promoters’ Society (MGPS) with the support of Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Meghalaya, local MLA – Mr AL Hek , Mr David Nongrum (MLA) and the Shillong Club Ltd. The tournament is expected to feature some of the leading Indian professionals. The 2014 event was won by Sanjay Kumar.
The leading Indian names in the field are Shankar Das, Shamim Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Udayan Mane, Om Prakash Chouhan, defending champion Sanjay Kumar, M Dharma, Harendra Gupta, Feroz Ali Mollah and Amardip Sinh Malik, to name a few. The two foreign players in the field are Sri Lankan Anura Rohana and Australian Kunal Bhasin.
Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI,said, “The PGTI is delighted to be back in the sports-loving state of Meghalaya for the second edition of the Chief Minister’s Meghalaya Open Golf. We thank the Government of Meghalaya for partnering with us in staging this event and thereby contributing towards the growth of professional golf, not only in Meghalaya but the entire North-Eastern region of the country. We look forward to an engrossing week of golfing action at the pristine Shillong Golf Club.”
The Tournament Committee has appealed to the Public to refrain from littering on the Golf Course and keep away from the Greens. This year’s event will have special Golf classes for Juniors children to be conducted by former national champion Indrajit Bhaloita apart from Tree plantation drive at the Shillong Golf Course.This will also prepare our youth for the National Games 2022 where Meghalaya state has submitted a bid.
Gaurav Bajaj, Organising Secretary said that this event has brought the Shillong Golf Course in the National Golf Map of the country. Chibor Shullai, Secy Shillong Golf Club is putting in his best to make the course conditions even better compared to the 2014 event. With the formation of MGPS , Golf is growing in the state of Meghalaya .MGPS already runs an Academy with special focus on Junior Golf. The Indian Golf Union has sanctioned a Junior Feeder tour event to Meghalaya in 2017 and also Gaurav Bajaj has been inducted in the East Zone Committee of Indian Golf Union. Daniel S Jyrwa (Vice President – MGPS) further added that Meghalaya will be represented by 6 Amateurs and 8 local Professionals in this event namely, Gaurav Bajaj (A), Col H Panging (A), Michael Hek (A), Jonathan Iawphniaw (A), Dr KI Singh (A) Batkupar J Synrem (A), Jeevan Sharma (P), Naeem Akhtar (P), Akash Roy (P), Gautam Lama(P), Anil Ram (P), Jeet Bahadur (P), Bishnu Chettri (P), Tatu Baruah (P) respectively.
The Shillong Golf Club is home to one of the oldest golf courses in the country. The course is scenic and enjoyable and challenging at the same time. The course is set in an undulating valley covered with thick groves of pine and rhododendron trees. The tight fairways are difficult to negotiate in any case, but the task is made even more trying by the number of ‘out-of-bounds’ streams that criss-cross almost every fairway.
