Chandigarh: A total of 63 of the country’s top junior boys are in the fray for the Usha IGU Punjab Juniors Golf Championship 2013, which is set to get underway at the Chandigarh Golf Club course. The competition is sure to be both intense as well as open as there are four more tournaments to go for the IGU Juniors tour to conclude for this season and the young golfers will be looking to garner as many points as possible to make their way up the merit list. The field opens up even more as the top two on the merit list, leader Viraj Madappa of Kolkata and Manu Gandas, have both opted out, ostensibly to prepare for the Nick Faldo series in China, for which they have both qualified.

Given the context, Feroz Singh Garewal of Chandigarh, who is currently third on the merit list, is set to start favourite. Karandeep Kochhar and Tapendra Ghai, who have also qualified for China should give Feroze a run for his money along with Pukhraj Singh Gill, who is currently placed fourth on the IGU Junior Tour Order of Merit.

The USHA IGU Punjab Juniors will see four golfers each representing the East and South zones, while there are two entries received from the West zone. All other 53 junior golfers will represent the North zone. Digraj Singh Gill of the Phillaur Golf Club, who completed all of 12 years of age in August this year, will be the youngest golfer to tee off while Tapendra Ghai of the Delhi Golf Club will be the eldest at 18.

Usha International (UIL) is strongly committed to the development of sports in the country and has been a major supporter of Golf for the last 25 plus years.

Usha’s unwavering support to Golf has encouraged many promising young talents across to the nation pursue the sport in a professional manner. USHA, the nationwide sponsor of the entire Indian Golf Union (IGU) Ladies Tour, meanwhile continues its long association with the sport. A major supporter of Indian golf for over 25 years now, USHA covers the entire spectrum of the game in the country – from juniors, to ladies, to professional golf.

To further enhance this belief, USHA sponsors golf training programmes and has been associated with the Junior Training Programme at the prestigious Delhi Golf Club since 2006. USHA sponsored the 33rd Queen Sirikit Cup Championship in New Delhi in 2011. It is the most important women’s amateur golf event in the Asia Pacific region.