NEW DELHI: Ending months of uncertainty, action on the Indian golf tour is set to start with a never-before prize-money of Rs. 70 lakh in the BILT Open at the Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida, near here, on October 26.

With the country's leading professional golfers coming together and forming the "Professional Golf Tour of India," and announcing a schedule of six events offering a whopping Rs. 3.30 crore, the apex body, Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI), stands marginalised.

The PGTI will be announcing more events in due course and raise the total money to Rs. 5.50 crore for the season.

At the launch of the PGTI, Jyoti Randhawa told newspersons on Tuesday that the necessity to form the new body arose as a large number of playing professionals felt "betrayed by the Tiger Sports Marketing (the company that managed the Indian Tour on behalf of the PGAI). The TSM did not do the right job. They did not fulfil their commitments."

This summer, some of the professional golfers were drafted into the PGAI Board. But last week, over 70 members including some of those from the Board resigned. Today, the PGTI released a list of 94 registered members eligible to play in its events.

PGTI board

Headed by BILT's Gautam Thapar, the PGTI Board comprises Randhawa, Shiv Kapur, Rahil Gangjee, Uttam Singh Mundy, S. S. P. Chowrasia, Ranjit Singh, Digvijay Singh and Amritinder Singh. Advocate Saket Bahuguna will be co-opted later.

Mundy, another key player in the formation of the PGTI, said, "the transparency in PGTI is what will set it apart from the PGAI."

Amritinder Singh said: "Before resigning from the PGAI, as Board members we did try to find an amicable solution to the problems but we did not get the desired response from TSM. We had no option but to start this parallel Tour."

When asked about some of the leading players like Mukesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Firoz Ali and Vijay Kumar, among others, staying away from the PGTI, Ghei said, "I think they have been misled. From what I know, they are tough professionals and not the ones to sit out of events offering Rs. 50 to 70 lakh at home."

Randhawa also said that Kapil Dev was helping the PGTI in negotiations with corporates. "Thanks to Kapil, Jaypee Greens will be the official golf course of the Indian Tour."

Ajay Gupta, a teaching pro who worked tirelessly for setting up PGTI, promised professionalism in running the Tour and said, "Now, there is no going back."

The schedule: BILT Open in Greater Noida (Rs. 70 lakh) from October 26 to 29; Tata Open at Jamshedpur (Rs. 20 lakh) in November; Dates for the Papers Worldwide Open at Chennai (Rs. 50 lakh), Solaris Open at Bangalore (Rs. 60 lakh); Crompton Greaves Open in Mumbai (Rs. 70 lakh) and Asahi Glass Open in New Delhi (Rs. 60 lakh) will be announced later.

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