Olympic-returned Udayan Mane and former Asian Tour winners Jyoti Randhawa and Rashid Khan will headline a stellar field when professional golf returns to the valley with the J & K Open here from Wednesday.
The Rs 40 lakh event, organised by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), along with J&K Tourism, will be held at the picturesque Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC).
The Pro-Am event will be held on September 19.
The tournament will witness participation of 125 golfers – 119 professionals and six amateurs.
The top Indian professionals in the fray include Mane, who had played at the Tokyo Olympics, eight-time Asian Tour winner Randhawa, two-time Asian tour winner Rashid, PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar and 2018 Panasonic Open winner Khalin Joshi.
Among others, Viraj Madappa and S. Chikkarangappa (former winner at Royal Springs Golf Course) as well as other leading Indian players such as Aman Raj, Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Manu Gandas will be in fray.
The foreign challenge will be led by the Bangladeshi duo of Md Zamal Hossain Mollah and Badal Hossain.
The local challenge will be led by Bhawani Singh Parmar, Pawan Parihar, Fayaz Ahmed Langoo and Raghav Wahi as well as amateurs such as Sanjeev Dugra, Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Zubair Hasan Zargar, Arsalan Rah, Adnan Rah and Umar Yaqoob Mir.
Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, “The staging of the J&K Open 2021 is another positive trend for the PGTI since the resumption of the tour in the first week of September.
“The tournament is in line with our long-term objective of promoting professional golf in different parts of the country in order to grow the sport further.
“We appreciate the support of J&K Tourism, J&K Golf Development & Management Authority and the Royal Springs Golf Course in helping us stage this event.”