Stern test awaits golfers at Louis Philippe Cup

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Bengaluru July 30 : A stern test awaits the 132 golfers when the Louis Philippe Cup, an Asian Development Tour (ADT) and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) co-sanctioned event, gets underway at the Prestige Golfshire Club here on Tuesday.

The four-day stroke play event will have official world golf ranking points also up for grabs. Measuring roughly 7,000 yards, the 18-hole championship golf course, which will provide a true test of golf for all participants.

Talking about the Indian contingent led by two-time winner on the Asian Tour Rahil Gangjee, he will hope the trophy stays at home.

It will not be easy for the likes of Rahil and company as this is the first time a pro event is being held at the course in five years and the layout has undergone considerable changes to make the going tough for slow adapters.

To begin with, it will be a par-70 golf course and no longer the regular par-72 as was generally the case at the Prestige. The fifth and 16th holes, which were par-five holes earlier have been pruned down to par-four holes, which leaves the golfer with some very challenging par-four holes on the course, some of them a mammoth 480-yards from tee to pin.

The Kolkata bred and Bengaluru based Rahil, who won his second career Asian Tour event this year, winning the $1.37 million Panasonic Open Golf Championship in Ibaraki, Japan, back in April this year, also had this to say about the course and conditions before heading out to practice on Monday.

The win in Japan netted Rahil a purse of $283,018 (INR 1.9 crores approximately). He is currently placed fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) rankings with total earnings of $290,425 million thus far.

The 132 member strong field for the meet includes the top 60 ranked golfers from the Indian pro circuit as well as around 50 golfers representing some 20 nationalities from the ADT.

The winner receives a minimum of six points and the leading six players and ties earn points based on a sliding scale.

Some other top golfers from around the region who will be seen competing are three time Asian Tour winner Marcus Both of Australia, Sri Lanka's popular Mithun Pereira who has won five times on the Indian tour, local star S. Chikarangappa who is a two time winner on the ADT and Delhi's Rashid Khan, a two-time winner on Asian Tour.

Also participating in the tournament are Chandigarh based amateur Aadil Bedi & Noida based Hari Mohan.

Both of these amateurs are representing India in the upcoming Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia this year. Both Aadil and Hari are looking forward to some much-needed practice in this tournament ahead of Asian Games.