Chikkarangappa, Khalin to begin campaign tomorrow

Bangalore's star international golfers S Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi, who turned professional at the beginning of this year, is expected to hog the limelight as special invitees when they tee off in the 5th edition of Toyota Karnataka Golf Festival here tomorrow.
The festival at the Karnataka Golf Association will also see top amateurs like junior champion Syed Saqib Ahmed and Anisha Padukonein the field of around 450 golfers from Bangalore, Pune, Mysore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi at the KGA course.
Legendary cricketers G R Vishwanath, Erapalli Prasanna, Syed Kirmani alongside former hockey international star Ashish Ballal and tennis star Rohan Bopanna will take a swing during the four-day tournament.

Over 450 other golfers will be fighting to get one of the five spots in five categories (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-24) to represent India at the annual World Golfers' Championships to be held in Durban from October 26 to November 3.
The tournament will be played in the Stableford format.
Looking forward to this week's TKGF, Chikka said, "It will be my third year at this festival and I'm really happy to be invited by Toyota.

"It's an exciting concept where both a scratch handicap youngster my age or a 40 or 50 year old club level player get a chance to play at an international tournament like WGC as part of a team. It's good to see the Karnataka State tourism department getting involved in a tournament like this."

Extending a challenge to all the participants, will be Chandigarh-based pro golfer and Arjuna Awardee Harmeet Kahlon, who will be playing at Hole No.1 on Day Three of the Festival, with each group in the 'Beat the Pro Camry Hybrid Straightest Drive Challenge', which is an added attraction to the event.
Over the last five years, there have been some noteworthy performances including Sumit Rathore, former KGA captain who won his handicap category in 2009 at the WGC in Spain and Utpal Dutt in 2010 when he finished 2nd in his category.