Mann, Gupta qualify for Mercedes Trophy National Finals
Press Trust of India Noida City golfers Rishab Mann Handicap Category A (0-17) and Sushil Gupta - Handicap Category B (18-24) qualified for the National Finals of MercedesTrophy 2018 on day 1 of the Noida leg qualifier held here today.
Rishab and Sushil clinched the first two qualification spots available from the leg by carding a nett. score of 71.8 and 72.6 respectively.
The MercedesTrophy 2018 has so far seen 39 qualifiers including today who will be competing in the National Finals to be played at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune from 4-6 April 2018.
Speaking on his win CAT A winner Rishab Mann said, "It is a lovely feeling to become a winner today. It is a lovely tournament hosted by Mercedes."
Commenting on the qualification CAT B winner Sushil Gupta said, "It is my first national finals and I am delighted. I do play at the Jaypee Greens regularly but today I was competing at the course after a considerable gap. So really happy with the way the course played today despite the heavy breeze."
The best Gross Winner of the day was Pulastya Sachdev with an excellent round of 80 and there were a host of other prizes on offer to be won on the day.
Prominent winners included Anuj Khanna who won the Ballantines Long Drive Challenge with a drive of 250 yards.
Rahul Rai won the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin contest on hole no. 1 by landing the ball at 1 ft. from the pin. In the Mercedes Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots, Atul Arora landed the ball at 5.6 ft. from the pin to win the contest on hole no. 1. Amit Kashyap won the Mercedes-Benz Straightest Drive contest on hole no. 11 by landing the ball at 2 inch from the line.
The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals.
A total of 121 golfers competed on Day 1 of MercedesTrophy Noida leg. The second day of the qualifiers will see a set of 120 golfers set to compete for the two qualification spots available on Day 2. This years MercedesTrophy will host 27 days of golf across 12 Indian cities. Pune will also host the national finals at the Oxford Golf Resort between 4th and 6th April 2018.
