Top Indian professionals will be seen vying for top honour at the Rs 75 lakh prize money 13th Tata Open Golf, which will be tee off at Beldih and Golmuri golf courses here from December 18.
The tournament will be preceded by Pro-am, which will be held tomorrow, said Farzan Heerjee, Chief, Guest Relations and Sports, Tata Steel.
Addressing a press conference here today, Heerjee, flanked by the Director (operation) of Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), Uttam Singh and veteran golfer Alan Singh, said the three-day tournament will feature some of the top golfers such as Chikkarangappa S (current Rolex Rankings leader), Mukesh Kumar, Shamim Khan, Om Prakash Chouhan, defending champion M Dharma, Shankar Das, Amardip Sinh Malik, Digvijay Singh and Sanjay Kumar.
Top foreign players in the field are Anura Rohana, K Prabagaran and N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka, Kunal Bhasin of Australia, Nepal's Shivaram Shrestha and Bangladesh's Md Zamal Hossain Mollah, he said.
The local challenge will be led by Jamshedpur's Karan Taunk, who currently leads the PGTI emerging player of the year race for 2014 and last year's runner-up of the Tata Open.
Heerjee said the prize money was enhanced to Rs 75 lakh this year against Rs 50 lakh last year.
Referring the venues of the tournament, he said the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses are both lush green, beautiful and very well-maintained with the charming Dalma hills in the background.
While the 70-year-old Beldih golf course flaunts long fairways, Golmuri is a smaller, greener boutique course.
Over 150 professional golfers will seen in action in the main event while 60 players will take part in the Pro-Am.
