Gearing up for the tee party

The four-day,four-round final test,where qualifiers from two sets of the first stage will join those who have made it directly here,will be a Rs 2 lakh-affair,but the bigger prize,of course,is that of playing rights.

There are youngsters like Kapil Kumar,Aditya Singh and Rudresh Sharma,still figuring on the amateur circuit order of merit list,but trying to take that big step up early in their careers. There are players like Amit Dube,Amritinder Singh,Joseph Chakola and Indrajit Bhalotia,having not managed to set the course on fire last season,but having hung in there and armed with another chance at an attempt this time.

Jadeja: The big catch
Then there is the one name who might give more than golf aficionados a reason to peer at the leaderboard the next four days: Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja,who managed to make it to the last stage courtesy a nine-over two-round score in the first qualifying stage this past week.

Mhow-based professional Rajesh Choudhary and South Africa’s Derushan Nair,and Balpreet Singh Ghuman from Patiala had set the pace in the first stage last week,and even with no scores carried forward to this week,they at least carry the confidence in this round.

Last season’s qualifying school winner Anirban Lahiri came close to winning his first professional event this PGTI season — the big-named and last-day thrills marked season-ender Bilt Open this past December. A show like that might still be a distant dream for the contenders this week,but the journey starts here for the hopefuls.

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