Shubhankar to tee off in PGTI Players C’ship

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 10

Indian star and European Tour regular Shubhankar Sharma will be the star attraction at the PGTI Players Championship 2020. The event will be held at the Eagleton Golf Resort in Bengaluru from tomorrow and carries prize purse of Rs30 lakh.

Sharma, a two-time winner on the European Tour, the 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion and the second-highest ranked Indian in the world at 264, returns to play on the PGTI after a year.

The Chandigarh golfer is the defending champion at the event. He had won the previous PGTI Players Championship at the Eagleton Golf Resort in February 2016.

The other leading Indian names in the field this week are Asian Tour regulars Chikkarangappa, Khalin Joshi, Viraj Madappa and Aman Raj.

Udayan Mane, who jumped from 417 to a career-best 303 in the world rankings as a result of his back-to-back title on the PGTI last week, will also be a part of the field.

“I’m extremely happy to be back home and playing alongside some of my friends. I’m excited about returning to one of my favourite courses the Eagleton. I have good memories of my win at this venue back in 2016 when I shot a 24-under total,” said Sharma.

“I had three weeks off so I thought competing this week would give me good practice for the European Tour events ahead. I’ve recently been working on a lot of things with my coach and playing a tournament is the best way to put those changes into practice and test yourself. There’s also no better place to find my form than my home tour,” he added.

Sharma further said: “It was an up and down season for me last year in Europe but I managed to find some form towards the end with a couple of top-10s. The experience gained over the last one year has been invaluable and has made me a better player.”

“The world ranking points on offer on the PGTI is an added incentive for me to play this event. As the race for spots at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics enters its final stretch, every world ranking point counts. So, a good finish here would really help in boosting my Olympics hopes,” the 23-year-old pointed.

Former India hockey captain Dilip Tirkey will be playing his second event as a professional at the Eagleton Golf Course this week.

Tirkey, a three-time Olympian and 1998 Asian Games gold medalist, had last month played the PGTI Qualifying School 2020 in Ahmadabad.