Mercedes-Benz India will tee off the Bengaluru leg of the 2017 Mercedes Trophy at the city’s Prestige Golf Shire. The three-day leg will be the fourth stop for this year’s edition, with the inaugural, second and the third legs having concluded earlier in the month in Pune, Ahmedabad and Mumbai respectively.
The annual tournament, in its 17th edition in India, will feature 25 days of qualifiers engaging about 2500 golfers, making it the largest participative golf tournament in India. Globally, Mercedes Trophy bears witness to participation of approximately 60,000 golfers from across 50 countries battling it out for the top prize, making it one of the world’s largest sporting events.
The 41 winners from the qualifying rounds being held in 12 cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Gurgaon and New Delhi, will then compete at the national finals at the Oxford Golf Resort, Pune from 15th March – 17th March 2017.
The first three legs of the tournament held in Pune, Ahmedabad and Mumbai have already seen a total of nine golfers qualify for the national finals in Pune.
Three winners from the national finals will further progress to the Mercedes Trophy world finals – Stuttgart, Germany in September 2017, to compete against country-specific edition winners from all over the world.
The format of play will be Double Peoria with the Mumbai amateurs vying for six (two from each day) coveted final spots. The unique format of adjusting handicaps of the players each day enables more golfers to have a chance of qualifying for the National Finals.
One winner will travel to the British Open Championship and will get a chance to play the Royal Birkdale Championship course the day following the tournament. The ‘Best Maintained Car’ winners will compete for a wild card entry to the India National Final.
In order to introduce beginners to the game, Mercedes-Benz will host golf clinics at each round of the tournament, which will be conducted by instructors from the legendary David Leadbetter Golf Academy.
