Chiranjeev Singh Billing and Tajinder Singh Rihal golfers from Chandigarh captured the final two National Finals spots from Chandigarh Leg of MercedesTrophy 2017. This was the ninth leg of the tournament held at the Chandigarh Golf Club. Chiranjeev Singh Billing CAT –A (0-16) and Tajinder Singh Rihal CAT – B (18-24) ended the day with a nett score of 69.8 and 73 respectively. They will now be playing the National Finals scheduled in Pune’s Oxford Golf Resort, Pune from 15-17 March 2017.
Tajinder Singh Rihal and Chiranjeev Singh both commented on their qualification saying, “The arrangement of the tournament like every year was amazing and we both wish to put up a good show at the National finals as we carry the golf culture of Chandigarh with us.”
The best gross winner for the day was Karan Singh with a gross score of 72. There were a host of other prizes on offer on the day. Prominent winners included Sandeep Sandhu who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge on the 15th hole with a mammoth drive of 290 yards.
Jaspreet Bakshi won the SWISS Closest to Pin contest landing the ball just 3ft. inches from the pin on hole 13. In the Mercedes-Benz straightest drive contest played on hole four, Ashwani Kumar Chopra was declared the winner while in the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots was won by Harmandeep Khatra on hole 16.
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.
The Chandigarh leg is the ninth leg of the 12-city tournament which kick started the MercedesTrophy globally. This year, the Mercedes Trophy will travel to 50 countries engaging 60,000 golfers worldwide. The Indian leg will witness 25 days of competitive amateur golfing action in 12 cities engaging 2500 golfers, making it larger than ever before. Mercedes Trophy’s next stop will the DLF golf and country club in Delhi from 21st February.
Three winners from the National Finals will further progress to the Mercedes Trophy World Finals – Stuttgart, Germany in September 2017 to compete against winners from all over the world. One winner will travel to Scotland to witness the British Open at Royal Birkdale in July.
