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Indian Film Star, R. Madhavan won the Day 1 qualification of the Mumbai Leg of the MercedesTrophy 2018, India’s largest and most prestigious corporate Golf tournament being held at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club today. Madhavan carded a Nett. Score of 69.6 to emerge victorious on Day 1 of the Mumbai qualifications. Madhavan will now be competing at the National Finals of the tournament to be played at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune from4-6 April 2018.
Commenting after the win, R.Madhavan said, “ I am very happy and nothing feels better than winning and I am absolutely looking forward to the National Finals and I feel that Mercedes has really made beautiful arrangements and I really enjoyed my time.”
The best Gross Winner of the day was Rohan Nigam with an excellent round of 78 and there were a host of other prizes on offer to be won on the day.
Prominent winners included Arjun Nowhar who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge with a mammoth drive of 287 yards. Chitresh Vaspate won the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin contest by landing the ball at 3ft from the pin. In the Mercedes – Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots, Vishesh Sahajwala landed the ball at 4inches from the pin to win. Surjit Dugal who landed the ball at 1inch from the line won the Mercedes-Benz Straightest Drive contest.
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.
A total of 100 golfers participated on the opening day in Mumbai and will see another 200 golfers compete for two remaining qualification spots over the next two days.
This year’s MercedesTrophy will host 27 days of golf across 12 Indian cities. Pune will also host the national finals at the same venue between 4th and 6th April 2018.
This year for the first time, Mercedes-Benz’s global charity partner– Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is also associated with the tournament to raise funds for its programmes in India. While participants can donate online or on-ground at the tournament venue, Mercedes-Benz India will donate an equal amount to match the funds raised from participants.
Globally, MercedesTrophy witnesses participation of approximately 60,000 golfers from across 60 countries battling it out for the top prize, making it one of the world’s largest and most coveted sporting events.
The 18th edition of the MercedesTrophy after the Mumbai qualifiers will travel to 9 more cities – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Noida and Jaipur. Forty winners will be selected from the qualifiers for the National Finals. The qualifiers end on March 11, 2018 in Jaipur.
Three winners of the National Finals will then compete against those from tournaments played in 60 countries all over the world in the 29th edition of the MercedesTrophy World Final to be held in Stuttgart, Germany. Mercedes-Benz is also providing an opportunity for beginners to learn golf through their Golf Clinic program.
