Day 1 of the Greater Noida leg ended with Vijay Chabbra and Rajesh Gupta qualifying for the National Finals of the Mercedes Trophy 2017. There will be four more qualifications on the corresponding two days of the Noida leg.
Vijay Chabbra CAT – A (0-18) and Rajesh Gupta CAT – B (19-24) ended the day with a net score of 72 and 73 respectively. They will now be playing the National Finals scheduled in the Pune Oxford Golf Resort, to be held in Pune from March 15-17, 2017.
The best gross winner for the day was Mukesh Thakur with a gross score of 76. There were a host of other prizes on offer on the day. Prominent winners included Rajesh Sodhi who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge on the 15th hole with a drive of 360 yards.
Guntas Madan won the SWISS Closest to Pin contest landing the ball just 5 ft. from the pin on hole 12. In the Mercedes-Benz straightest drive contest played on hole 15, Harinder Sikka was declared the winner while the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots was won by Vir Srivastava on hole 2.
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 Greater Noida leg is the 12th leg of the 12-city tournament which kick-started the Mercedes Trophy 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 be the National Finals in Pune to be played between March 15th and March 17th at the Oxford Golf Course.
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.
