Kolkata: It promises to be a ‘Super Thursday’ for golf fans in Kolkata as they will be witness to a rare spectacle at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) during round one of the McLeod Russel Tour Championship 2016.
The ‘Big Three’ of Indian golf – Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa – playing together at a PGTI event for the first time this week, will also tee off together as part of the same group during the opening round on Thursday. They will make up the last three-ball that tees off at 11:20 am.
The legendary trio, have been trailblazers for Indian golf, widely seen as being responsible for triggering the golfing revolution in the country about two decades back thanks to their accomplishments.
The ‘Big Three’ have a tally of 32 international titles between them and have won on all the major international tours. The three six-footers also have a total of 24 Major appearances and each one of them holds the distinction of being Asia No. 1 at some stage – Jeev in 2006 and 2008, Arjun in 2003 and Jyoti in 2002.
The three good friends are now looking forward to their reunion on the golf course after many years.
Jeev said, “It’s fantastic. The last time we played together was at the invitational event hosted by me in Noida four years back. But this is first time on the PGTI that the three of us are playing together. It’ll be good fun playing with each other after so long. We played a lot of golf together when we started out on the professional circuit. We have always pushed each other for getting the best out of ourselves. We’ll have a good laugh and enjoy ourselves this time as well.”
Arjun added, “The three of us began our professional careers around the same time over two decades back. We had a blast the last time we played together at Jeev’s invitational event. I’m now looking forward to playing with Jeev and Jyoti again as some old memories will be refreshed. However, we’re all tough competitors at the same time and will try our best to play better than each other.”
Jyoti, also excited about the prospect of playing alongside his contemporaries, said, “I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t even remember the last time we played together. It’ll be great fun, good for Indian golf and a treat for the spectators. We’re good friends off the course and there will be some chatter when we play together. However, it will also be serious business on the course as we will fight it out and play hard.”
The other marquee group in round one would be that of Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur. The trio with a combined total of 16 international wins between them, tees off at 11:10 am on Thursday. For the record, Bhullar and Chawrasia have been the two most successful Indian golfers this year with two Asian Tour titles each in their kitty.
