Noida: Music, DJs and a riot of laughter is not a scene normally associated with a golf course. The 18-holes that constitute a round of golf are normally used to witness a mute journey of club wielding players and spectators who are only allowed to break their serious demeanor to appreciate a good stroke.
However, Tuesday turned out to be a different day at the Jaypee Greens’ Greg Norman Golf Course as celebrities from all walks of life joined hand with the professional golfers in the traditional pro-am, which kick started the second edition of the Louis Philippe Cup golf tournament.
Ninty-six golfers, consisting of 24 pros and 72 invitee golfers including Kapil Dev, film actor R. Madhavan, celebrity TV commentator Charu Sharma, former Indian cricket stars Syed Kirmani and Madan Lal, Nikhil Chopra and many corporate bigwigs from around the country participated in the pro-am with star golfers like Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri represented the nine teams in action from Wednesday.
The Louis Philippe Cup, India’s premier pro team golf event, is set to be contested by 9 city based teams of India’s top 27 professional golfers at its new venue - Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida from February 13th to 16th 2013.
The nine participating cities in this year’s edition are Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Noida, Ahmedabad and Greater Noida- competing to be crowned the champions, of one of the richest tournament on the PGTI Calendar with a total prize money purse of Rs, 1.20 Crores.
The teams are respectively named Silverglades Delhi, AVT Kolkata, Take Solutions Chennai, Puravankara Bangalore, DLF Gurgaon, DevEllora Chandigarh, Shubhkamna Noida, Navratna Ahmedabad and Jaypee Greens Greater Noida.
Chocolate boy R Madhavan proved that he is still the heartthrob of young and old as spectators flocked to wherever he was in action and the film actor proved that he is no mug with the golf club by bagging the Turkish Airlines Long Drive contest with a 308 yards drive on the fifth hole.
“This is a great golf course. I would love to come back here and play as it was a great atmosphere,” said Madhavan, who ended up breaking many a hearts as he had to rush to the airport soon after the pro-am.
While the stylish Madhavan made the spectators skip a heartbeat, comedian Papa CJ made the fans and even the players let their hair down and enjoy the moment with his timely jokes and leg-pulling that ensured that the pro-am was conducted in a very friendly atmosphere.
Even the top golfers did not bother to maintain their stoic approach and were joined in the playful banter by world cup winning former cricketers like Kapil Dev, Madan Lal and Syed Kirmani, while international Murali Karthik took the opportunity to get some golfing tips from the professionals.
“It was a great outing for all of us. It was all the more special for me since I managed to win the Hello! Closest to Pin award,” said Kapil Dev, who also owns the Chandigarh Franchise – Dev Ellora Chandigarh.
“While all of us are having a good day out today, our team is well prepared to launch a serious challenge for the title this year and I have no doubt that we would be one of the top contenders for the weekend,” he added.
The event ended with an impromptu fashion show by the golfers just before the opening ceremony, which returned the focus of the top professionals towards serious golf.
Jeev Milkha Singh of Shubhkamna Noida underlined the strength of his team saying, “This year Shubhkamna Noida returns with a much stronger squad in the form of two times PGTI Order of Merit champion Ashok Kumar, and the young and long hitting 2012 Nepal Masters winner Abhijit Chadha. Both of them showed their prowess today and we are highly motivated and inspired to win the title this season.”
Meanwhile, the team of Manav Sardana, Aman Sawhney and Nikhil Mehra under the leadership of Himmat Singh Rai bagged the top spot with Abhijit Singh Chadha and Ashok Kumar led their respective teams to the second and third spot in the pro-am event.
By Indian Sports News Network
