14 December 2021: The TATA Steel Group and PGTI will be hosting the TATA Steel Tour Championship at the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses in Jamshedpur from December 16 to December 19, 2021. The event offers a handsome prize purse of Rs 1.5 crore and will feature an elite field of 74 professionals.
The TATA Steel Tour Championship is the season-ending event of the 2020-2021 TATA Steel PGTI season. The tournament is a 72-hole stroke-play championship and there will be no cut applied. There is guaranteed prize money for all participants. The Pro-Am event preceding the tournament will be played on December 14.
The format for the event is as follows: In all four rounds, half the field will play their first nine holes at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih while the other half will play their first nine at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih. From round two onwards, the leading/front half of the leaderboard (leading groups as per the scores) will play their first nine holes at Golmuri and second nine at Beldih. The prize presentation ceremony on Sunday, December 19, will be at Beldih.
The tournament will feature a glittering field including some of the biggest names in Indian golf such as defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar (10 international wins), Jyoti Randhawa (9 international wins), Olympian SSP Chawrasia (6 international wins), Shubhankar Sharma (2 international wins) and Olympian Udayan Mane (2019 champion). The field will also feature the top-60 from the PGTI Order of Merit with the prominent names being PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar, Rashid Khan, Khalin Joshi, Viraj Madappa, Chikkarangappa S, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Aman Raj, Veer Ahlawat and Manu Gandas, to name a few.
Two-time European Tour winner and former Asia No. 1 Shubhankar Sharma, returns to play in Jamshedpur after five years. Shubhankar, a European Tour regular, last played in Jamshedpur at the 15th TATA Open 2016, an event he went on to win. Sharma will also be playing a PGTI event for the first time since February 2020.
The tournament will decide the PGTI Order of Merit champion for the 2020-2021 TATA Steel PGTI season, a race which is likely to be a closely-contested one.
Mr. Sanjiv Paul, Vice President Safety, Health and Sustainability, Tata Steel, said, “As an organisation, we have always had a long and enduring commitment for Indian sports and been at the forefront in creating infrastructure and platforms that nurture and support sporting talent. Our association with the PGTI in 2019 to promote golf at the highest level, is a natural progression of this resolve.”
“The popularity of golf in Jamshedpur has grown considerably over the years. Though Tata Steel has been hosting the city’s professional golf tournament for more than 15 years now, our association with PGTI, has promoted the golf tour and sustained continuance of this exciting event in the golfing calendar of the Steel City.” added Mr Paul, who is also Captain of the Jamshedpur Golf Club. “This year’s event promises to be even more exciting with the best of India’s golfing talent competing on the city’s two professional courses at Beldih and Golmuri, while ensuring the safety of all participants and golf enthusiasts” he said.
Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, “We thank TATA Steel for their continued support to PGTI through these tough times of the pandemic. The TATA Steel Tour Championship 2021, which will be aired Live for the first time, offers a visual treat for golf fans across the country as some of the biggest names of Indian golf such as Shubhankar Sharma, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Olympians SSP Chawrasia and Udayan Mane and PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar will compete with the emerging stars of the country. There is also the added excitement of the tournament deciding the PGTI Order of Merit champion for the 2020-2021 season, a contest which is likely to go down to the wire. We thank Mr. T V Narendran, CEO & MD, TATA Steel, and Mr. Sanjiv Paul, Vice President, Safety, Health & Sustainability, TATA Steel, and Captain, Jamshedpur Golf, for their continued commitment to the growth of Indian professional golf.”
The two venues, Beldih & Golmuri golf courses, are both lush green, beautiful and very well-maintained, with the charming Dalma Hills in the background. While the 70-year-old Beldih Golf Course flaunts long fairways, Golmuri Golf Course is a smaller, greener, boutique course disallowing golfers any room for error.
The event will be telecast Live on ABP Network’s digital platforms.
As a curtain-raiser to the event, a putting contest featuring some of the leading Indian professionals has been organised on 15th December at the newly-inaugurated putting green at the JRD TATA Sports Complex, Jamshedpur.
