LP Cup: Top golfers vie for honours

February 17, 2014:Top golfers from Indian Sub-continent will vie for the Louis Philippe Cup, which is scheduled to tee off from February 19 to 22, 2014 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, Mumbai. An all-star brigade of Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Anirban Lahiri, GaganjeetBhullar, SSP Chowrasia of India, M Siddikur of Bangladesh and Mithun Perera of Srilanka will ensure the presence of best talent ever to compete in Mumbai.

With a total prize money of Rs. 1.2 Crore, this is the 2nd richest tournament in PGTI golf calendar, shared among 27 players compared to a regular event which is shared among 60 players.

The flag bearer of Indian golf over two decades, Jeev will headline the event by representing Shubhkamna Delhi for the very first time. While Gaganjeet Bhullar, five-time winner on the Asian Tour, will be the main face of Jaypee Greens Greater Noida for the 2nd time. India’s highest ranked player currently in the world and No 3 on the Asian Tour 2013 Rankings from Bangalore, Anirban Lahiri will wear Puravankara Bangalore’s colours for the third time in a row. Two-time European Tour winner SSP Chowrasia will play for TAKE Chennai. Rahil Gangjee, who has notched three top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour this year after spending a few years on the Buy.com Tour in USA, will once again wear the colours of AVT Kolkata. The Mumbai team has bagged the former Asian Tour No. 1, Jyoti Randhawa. Navratna Ahmedabad has retained Mithun Perera, winner of last two PGTI events.

In the Louis Philippe Cup, each member of the winning team of 3 players gets to earn Rs. 12 Lakhs equivalent to what the 19th ranked player on the PGTI circuit earned during the entire season in 2012.

The winning team stands to win Rs.36 lakhs, while runners-up will earn Rs. 24 lakhs, team finishing in third place will earn a purse of Rs. 18 lacs and the team placed fourth will receive Rs. 12 lacs. Teams ranked 5 to 8 after the two rounds of stroke play will battle it out for lower position while the 9th team will not compete on the final two days.

The unique format of the four-day event features two days (36 holes) stroke play in which all 9 teams will compete. The ranking on the second day shall decide the semi-finals in a one on one stroke play format.

The four teams with the best total team scores over 36 holes will advance to the semi-finals. From the semi-finals onwards, the top four teams will play a knockout. One-on-one matches between the three players of each team will earn each team one point for a win and zero for a loss. The two winning semi-finalists will go head-to-head in the finals on the fourth day. While the losing semi finalists will battle for 3rd place.