National Club Challenge from Sunday

October 19, 2013. Around 5000 golfers from 25 key clubs from across the country will vie for honours when inaugural edition of the IGU NHS National Club Challenge tees off at Noida Golf Club this Sunday.

Indian golf Union announced that golf governing body is keen to develop competitive spirit among clubs on a national platform, giving more exposure to club golfers.

“This tournament will incentivize club golfers to play hard and improve their game in order to have a chance to be selected to represent the club the next year,” Raian Irani, Vice President IGU, said.

The tournament, which begins in October and conclude in April with the National Finals, will be conducted in three stages.

[highlight] This tournament will incentivize club golfers to play hard and improve their game in order to have a chance to be selected to represent the club the next year [/highlight]

During first stage, each of the 25 competing clubs will conduct an 18 hole-qualifying tournament with the club members competing in five different handicap categories so that all members of the club get an opportunity to compete for a spot on the club team.

The five handicap categories are 0-6, 7-10, 11-14, 15-19 and 20-24. The individual winner in each handicap category will automatically be selected to represent the club team, while the 6th team member and captain will be nominated by the club.

The teams will then go to the 2nd stage which is the Zonal Finals in four zones – North, South, East and West. At the 18-hole Zonal finals, best five 18 hole total stableford scores of the six players of each club team will make the team score and the top two teams from each of four Zonal Finals will qualify for the 3rd stage – the National Finals.

The first stage is the first round of the club qualifier event and Noida GC had a pre-qualifying round from which 120 club members qualified to compete in club team selection round.

Irani added that in this first edition only 25 clubs are accommodated due to logistic constraints but in the following years more clubs will be made part of it.