December 25, 2013: The Surya Nepal Eastern Open tees off today at the Nirvana Country Club in Dharan with the field missing defending champion Shiva Ram Shrestha.
The Himalayan country’sNo 1 pro Shiva Ram will miss the fifth event under the Surya Nepal Golf TOur 2013-14 as he has been playing in the Professional Golf Tour of India(PGTI) events. Shiva Ram missed the Tata Open cut on December 20 and is waiting for the INR 13.5 million McLoed Russel Tour Championship slated for December 26-29 in Kolkata.
The final event of the year will be played over 72 holes from Wednesday with the Pro-Am slated for December 29. A total of 28 pros, including six local golfers, are participating in the tournament organised by Nepal PGA under the sponsorship of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. Past winner and Teaching Pro in Germany, Sabon Sapkota will lead the local challenge that also features his younger brother Suman along with Mani Rai, Suman Rai, Deoraj Pakhrin.
The No 2 pro Rabi Khadka, who is known for his short games, enters as favorite to win the title on the plain course set at the midst of pine trees inside the Ghopa Camp. The cut will be applied after the second round with top 21 pros and amateurs making it to the money-making final rounds. Out of the total cash purse of Rs 514,250, the top three pros will be richer by Rs 95,000, Rs 60,000 and Rs 44,000 respectively. Others in the top 21 will also get their share of cash prizes.
The amatur field will be led by Dinesh Prajapati and Bikash Bogati — the members of the Surya Nepal NGA Youth Golf Development Programme. They are set to join other 15 golfers in Dharan after their participation in the Bhutan Amateur Open Championship in Thimpu, where Dinesh finished 11th and Bikash came 16th.
