PGTI lifts cap on foreign golfers' participation

New Delhi, Dec 17 : The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) has decided not to restrict the number of foreigners on the tour once they earn their cards through its Qualifying School, it was announced on Sunday.

The PGTI had a limit of a maximum of 15 foreign players in each tournament till date. As the PGTI now transforms into an ‘Open Tour', there will be no such restriction any more, according to an official statement.

With the PGTI becoming an ‘Open Tour' from next season, the tour also hopes to soon align itself with the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system thus attracting world ranking points for all its future events.

The PGTI has also announced its calendar for the first half of the 2018 season. As per the calendar, the PGTI is scheduled to host eight tournaments between January and April. The front half of the year will feature three new events.

The total prize purse on offer in the first half is approximately Rs. 2.8 crore, an increase of Rs. 20 lakh compared to last season.

The 2018 season will tee-off on January 24 with the inaugural Dhaka Open at the Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka. The event worth approximately Rs 40 lakh will be tri-sanctioned by the PGTI, Asian Development Tour (ADT) and the Bangladesh Professional Golfers Association (BPGA).

Besides the Dhaka Open, there would be two new additions to the schedule including an event in Delhi NCR.

The PGTI Cochin Masters presented by CIAL Golf Club (Rs. 40 lakh), Golconda Masters (Rs. 40 lakh) and Pune Open (Rs. 30 lakh) are the three established PGTI events that feature in the schedule for the first half.

The two events that return for their second editions are the Chennai Open (Rs. 30 lakh) and the Chittagong Open (Rs. 40 lakh).

The US$ 1.75 million Indian Open, co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour, will be the second international event in the first half of the season. The Indian Open, now a PGTI Order of Merit event, is slated to be held from March 8 to 11.

With PGTI hosting eight OOM events in the first half and the Indian Open also becoming an OOM event, there will be a total of nine PGTI OOM events in the first half of the season.

The first stage of the 2018 PGTI Qualifying School will begin from January 8, 2018. It will feature three events of 36-holes each (Pre Qualifying I, II & III). 

The final stage of the Qualifying School, a 72-hole event, will be staged from January 17-20, 2018. The Qualifying School will be held at the Kensville Golf & Country Club, Ahmedabad.