Willy Warriors, from West Zone walked away with the trophy of the best team from India after accumulating 28 points in the gladiator round of Puravankara Touché Golf League 2011 which ended at the picturesque Victoria Golf and Country Resort, off Rajawella in Kandy last Sunday.
The Warriors won the tournament by a clear margin of ten points from Kolkata’s ‘Golf Sarkaars’ in a three-way match play format. The Sarkaars finished runners-up after collecting 18 points while Bangalore’s Pin High’s hopes of winning the grandest amateur golf title of India faced a major setback. The Pin Highs eventually had 16.5 points in their tally and finished third in the competition. One of the high riding teams of the competition, Delhi’s ‘R11 Ambush’ missed the services of legendary cricketers Kapil Dev and Nikhil Chopra and made only 9.5 points to complete at fourth.
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| The winning Willy Warriors with the Touché Golf League trophy.
(Pix by Amila Prabodha) |
The R11 Ambush were far behind from their usual form but a hole-in-one by Puneet Suri on 12th hole opened the competition yet again as it managed to create a buzz among all four teams after the round.
An elated Suri was delighted to achieve the rare feat and said; “I am so happy and now I know that I die with a hole-in-one to my name. I was born on the left side of first fairway of Kashimir Golf Club, ever since it has been one of my biggest dreams to feel the excitement of an ace. Finally after 40 years of golfing I have reached it and I just wish to remain the same way forever.”
A combination of golfers from Pune and Mumbai featured as a team for the first time only to play at PTGL in the winning outfit. Five out of 12 golfers were able to win all three individual matches which helped to add to enormous tally of 28 points. The side was led by experienced Ashish Agrawal.
“I started with lot of irritation. I couldn’t make it to the golf club on time. But in another way the delay of 20 minutes allowed me to be straight on the ball. I made two points and was happy with that. I always had a feeling after the cavalry round that we will reach the winning post. I am glad that we are returning to India with a victory and can show off back home as the best team from India until the competition opens next year,” said Agrawal.
The day ended with a glittering awards ceremony where stakeholders of the competition, the Victoria Golf and Country Resort, SriLankan Airlines and Touché Golf League hosted the golfers who flew all the way from India to play in the grand finale here in the cool climes of Kandy. The Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena who gave away the prizes to the winners expressed his wish to hold the final of the PTGL next year in Kandy again. |
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