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Chak De women's golf!
A European Tour event is being played in the country for the first time. The prize money is Rs 1.1 crores but its great exposure for the Indian golfers.
- Disha Chopra
- Updated: December 06, 2007 01:58 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
Bangalore:
But in the year of India's most successful sports movie, ladies golf seems to have got a big boost.
A European Tour event is being played in the country for the first time. The prize money is Rs 1.1 crores but more importantly its great exposure for the Indian golfers.
In terms of money and glamour, international women's golf is probably second only to women's tennis. So its obviously great news that India now has a European Tour event. It tees of in Bangalore this week with 72 golfers including nine from India though only four of them are professional or actually play golf for a living.
"It's like having a world cup in India just two years after starting to play football," said Simi Mehra, No 1 on the Indian Women's Circuit.
"Its probably like an Indo-England cricket match," said Kiran Matharu, 36th on Ladies European Tour.
Now the newspapers in Bangalore may have advertised for the tournament but some have missed the USP of this tournament - that's former World number one Laura Davies who's playing her first tournament in India.
She has four majors in a total of 68 LPGA wins and has been a former world No 1. The 44-year-old has won $12 million in prize money till now and is one of the best known names in women's golf.
"I would like to win the Indian open. I am just two wins away from being part of the LPGA hall of fame. So there's always something to play for," she said.
The other big names of women's golf are missing because the Lexus cup starts on Friday in Perth. But even without the Michelle Wies and Karrie Webbs of the world its going to be tough work for an Indian to win the title.
The movie Chak De may not have done too much to raise the profile of women's hockey just yet.But in the year of India's most successful sports movie, ladies golf seems to have got a big boost.
A European Tour event is being played in the country for the first time. The prize money is Rs 1.1 crores but more importantly its great exposure for the Indian golfers.
In terms of money and glamour, international women's golf is probably second only to women's tennis. So its obviously great news that India now has a European Tour event. It tees of in Bangalore this week with 72 golfers including nine from India though only four of them are professional or actually play golf for a living.
"It's like having a world cup in India just two years after starting to play football," said Simi Mehra, No 1 on the Indian Women's Circuit.
"Its probably like an Indo-England cricket match," said Kiran Matharu, 36th on Ladies European Tour.
Now the newspapers in Bangalore may have advertised for the tournament but some have missed the USP of this tournament - that's former World number one Laura Davies who's playing her first tournament in India.
She has four majors in a total of 68 LPGA wins and has been a former world No 1. The 44-year-old has won $12 million in prize money till now and is one of the best known names in women's golf.
"I would like to win the Indian open. I am just two wins away from being part of the LPGA hall of fame. So there's always something to play for," she said.
The other big names of women's golf are missing because the Lexus cup starts on Friday in Perth. But even without the Michelle Wies and Karrie Webbs of the world its going to be tough work for an Indian to win the title.
Topics mentioned in this article
Golf
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