Bengaluru Leg of Mercedes Golf Tourney: City's S.G. Prabhu wins title

Golfers Zubaer Ahmed CAT (0-18) and S.G. Prabhu CAT (19-24) qualified from the first day of the Bengaluru qualification leg of Mercedes Trophy 2018 golf tourney at the prestige Golfshire Resort here on Jan.17. Zubaer carded a Nett. Score of 70.4 and S.G. Prabhu carded a Nett. Score of 72.4 to grab the qualification spots. The Mercedes Trophy has so far seen 11 qualifiers who will be competing in the National Finals to be play at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune from April 4 to 6. The best Gross Winner of the day was H.B. Raju Gowda with an excellent round of 73 and there were a host of other prizes on offer. Prominent winners included L. Darshan who won the Ballantine's Long Drive Challenge with a mammoth drive of 300 yards. Sanjay Goel won the Mercedes-Benz Closest to Pin contest by landing the ball at 6ft from the pin. In the Mercedes - Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots, Madhur Sood landed the ball at 15 ft. from the pin to win. Dr. Hrishikesh Damle who landed the ball at 5 ft. from the line won the Mercedes-Benz Straightest Drive contest. The format of the play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals. A total of 112 golfers participated on the opening day in Bengaluru and will see another 224 golfers compete for four remaining qualification spots over the next two days. This year's Mercedes Trophy will host 27 days of golf across 12 Indian cities. Pune will also host the national finals at the same venue between April 4 and 6.