The picturesque Delhi Golf Club, boasting of India's second oldest golf course and historical remnants, will have its own golf league, come October 14. The DGC League, as it has been christened, will be played at the par-72 and will feature 18 teams. Each team comprises 18 players supported by one mentor and one coach. The tournament will be played on a four-ball-better-ball matchplay format.
This tournament will test the verdant greens of the historic course. The greens were relaid in 2019 and as Lt. Gen. Balbir Sandhu (retd.), chairman of the tournament committee, said, "Every crisis offers opportunity. We relaid the course in 2019. Last year, the course got a long rest (due to Covid lockdown and restrictions)."
It will be interesting to see how the course plays out - there are a couple of tournaments lined up on the PGTI and Asian Tour post the league.
The league will see some of the biggest names in Indian golf involved in some capacity or the other. These include four Arjuna Award winners, Shiv Kapur, Ali Sher, Nonita Lal Qureshi and Amit Luthra; Gaurav Ghei - the first ever Indian golfer to qualify for the Open Championship ‘97; Vivek Bhandari - winner of the Honda-Siel PGA Championship ’97; Arjun Singh - winner of the Wills Masters ’98; Asian Tour regulars Chirag Kumar, Naman Dawar and Amandeep Johl; leading Ladies Tour professionals Meher Atwal and Ayesha Kapur, top Ladies Amateur Gauri Monga and top golf coaches Brandon de Souza, Jasjit Singh and Ajai Gupta.
Ghei, who created history in Indian golf with his chip-in victory in the Gadgil Western Masters in 1995, said, "I have been a product of the DGC system and feel privileged to have had an opportunity to learn my golf here. And now this opportunity to give back to the club, its members and juniors some of the knowledge I have gained over the years.”
The difference between the DGC League and other leagues currently on in other Indian golf clubs, is the structure of the team. Each team will have 18 players - with the team management allowed to choose 10 golfers on their own and rest through a draw ceremony that took place few days ago. Every team must have one person over 70 years and minimum one female golfer.
The league will be played in two stages – a Round Robin stage followed by a Knockout stage. During each playoff match between two teams, each team will field 7 pairs (14 players). One pair from each team will play against a pair from the other team in a four-ball-better-ball matchplay format, with all the players playing off 75 per cent of their original handicaps. The teams will get points for their wins. The 18 teams have been divided into four groups. After the Round Robin stage, two teams from each group will qualify for the Knockout stage starting with the quarterfinals. The final will be played on October 31.
Lt. Gen Sandhu made it clear that the club was not looking at any return on investment via this venture. There is no prize money on offer in the tournament. But it looks at mentoring players both young and old in the team via team mentors and coaches who are mostly professional golfers from Delhi and near abouts. The cost of every team was around Rs 5 lakh - these exclude costs of hiring coaches and mentors.
"The DGC looks at the league as a medium to nurture and develop talent further. Mentoring programme of the league has some of the finest golfers in India sharing their knowledge and expertise with all the members. It will be a fantastic learning opportunity for the members, especially the juniors,” said the captain of DGC, Maj Gen A.P. Dere (retd).
"DGC as an institution has given India 14 Arjuna awardees in golf and numerous champions - something we are proud of. This legacy and vision to continue nurturing champions drives us to create and support events which enable talent development and the DGC League is a step in that direction,” said the president of DGC, Manjit Singh.
