Bengaluru to host the 10thSara Futura Karnataka Golf Festival

Bengaluru, September 19, 2018: More than 500 golfers from all over the country will descend at Bengaluru’s signature Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course from Thursday, September 20, 2018, for the 10thSara Futura Karnataka Golf Festival (KGF), largest participative golf tournament in South India supported by Karnataka Tourism. The 10thSara Futura KGF will also serve as the Official Qualifiers for the World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC), scheduled at Johor, Malaysia, in end October this year. Five winners from each of the five handicap categories over four days will represent India in the one of the largest amateur championships in the world.

The tournament will also witness participation from celebrities who have earned top laurels for India from various sports. Some of the prominent names include Local boy and Indian National Cricketer Karun Nair, former cricketers like Ajit Agarkar, Venkatapaty Raju, S Badrinath, Sujit Somsundar and Ashsiwni Nachappa. The list of celebrities would also include famous Kannad andTelegu actor Akul Balaji and famous Indian commentator, compere and quiz master Charu Sharma.

Already over 100 outstation golfers from cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolhapur, Ramgarh, Kochi, Chennai, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Mysore, Pathankot, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Kolkata have confirmed participation in the 10thSara Futura KGF.

Among star attractions this year will be youngsters Kshitij Naved Kaul and Harimohan Singh, who recently represented India at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. Conducting golf clinics for newbies will be top Indian professional women golfers Neha Tripathi and Anisha Padukone. Former India wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani is also expected to grace this year’s event.

“I am looking forward to a fun round of golf after an intense two months travelling half the globe. The KGA is a world-class course and its always great playing here. I congratulate the sponsors Sara Futura for coming forward to help grow the game of golf in this country and also Karnataka Tourism for showing vision with this tournament,” said Harimohan, son of former Indian hockey star Mohiner Pal Singh.

The 10thSara Futura KGF is an Indian Golf Union (IGU) sanctioned event. The five different handicap categories that it would be played in are 0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 and 21-24. This ensures that recreational golfers of varying abilities get an experience of representing their country in an international event of stature.

The tournament will be played in the individual format and the overall five best net scores from each category will make it to Malaysia. Winners will be announced at a gala championship dinner on September 23, 2018.

Last year, Delhi golfer Uday Kumar registered the best Indian finish of sixth place at the WAGC in the 11-15-handicap category. Another Indian Manish Jaiswal also registered a creditable top 10 finish, coming in 10thin the 21-25 category, in Kuala Lumpur.

The 7219 yard par 72 Peter Thompson designed KGA course is considered one of India’s finest and has recently hosted the Take Solution Masters 2018. Local boy Viraj Madappa won the Asian Tour event, his maiden victory in the Asian continent's top professional Golf tour.