New sponsor for amateur golf soars hopes of more Jeevs, Jyotis

New Delhi, June 11 (UNI) The growing popularity of golf in the country, thanks to international newsmakers like Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa have now forced the corporate sector to let loose their purse strings.

The latest to jump into the bandwagon is LG. The leading consumer durables player has replaced Royal Challenge to take on the mantle of umbrella sponsorship for the Indian Golf Union's National Amateur Tour for the next three years.

The event, to be called the 'LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour' henceforth, will comprise 13 events spread over 11 cities across the country. Even construction major DLF is involved in a big way in various Tours for the professional golfers.

A lot is at stake as leading amateurs from the tour will represent India in all the international events. The Tour will culminate with the 107th All India Amateur open which will see the participation of overseas teams in Delhi.

In fact, the opening event -- Eagleton Amateur -- tees off tomorrow in Bangalore, which is incidentally Anirban Lahiri's home course.

The 13-leg Tour will showcase the best amateur talents, including the likes of 2006 Asian Games silver medalists Anirban Lahiri, Joseph Chakola, besdies budding stars Amanjyot Singh and Indian junior no.1 Rahul Bakshi.

Indian Golf Union's Secretary General Satish Aparjit said, ''We hope more and more amateurs go on to emulate the achievements of Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa.'' ''We have been known to be associated with cricket for almost a decade now. We know cricket is a religion in India and we don't want golf to compete with cricket either. But, the continuing strong performances by our players at international level have encouraged us to help amateur golf aspirants to make it big,'' said Sandeep Tiwari, Marketing head of LG Electronics (India) Ltd.

Meanwhile, talented young gun Anirban Lahiri, who aims to graduate to a pro at the end of the year, heads the Order of Merit list by a fair distance with 325.66 points, followed by Jasjeet Singh (294.33), Joseph Chakola (263.33) and Simarjeet Singh (254.33).

UNI