Top amateurs for Grover Vineyards Golf

Mumbai, Feb 8 (UNI) Western India's leading amateur golfers, representing the four major golf clubs, will fight it out for the title of champion club for the year 2007 in the 11th Grover Vineyards Inter-Club Golf Championships, which tees off here on February 10.

Co-sponsored by Parle Products, the two-day competition will be held at the golf course of the United Services Club.

Defending champions Bombay Presidency Golf Club will have to contend with five times champions US Club, and their home advantage, besides a youthful Poona Club, the strongest team on paper, and Willingdon Sports Club, a release issued here today stated.

The tournament, played on the Round Robin Ryder Cup match format, has grown in stature over the years, with fierce competition among members to gain a slot on the team. Poona Club, which has unearthed tremendous reserves of young golf talent, has as many as 17 singles handicappers in their team, prominent among them captain Manish Jaitha (handicap 4), who has represented the country as an amateur golfer. The others with impressive credentials are Moin Malik (0), Tarun Ghogle (1), Saurabh Bhaduri (2) and Aditya Bhandarkar (2).

Three-time champions BPGC will be hoping for a good showing from 15-year-old Udayan Mane, the lowest handicapper in the team at three and Adeesh Goel (13). Goel and Mane are the youngest players from among the four clubs and it would be interesting to see how they cope with the pressures of team play against more experienced players.

Each team is represented by 24 players, of whom 21 play on each day. From each club, three players play singles, three pairs comprise the foursomes and six pairs compete in the fourball match-ups, the release added.

UNI