Gurugram, April 4 (Agency) The first-of-its-kind Ballantine’s Golf Championship Mixed Pro Challenge set to tee off from Tuesday here at at the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gary Player course. The event which will be played over 36-holes on April 5 and 6 has a unique format with 18 teams participating comprising one lady professional and two gentlemen professionals each. The tournament will feature men and women professional golfers from the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI). It is a Team Strokeplay event where all players must hole out on every hole. The two best scores out of three on each hole (hole by hole) would count towards the team score. India’s leading professionals competing at the event include Udayan Mane, Khalin Joshi, Karandeep Kochhar, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Veer Ahlawat, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Gaurika Bishnoi, Vani Kapoor, Jahanvi Bakshi and Ridhima Dilawari, to name a few.
Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, a two-time winner on the PGTI who is currently second on the PGTI Order of Merit, was all praise for this new initiative. The 25-year-old Yuvraj said: “Both men and women professionals coming together to play an event is great news for the Indian golf fraternity. It’s the ideal platform for the men and women professionals to interact with each other. We will get to learn about each other’s tours. “I’m looking forward to my first mixed event. Sharing the team’s responsibility is a very different feeling altogether. It is going to be fun but you’re also responsible towards your team. “My team members are Gaurika Bishnoi and Sunit Chowrasia. This is Gaurika’s home course so we’re depending on her. Sunit is a great ball-striker and putter. So I feel our team stands a very good chance. The challenge at this course would be placing the ball well in the fairway.”