High-voltage action on the cards at the 17th Business
Today-Honda Pro Am of Champions to be held in Delhi from March 3rd 2012
NEW DELHI, March 2, 2012 – An exciting match up is in store as 10 of India’s leading
professional women golfers along with 10 lady professionals from abroad
tee off
at the Jack Nicklaus designed Classic Golf Resort on the weekend of
March 3-4. The
occasion: the grand finale of the 17th edition of the Business
Today-Honda Pro-Am of Champions.
In a move aimed at the development and growth of women’s golf
in
India, the Business Today-Honda Pro-Am of Champions entered into a
tie-up with
the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI) last year after supporting
the
cause of men’s professional golf for 15 seasons in what was a
much-awaited
event in both the corporate and professional calendar in the country.
Speaking on
the occasion, Anil Mehra, Managing Director,
India Today Group, said, “In 1996, Business Today created history by bringing
together top Indian amateur, professional, and corporate golfers into a
unique
standalone Pro-am golf event. A tournament rich in history, it has seen
the
best of the best participate in the past, in their quest for victory. No
wonder, some of the biggest names in Indian professional golf have been a
part
of this prestigious event.”
“Last year,
Business Today and Honda registered another first – to support Indian
women
golfers and offer them a platform to compete with their international
counterparts – together with India’s business leaders as part of this
unique
event. The intent is to contribute to the development of golf in India
and
create champion women golfers, who will take Indian golf to greater
heights in
future,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr.
Jnaneswar Sen, Sr. VP, Sales &
Marketing, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd said, "It
gives
us immense pleasure to be associated with one of the most premium Golf
tournaments in the country. Business Today Honda Pro-Am of Champions is
a great opportunity for Honda as it gives corporate leaders and Indian
Professional golfers, who form an important segment of our target
audience, an
opportunity to experience our premium offerings − the Honda Accord and
the
Honda CR-V. Honda cars are famous for their advanced technology and
performance, qualities truly embodied in golf which stands for accuracy
and
technique."
The exclusive field
will see a heady mixture of top notch CEOs from across the country and
is
sponsored by Honda SIEL Cars India, one of India’s leading car
manufacturers, in
association with Franklin Templeton and ITC Hotels.
Smriti Mehra,
the best known Indian in professional women golf and the only Indian to
have
played in the lucrative US LGPA, won her third title in the Hero Women’s
Professional Golf Tour in Kolkata last week. She leads a terrific
line-up of
Indian professionals that also includes second-ranked Nalini Singh, No. 3
Sharmila
Nicollet, No. 4 Neha Tripathi, and No. 5 Saaniya Sharma among others.
Adding color and
class to the two-day event will be US-based promising Numa Gulyanamitta,
seasoned Thailand professional Russamee Gulyanamitta, Malaysian Ainil
Abu Bakar
Johani, Singapore’s Ji Jiali, Brunei’s Valeri Tan, Indonesian Lidya
Ivana Jaya,
the Japanese pair of Mika Ikemura and Seiko Miyata, and Germany’s
Elizabeth
Esterl.
Leading head
honchos like Ashok Jha, Chairman - MCX; Dinesh Lal, ED – Maersk India;
Arun
Khanna, MD - Haier Telecom India P. Ltd.; Harinder Sikka – Piramal
Healthcare;
Kavi Arora – Religare Finvest; Prithvi Bijlani – Amsure Insurance;
Rajeev
Chopra – Philips Lighting; Sanjeev Prasad – Leaseplan India; Varun Berry
–
Pepsi Foods and Vijay Chauhan of Parle Products will be seen in action
over the
weekend.
The five-legged
event teed off in Panchkula and visited Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai
before the
final stop – New Delhi – where the respective winners from each city
will also
be seen in action. The Individual winners in each handicap category will
take
home a trophy and a PING G20 Golf Set.
The members of
the Winning & Runners Up teams get exciting prizes.
While the professionals
will be playing for prize money, a mega prize of a Honda CR-V will be
awarded
to the first player (amateurs only) to card a hole-in-one on the par-3
hole
No.5. Incidentally there has not been a single taker in the tournament’s
16-year
history. Apart from the hole-in-one prize, the players will be tested in
all
the departments of the game such the Closest to Pin, Longest Drive, and
Straightest Drive.
Individual Winners &
Winning Teams from Delhi and all the other
regions get to travel to Dubai for 2 nights and participate in the
International leg at The Montgomerie. The stay will be courtesy The
Address
Hotels, Dubai.
Sobha Developers, the
builders of International City in Gurgaon are
the Lifestyle partner. PING is the Equipment partner, Ballantines the
beverage
partner, Cotstyle the Apparel partner and NEO Sports and Golf Digest are
Media
partners for this prestigious event.
