Jamshedpur golf meet begins Monday
Telegraph  — November 11, 2004

The so-called ‘eastern swing’ of the Amby Valley Indian PGA Tour starts off with the Tata Open in Jamshedpur, concurrently on the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses, from November 15 (to November 19). It then moves over to the Digboi Club Golf Links (Servo Masters, from November 23 to 27), before coming down for the Patna Open from December 1 to 5. 

It was announced at press meet here Wednesday that the Tour’s international leg happens immediately after, with the Surya Nepal Masters at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort, in Gokarna, Nepal from December 8 to 12. The Calcutta leg of the Tour lurks around the corner, “sometime in January,” as Brandon de Souza of TSM, the Tour marketers put it. 

The Tour this year offers more or less a million Rupees per tournament in prize money and totals a staggering Rs 3.5 crore in the season. It also shows in the 400-odd golfers registered as pros in this country and the 100-odd who are regularly on main circuit. 

The Tata Open will see the entire field descend upon the Steel City because it does not clash with any other tournament. The rivalry will be between Ashok Kumar and Shiv Kapur, in the presence of Mukesh Kumar and Vijay Singh, not to mention Gaurav Ghei and Digvijay Singh. 

The big news for the Tour, is the coming up of the Amby Valley Golf Academy. According to Col S.K. Sinha, GM operation, Amby Valley, the academy has state-of-the-art teaching facilities like swing analysis, laser club fitting, among others.