the Chandigarh Golfing Tour-12 to be held on the greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club,

Eighty golfers from 11 countries representing different golfing bodies and 62 golfers from all over the country representing different golf promoting organization and corporate sector will tee off on Friday for the titles and trophy at stake in the eighth edition of the Chandigarh Golfing Tour-12 to be held on the greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club, Forest Hill resorts and the Panchkula Golf Club from December 21 to 23.A flagship event of the Chandigarh Golf Association, the tournament will see the NRIs of different golfing bodies slogging it out on the greens for the daily prizes at stake in different handicap categories, both gross and nett, and also for the best gross score of the day. The overall best three-day gross score will decide the overall winner for the tourism trophy.The brainchild of Chandigarh Golf Association president C.S.R. Reddy and then Chandigarh Tourism Director Vivek Atrey, the Golfing Tour has covered a long distance entering the eighth edition this year.A total of 38 golfers from the USA lead the field of NRIs golfing association participating in the eighth edition. Canada with 17 and Australia eight follow in that order. UK and Singapore have fielded five golfers each with Dubai coming next with two entrants. New Zealand, France, Netherlands, Kuwait and Brazil have one entry each.The Chandigarh Golfing Tour was introduced with the idea of promoting the tricity as a golf tourism destination. The Chandigarh Golf Association's efforts in promoting the region as a golf tourism destination have been applauded by the Union Tourism Ministry. Last year the CGA had a surprise guest of honour in Union Tourism Minister Kumari Shailja. She had a feel of the greens and even did a couple of putts with Chandigarh's Arjuna awardee Harmeet Kahlon.More and more golfers with lower handicaps are joining the bandwagon of NRIs golfing bodies to be part of the Golfing Tour. This year Gursharan Singh of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, has the lowest handicap of two. A total of 10 entries have under-10 handicaps, promising a keen competition.According to Mr. D.P. Azad, Chairman of the Media Committee, the mega golf tourism event will begin with a staggered tee-off at the Chandigarh Golf Club on December 21. The tournament will then shift to the nine-hole Forest Hill Golf Resort for the second round with the Panchkula Golf Club hosting the third round and the prize distribution function on December 23. According to Mr. Azad the format of play will be stroke play with handicap applied on Peoria system of scoring.Besides the gross scoring for the overall champion, there will be contests in 0-14 and 15-24 handicap categories, with winner and runner-up prizes in each category, both gross and nett. In all the three rounds there will be prizes for longest drive and closest to pin.The overall best gross scorer will be declared the overall champion. Besides the team scoring the best gross and nett will also be awarded prizes.Without the help of the sponsors, it would not have been possible to conduct the mega golf tourism event. Our silver sponsors are HDFC Bank, PML Holidays & Paul Merchants Limited and the Trident Group. The Toro Group are the bronze sponsors. Our Hospitality partners are CITCO, Hotel KC Royal Park, Kingfisher, Ballantines and Coca Cola with Daily Post and Day and Night News pooling in as the Media Partners