The Chairman of Indian Oil, A S Sahney, and the president of PGTI, Kapil Dev, address the media at the Delhi Golf Club on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
The President of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), Kapil Dev expressed delight about being able to elevate the overall vibrancy of the sport with more events and a total prize money of ₹33 crore, while unveiling the calendar for the second half of the season at the Delhi Golf Club on Saturday.
It will be a packed line up of events, starting with the ₹1 crore Coal India Open in Ahmedabad from August 3. There will be 15 tournaments, with two of the events offering a higher prize purse of ₹2 crore in Dwarka, Delhi, and Jamshedpur.
There will also be three events for the NextGen in Patna, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar, offering ₹20 lakh each.
The Chief Executive Officer of PGTI, Amandeep Johl, pointed out that the DP World India Championship, a $4 million dollar event scheduled at the iconic Delhi Golf Club from October 16 to 19, would alone be offering nearly 35 crore prize money.
Kapil Dev insisted that it was important to offer a better life for the players, as their career span is limited to about 15 years, with more playing opportunities leading to better earning.
“From next year we want to have events with a minimum prize money of two crore rupees,” said Kapil, quite keen to “raise the bar” for golf and bring it close to cricket, a game that had seen him entertain the world.
It was pointed out that the prize money for the current season was eight crore rupees more than last year.
The Chairman of Indian Oil, A S Sahney was pleased to support golf, along with many other games and the Paralympics.
“We are going to have the 25th edition of the Indian Oil Servo Masters in Digboi. We are told that it is the only golf tournament in Asia to have continued for this long. We will have a befitting celebration in November,” said Sahney.
When queried about the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL), Kapil said that creating more opportunities for the sport was welcome, but insisted that the PGTI had the responsibility of taking care of about 350 players, and “loyalty is very important”.
While insisting that it was natural to “be with the system” and play four-day golf to ensure players get global ranking, Kapil visualised change at some stage, and said, “two-day golf will happen”.
When probed on cricket, Kapil said that he was surprised with the way Jasprit Bumrah had delivered for the national team so well, despite having such a difficult action that took so much toll on his body.
Published – July 27, 2025 02:00 am IST
