KATHMANDU, Nepal – Dec.8, 2004 – Top ranked Amby Valley PGAI Tour star Ashok Kumar, flies into the Himalayan kingdom fresh from a stint at the $1 million Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship Down Under, with the sole aim of taking on the majestic and challenging Gokarna Forest Golf Resort.
The Gokarna facility will play host to the Surya Nepal Masters, which commences with the one-day Standard Chartered Pro-am on Wednesday, 8th December with the main event scheduled to be played from 9th to 12th December.
The tenth leg of the 2004-05 Amby Valley PGAI Tour, the final one for the current calendar year, offers Rs 10-lakhs in prize money with the winner standing to benefit to the tune of Rs1,62,000. The event will be sponsored by Surya Tobacco and managed by the Delhi based Tiger Sports Marketing.
“A champion is one who wins in every conceivable condition,” said Ashok Kumar. “I have registered five wins this season all in different course and weather conditions but the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort is a different kettle of fish altogether. The undulating nature of the course with tight fairways and lightning fast greens is akin to some we encounter on the Asian circuit. A win here would give me as much pleasure as would one on the Asian PGA Tour,” said the 23-year old Delhi pro.
In addition to the challenges posed by the course, Ashok will also face some stiff competition from the supremely talented field including among others, Ashok’s own arch-rival Shiv Kapur. Kapur, an Asian Games Gold Medalist, has an extremely impressive record in his Rookie season, including a win at the Amby Valley MGC Open in Chennai and three runner-up finishes in six outings.
An Arjuna Awardee, Kapur will definitely look to upstage Ashok especially after the latter has thrice in succession relegated him to a second place finish at the HT-Pro Golf 2004 (Gurgaon), ONGC Noida Open 2004 (Noida) and the Tata Open 2004 (Jamshedpur).
“Ashok is a fabulous player but nothing is going to deter me from my goal of winning an event at the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort,” said Kapur. “I have played on some of the best golf course the world over but the Gokarna facility is special. It is a sheer test of golfing skills and as a professional I would love nothing more than to have the Surya Nepal Masters title under my belt here,” said the 22-year old.
The field for the event includes a number of other talented golfers including defending champion DIgvijay Singh, 2002 Indian Open winner and twice Order of Merit winner , Vijay Kumar; 1998 Indian Open winner, Feroz Ali and winner of the Patna Open 2004, Rafiq Ali; twice Honda-Siel PGA Golf Championship winner Uttam Singh Mundy. In addition there will be Mohd. Jibon Ali, Babu Ahmed and Shahid from Bangalodesh and Anura Rohana and Lalith Kumara from Sri Lanka.
The local challenge will come in the form of Deepak Acharya, Pashupathi Sharma, Deepak Thapa Magar, Ramesh Nagarkoti, Sabin Sapkota and Sachin Bhattarai to name a few.
