The normally staid ambience of Indian golf is waking up to some action. A new and ambitious venture called the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) has been launched and the first edition is expected later this year. Inspired by IPL to an extent, this franchise-based, six-team league will be played on a home-and-away basis. Each team will have 10 players including women pros.
Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union spots minister, was present at the launch recently. The IGPL has also tied up with Women’s Golf Association of India and Indian Golf Union, which runs amateur golf and selects teams for Asian Games. Well-known Indian players have got involved. But not the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), which runs the county’s professional golf circuit and may see in IPGL a potential rival when it comes to attracting sponsors and eyeballs.
At the moment, though, the PGTI is tight-lipped and expected to talk about this at a media conference in New Delhi on July 26. According to Hindustan Times, its president Kapil Dev has informed all PGTI players that participation in IGPL will lead to disciplinary action. The situation is like the now-defunct Indian Cricket League and the BCCI which blacklisted players who took part in it. Ironically, Kapil was an official promoter of that ‘rebel’ event.
The IGPL, as of now, is non-confrontational. “There is no restriction on who can take part in the IGPL,” said seasoned pro Gaurav Ghei, who will lead one of the franchises. “I will be happy to see players take part in both IGPL and PGTI. I have seen this in Thailand where they have two golf tours. If that happens here, players will get 40 tournaments a year which is fantastic.”
Ghei, 56, was speaking at a virtual session with the media on Thursday. Also present were noted pros SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur. These three, with Gaganjeet Bhullar, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa, are likely to lead the six teams as icon players. Although most of them are past their prime, these are big names and the IGPL’s Instagram page also has pictures of PGTI regulars like Aryan Roopa Anand, Aman Raj and Karandeep Kochhar.
The IPGL plans a shorter and spectator-friendly format. The teams will have a mix of men and women pros and there could be some amateurs in the mix as well, although the list of players hasn’t been released yet. No information is available on player contracts either. These details are expected soon and so is the PGTI’s stand, which will indicate if there is truce or a face-off on the cards.
For More Exciting Articles: Follow RevSportz