Christie's Golf start title defense with a bang

Earlier, the inaugural; tee shots were played jointly by Chairman Tournament Committee - Col. Mohit Nasa (Retd.) and 1982 Asian Games gold medalist Laxman Singh.

The Ceremonial Gong to officially launch the fourth Edition of the 'Delhi Golf Club League' was attended by Captain - DGC, Vikram Seth; Chairman Tournament Committee - Col. Mohit Nasa (Retd.) and the Partner of the League, Vishal Chawla.

Defending Champions Christie's Golf continued their winning streak, getting the better of TeeM EDC in the opening clash of the day. In the six-match contest, Christie's won the opening game, but conceded the next two to TeeM EDC. The fourth game was tied, however, Bikram Singh, Captain of Christie's, teaming up with Sonaal Chaudhari, won the fifth game to level scores. The duo of Prem Dugal and five-time National Champion. Vikramjit Singh then outplayed Sanjay Gupta and Greesh Bindra of TeeM EDC in the sixth and final game, to set up a 3 - 2 win for Christies. Christie's Golf were awarded 3 points for their win.

In the next contest, between Sterling Swingers and Eagles and Birdies Ashish Bharatram and former pro golfer Vivek Bhandari of Sterling Swingers, won the opening game against Prabhat Singh and Amit Kohli. Sterling Swingers went 2-up with a win in the second game, but Eagles and Birdies came back to win the third. Not wanting to lose their advantage, Sterling Swingers then stepped on the gas to record wins in the fourth and fifth games and with final game tied, romped home to a 4 - 1 win. Sterling Swinger earned 3 points for the win.

In the third contest of the day, Twenty Fore Lions won all but one of their six games, to beat Swing K Kings 5-1. The ball was set rolling by Legendary Indian Cricketer Kapil Dev, who along with Jagdish Sharma, carded a win against Anuva Saurabh and Vivek Chandra of SwingKKings. Twenty Fore Lions went on to register wins all the way upto the fifth game when Swing K Kings pulled off their first and only win with Kanishk Khullar and Vikram Kapoor beating Anuj Nahar and Dhruv Kumar of Twenty Fore Lions. The winning team bagged 3 points for their effort.

In the final clash of the day, Tee Birds took an early initiative carding a hat-trick of wins in the first three games. Birdie Machine staged an impressive fight-back to win the fourth and fifth games but could only tie the final game. Tee Birds triumphed 3-2 to bag 3 points.

With 24 teams and 13 days of action to go in the round-robin stage, the field is very open and golf lovers are in for some scintillating golf. The League, being played at the historic par-72 Delhi Golf Club course, features 16 days of hard-fought golf and will conclude in a Grand Finale on October 26.

The League is being played on a four-ball better ball Matchplay Format and over two stages - a Round Robin stage followed by a Knock-out stage. During each playoff match between two teams in the Round Robin stage, each team will field 6 pairs (12 players). One pair from each team will play against a pair from the other team in the above-mentioned format, with all the players playing off 90% of their original handicaps. The teams will get points for their wins. The 24 teams have been divided into 4 groups. After the Round Robin stage, during which the teams from one group will compete against each other. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Knock-out stage starting with the Quarter-finals. In the Knock-out Stage the matches between two teams will be contested by seven pairs (14 players). The Finals, as mentioned earlier, will be played on October 26.

The 2024 season will witness teams 'Victorious Choice' and 'Sudhir Power' join the bandwagon to complete 24 teams in the League. The other teams in the fray include The A-Team, Sterling Swingers, Baale Golf, Eagles & Birdies, Christie's Golf, SwingKKings, Shiva, Bajaj Foundation, Tee Birds, The Pioneers, MMG Coca-Cola, Twenty Fore Lions, TEEm EDC, Royal Ranthambore Athletic Drive, Deutsche Motoren, Birdie Machine, Ardee Masters, Bliss Golfers, B i Luxury, Bharat Strikers, Sara X Golf Code and Dayal Opticals.

Some of the biggest names in the golfing world who have honed their skills at the Delhi Golf Club, are involved with the League at different levels, including former National Champions and Arjuna Awardees Nonita Lal Qureshi and Amit Luthra. Additionally, stalwarts such as Vikramjit Singh and Ashok Malik - both five times National Champions each, Gaurav Ghei - the first ever Indian golfer to qualify for the Open Championship '97; Vivek Bhandari - winner of the Honda-Siel PGA Championship '97; top Coaches Amandeep Johl, Chiragh Kumar, Jasjit Singh, Vikram Sethi, Ajai Gupta, Amit Dube, Rahul Bajaj and several more such stalwarts are involved with the League.(ANI)