Final Two Qualifiers Selected from Bengaluru Leg of Mercedes Trophy 2019

Bengaluru, January 18, 2019: City golfers Shankar Gopal handicap CAT A and Umesh N Bhat handicap CAT B qualified for the MercedesTrophy National Finals on Day 3 of Bengaluru Leg after carding a Nett. Score of 72 and 74.2 respectively. The MercedesTrophy has so far seen 8 qualifiers including today who will be competing in the National Finals to be played at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune scheduled between 27th and 29th March 2019.

The best Gross Winner of the day was K N Bopanna with an excellent round of 78 and there were a host of other prizes on offer to be won on the day.

The day also saw participation from Indian cricketer Syed Kirmani who tested his golf skills at the Prestige Golf Shire.

Prominent winners included Cameron who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge with a mammoth drive of 285 yards. KP Luttappa won the Standard Chartered Closest to pin contest on hole 2. In the Mercedes – Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots, Digbolol Halder landed the ball at 4 ft. from the pin to win the contest on hole no. 11. Sanjay Goel who landed the ball on the line won the Mercedes-Benz Straightest Drive contest.

The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals.

A total of 322 golfers participated over the three days of qualifications for six qualification spots.

The next leg of the MercedesTrophy 2019 will tee off at Bombay Presidency Golf Club on 23rd January, 2019

The 19th edition of the MercedesTrophy will travel to eight more cities after Bengaluru including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Lucknow before returning to Pune for the National Final.

Mercedes-Benz’s global charity partner– Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is also associated with the tournament to raise funds for its programmes in India. While participants can donate online or on-ground at the tournament venue, Mercedes-Benz India will donate an equal amount to match the funds raised from participants.

Globally, MercedesTrophy witnesses participation of approximately 60,000 golfers from across 60 countries battling it out for the top prize, making it one of the world’s largest and most coveted sporting events.

Three winners of the National Finals will then compete against those from tournaments played in 60 countries all over the world in the 30th edition of the MercedesTrophy World Final to be held in Stuttgart, Germany. Mercedes-Benz is also providing an opportunity for beginners to learn golf through their Golf Clinic program.