Kathmandu – The second event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2023-24, Surya Nepal NPGA Match Play is set to tee off at the Royal Nepal Golf Club from Wednesday.
Top 16 professional golfers in the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2022-23 Order of Merit are eligible to participate in the tournament. As four pros in top 16 have opted out of the tournament, players up to ranking 20 have been included for the first round.
Nepal No. 1 Sukra Bahadur Rai, 14th ranked Tanka Bahadur Karki, 15th ranked Bal Bhadra Rai and 16th ranked Kamal Tamang have pulled out citing personal reasons.
No 2 pro in last season’s Order of Merit, Bhuwan will be the top-seeded golfer in the event, while No 17 Deepak Magar, No 18 Toran Bikram Shahi, No 19 Pradeep Kumar Lama, and No 20 Ram Krishna Shrestha made it to the draw.
As per the Match Play draw, Bhuwan Nagarkoti will play against No. 20 Ram Krishna Shrestha in the first round match. No 3 Niraj Tamang will face No 19 Pradeep Kumar Lama; defending champion and No 4 Dinesh Prajapati will take on No 18 Toran Bikram Shahi; No 5 Jayram Shrestha will face No 17 Deepak Magar.
Likewise, No 6 Sanjay Lama will play against No 13 Shivaram Poudel; No 7 Rabi Khadka will face No 12 Ramesh Adhikari; No 8 Rame Magar will take on No 11 Surya Prasad Sharma; No 9 Dhana Bahadur Thapa will face No 10 Bhuwan Kumar Rokka.
Winners of the first matches will advance to quarter-finals, which will be played on Thursday. The semi-final matches are slated for Friday. First-round, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and third-place matches will be played over 18 holes, while the final match will be played over 36 holes on Saturday.
The tournament carries a cash purse of Rs 250,000. Eight pros who face defeats in the first round will get Rs 6,000 each, while four losing quarter-finalists will earn Rs 11,000 each. The winner of the tournament will receive Rs 60,000, while the runner-up will earn Rs 42,000. Third and fourth-placed pros will get Rs 32,000 and Rs 24,000 respectively.
PGA Nepal President Rabindra Man Shrestha said: “We are grateful to our sponsor Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd for its continued support to professional golf. We could not have reached this stage without the support from Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd. ‘The sport is gradually growing and we are hoping for fierce competition in Match Play.”
