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Shiva Ram Nepal No 1 golfer
14 Apr 2009
Kathmandu : Nepal Professional Golfers’ Association (NPGA) declared Shiva Ram Shrestha as the No 1 player of 2008-09 season.
Shiva Ram, who won five tournaments out of the nine held in the first Tour of the country, topped the rankings with the total prize money of Rs 498,668. The golfer clinched the titles of the Surya Nepal Central Open, Golfer Pilots NPGA Classic, Samsung Match Play, Ghanashyam Thapa’s Golden Jubilee Golf Championship and CMS Cup. Apart from the accolades, Shiva Ram finished second in the Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship, third in Western Open, eighth in Eastern Open and 10th in the Surya Nepal Masters.
Deepak Thapa Magar, who won the Surya Nepal Eastern Open, is in the second position with the prize money of Rs 259,452, while Rabi Khadka came third with Rs 212,186. The Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship winner Deepak Acharya is fourth at Rs 180,504 followed by Ramesh Nagarkoti with Rs 175,755.
Sanjay Lama, the Western open winner Mani Rai, Deepak Neupane, Surya Prasad Sharma and CB Bhandari also found their names in the top 10. Sabin Sapkota, Ram Thapa, Pashupati Sharma, Krishna Hari Mizar and Radhe Shyam Thapa are rounded up the top 15. NPGA President Shrestha and immediate past president and advisor Ghana Shayam Thapa felicitated the top five golfers.
The NPGA said the new season will have at least 10 events carrying a total prize purse of Rs 5.5 million. “We will organise at least 10 events in the 2009-10 season,” said NPGA secretary Deepak Acharya. “We have also raised the prize money by Rs 1.2 million to Rs 5.5 million from this season,” he added.
Acharya also said the new season will see new faces in the professional golf. “We have already received applications from 6-7 new players and we are hoping to have a total
of 40 pros from this year,”
he said. Currently there are 32 professional golfers registered with the NPGA.
The new season will start with the Golfer Pilots NPGA Classic from April 15-17. The tournament will be held in three different venues of
Kathmandu. The first round will be held at the Gokarna Golf Club, while Tribhuvan Army Officers’ Golf Club will host the second round before the event ends at the Royal Nepal Golf Club. The total prize money of the event is Rs 200,000.
The event is a warm up for the local pros for the Surya Nepal Masters - the only international standard tournament under the Tour — slated for April 21-25 at Gokarna. The total prize money of the event is Rs 25 million, an increment of 25 per cent from this year. Acharya informed some 80 pros from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Bhutan have confirmed their participation in the event. Shamim Khan of India had won the event last year.
NPGA president Rabindra Man Shrestha was happy to give continuity to the Tour. “There were doubts when the tour started last year. But we successfully organised nine events and I hope the tour will be more effective this season,” said Shrestha. THT |
