The curtain raiser Pro-Am event will begin on Tuesday.[break]
Now in its 20th edition, the tournament that has continuously risen in prominence, boasts of the highest prize money ever in the history of Nepali golf with a total prize fund of Rs 4.8 million, an increase of 20% compared to last year.
The winner of the tournament will walk away with Rs 775,920 on Saturday. The runner-up will bag Rs 535,920 while the third place holder will get Rs 300,720. The players finishing in the fourth and fifth positions will get Rs 243,120 and Rs 195,120 respectively.
The top 50 and ties will qualify for the money making rounds (last two rounds) of the four-day tournament to be played in strokeplay format, with the last-placed player winning over Rs 20,000.
The field this year merits the evolved standard of the event with top professionals from across the region in full attendance, led by Asian Tour winner Anirban Lahiri.
The local golfers will also be present in great numbers and with the continuous growth of the game in the country; it will not be surprising to see a few of them in contention on the afternoon of the final day.
Many of them would be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Deepak Thapa Magar, who himself would be hoping to do an encore of his 2007 act, when he became the first home-grown player to clinch the prestigious title.
A sentimental favorite would be Shiva Ram Shrestha, who has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years and now promises to carry forward the baton of Nepali golf. After emerging as the No 1 on the Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd (SNPL) Golf Tour Order of Merit, the stocky golfer has shown enough potential to suggest that he can go on to win the title.
The other player to watch out for would be Rabi Khadka who is in top form winning the last event on the SNPL Golf Tour.
Big names from India have bolstered the field. The Indian charge apart from Anirban is led by former winners of SNPL Masters such as Shamim Khan, Rashid Khan, Vijay Kumar, Feroz Ali, Gaurav Ghei, and Gurbaaz Mann.
The field this year also boasts of representation from five different countries. Sri Lankans Anura Rohana and Mithun Perera will be competing in the event, while there is also an Australian in the fray in the form of Kunal Bhasin, who plies his trade on the Indian professional circuit.
The Surya Nepal Masters is the flagship event of SNPL Golf Tour managed by Nepal Professional Golf Association (NPGA). The event is also co-sanctioned by Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI). SNPL is sponsoring the Golf Tour with the objective of promoting Nepal as an affordable golfing destination in Asia.
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