Gurugram, Feb 23 (PTI) Leading domestic professionals representing six city-based franchises will compete in a new team match-play format as PGTI’s ‘72 The League’ gets underway at the Classic Golf and Country Club here on Tuesday.
The tournament will see the return of match-play format as six franchises — Charminar Champions, Kolkata Classics, Mumbai Aces, Nava Raipur, Rajasthan Regals and UP Prometheans — each team featuring 10 PGTI players, vie for honours.
Ajeetesh Sandhu-led Rajasthan Regals will face Kolkata Classics, captained by Viraj Madappa, while Charminar Champions will take on UP Prometheans and Mumbai Aces will be up against Nava Raipur in the other two first-round matches.
The order of play was determined following the draw on Monday involving Arjun Atwal, the only PGA Tour winner from the country and a brand ambassador of the League, and six other captains.
The pairings will be determined after the captains submit their eight names for each format being played during the round. The remaining two players will be on the bench as reserves.
Unlike the established Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup, 72 The league will feature two singles, two fourballs and a foursome match in each round.
The fourball format, easily understood by the fact that four balls are in play at any given time, will have two players from each team. They will play their individual golf balls with the lowest score among the four winning the hole.
The foursome format, also called alternate ball, will have two players from the team playing with one ball and alternating their shots. It is generally regarded as one of the most difficult formats in the game.
Sandhu leads a strong Rajasthan team, which includes the experienced S Chikkarangappa, the long-hitting Yuvraj Singh, the aggressive Akshay Sharma and Italian Michele Ortolani.
Madappa’s Kolkata has plenty of experience in the form of Rashid Khan, Khalin Joshi, Angad Cheema and the 61-year-old veteran Mukesh Kumar.
“I think it should be a great match. They have a very experienced team with a lot of winners, so they can definitely handle the pressure of match play, and I think that’s going to be our key focus if we want to counter that,” Sandhu said.
“I think we’re a very balanced team throughout, we will go through the strategy of who our players are, who are feeling good about their game, and then choose the order of play for tomorrow.” Madappa added: “Rajasthan is a really strong team and they have a lot of depth. But we also have the experience, and I think for us, it’s more about making sure that the pairs have good chemistry.
“I think that is going to be very important and also, how we complement each other’s game.” Talwar, who represented Mumbai Aces in the absence of Veer Ahlawat, who was travelling from Kenya to Delhi, said his team would try and feed off the energy of two of the youngest players in the field — 16-year-old Kartik Singh and the 17-year-old Pritish Singh Karayat.
“We have a very experienced and a very strong team. But we also have the two youngest players in the League. So, we’re excited about the firepower and the energy that they can bring.
“We tried a bunch of different pairings, a bunch of different strategies today. I liked what I saw, and I believe the team was on the same page as well,” said Talwar.
Malik said his Nava Raipur team, which has the current PGTI Order of Merit No. 1 and No. 2 — Honey Baisoya and American Jhared Hack — will focus their strategy on the foursomes format.
“For us, the most interesting aspect is going to be the foursomes. Most of our team, and I’m sure every other players, they are used to playing the fourball format a lot. I think foursome is something which nobody’s ever played, even in practice.
“We feel that the alternate shot, which carry three points, are going to be really important. So we are going to look at making sure that our pairing gets us those points.” 72 The league has been launched by PGTI in partnership with Game of Life Sports (GOLS). PTI ATK AM AM
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