Indian players look forward to Mixed Pro Challenge Golf Championship

With the first-of-its-kind golf championship - Mixed Pro Challenge set to tee off from Tuesday, the excitement among the men and women professionals participating is palpable.

The tournament will feature men and women professional golfers from the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and the Women's Golf Association of India (WGAI).

The event, which will be played over 36-holes at the DLF Golf and Country Club Gary Player course on April 5 and 6, has a unique format with 18 teams participating comprising one lady professional and two gentlemen professionals each.

India's leading professionals competing at the event include Udayan Mane, Khalin Joshi, Karandeep Kochhar, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Veer Ahlawat, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Gaurika Bishnoi, Vani Kapoor, Jahanvi Bakshi and Ridhima Dilawari.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, a two-time winner of the PGTI who is currently second on the PGTI Order of Merit, was all praise for this new initiative.

"Both men and women professionals coming together to play an event is great news for the Indian golf fraternity. It's the ideal platform for men and women professionals to interact with each other. We will get to learn about each other's tours. I'm looking forward to my first mixed event. Sharing the team's responsibility is a very different feeling altogether. It is going to be fun but you're also responsible towards your team," said Yuvraj in a statement.

"My team members are Gaurika Bishnoi and Sunit Chowrasia. This is Gaurika's home course so we're depending on her. Sunit is a great ball-striker and putter. So I feel our team stands a very good chance. The challenge at this course would be placing the ball well in the fairway," he added.

Ridhima Dilawari, a multiple winner on the WGAI, who plays a lot at the host venue the DLF Golf and Country Club, is one of the leading women professionals competing this week.

Ridhima said, "I'm looking forward to getting an opportunity to play with the guys and learn a few things from them. A big thank you to Ballantines for putting together this event. I'm really excited to be a part of this event."

( With inputs from ANI )