Dubai: The annual Indian Independence Day golf tournament reaches a special milestone in its nascent history when it celebrates its 20th edition this week at Dubai Creek Golf Yacht Club.
The blue-riband event, which also marks the start of the Indian Golfers Society’s season, tees off on Thursday, October 13, with a 1pm shotgun start.
The buzz surrounding the landmark event is amply reflected in the overwhelming response that forced the organisers to conduct a raffle to finalise the final field.
In all, IGS will hold five tournaments during the season aimed at providing a platform for amateur golfers to network and interact within a cosmopolitan community. Each participant will be awarded Order of Merit points on the basis of his or her performance.
The winner of this Order of Merit will be crowned as the Golfer of the Year.
“The Indian Independence Cup is one of our major events and the overwhelming response to it each year only reflects on the great sense of camaraderie among the participants,” said a spokesman of the IGS.
He thanked main sponsor Bentley, support sponsors Chivas, Nexus, Chesterton, Midcom and Al-Dahra-Kohinoor for their continued support to the event that has become a permanent feature of the UAE golf calendar.
The tournament will follow the individual stableford format with a three quarter handicap allowance, and the competition will be held in two divisions, 0-14 and 15-28.
The top three winners in each division will be presented with attractive trophies. There are also prizes for the longest drive and nearest to the pin winners. The presentation will be followed a gala dinner.
IGS season calendar 2016-2017:
Oct 13 — Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club
Dec 8 — Al Badia Golf Club
Jan 19 — The Els Club Dubai
March 9 — Jumeirah Golf Estate
April 20 — Emirates Golf Club
