Top Indian golfers to compete at 'The Challenge' beginning at KGA on Tuesday

Leading Indian golfers, including in-form Om Prakash Chouhan and Rashid Khan, will vie for honours when 'The Challenge', which carries a prize purse of USD 300,000, gets underway on Tuesday.

The tournament, co-sanctioned by the European Challenge Tour and the TATA Steel PGTI, will be the second event in two weeks to be played at the world-class Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) golf course.

The event will feature a field of 156 players including 153 professionals and three amateurs. There are 55 Indians in the fray.

Chouhan, who earned his first international title at the USD 300,000 Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge at the KGA last week, will be one of the favourites.

All eyes will also be on former Asian tour winner Rashid Khan, who finished as runner-up at the DGC Open recently, while international winners such as Khalin Joshi, Viraj Madappa, Chikkarangappa will be some of the other top contenders.

Veer Ahlawat, who recorded another top 10 finish at inaugural World City Championship, will also look to continue his good run. Olympian Udayan Mane, Aman Raj and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu are also in fray.

The leading players from the Challenge Tour in action this week include Frenchman Ugo Coussaud, Scotsman Craig Howie and Italians Matteo Manassero and Lorenzo Scalise, to name a few.

"My win last week is a huge motivating factor for me to perform well this week too. My game is in great shape and I want to make the most of this good form therefore I'm eager to tee it up in an even stronger field this week," Chouhan said in a release.

Rashid, one of the top Indian names in the field, said he is working on his driving, which will be key this week.

"I feel my game is getting better with each passing week. However, I'm still working on addressing a few issues with my driving as driving and putting will be key this week. I have some good memories from my victory last year at the Asian Games Trials held at KGA. I'll look to use that to my advantage this week. It's a very good field at this event with many top names from the Challenge Tour competing so it will be a tough contest for the Indians."

Italy's Lorenzo Scalise, one of the top foreign players in the field this week who finished fourth at KGA last week, said, "Last week was my third top five finish in a row and it proves to me that I'm on the right track. The goal is to be in contention as many times as I can throughout the year and hopefully, I can do that again this week. I have loved being in India. The people are awesome, the golf course is amazing, and I like the place. It's been good so far and I'm happy we are playing another week at the Karnataka Golf Association."