Beem, Wilson star attractions in Gujarat Kensville

Jeev Milkha Singh

New Delhi - Former Major champion Rich Beem and Oliver Wilson, a former Ryder Cup player, will be among the leading stars who will descend on the Kensville Golf and Country Club for the third edition of the Gujarat Kensville Challenge to be held from Jan 31 to Feb 3.

The Gujarat Kensville Challenge 2013, which will set the tone for the new European Challenge Tour season, is India’s only Challenge Tour event. It is jointly sanctioned with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and will herald the first tournament on home soil for the 2013 PGTI season.

It will once again carry a purse of 200,000 euros but will have an increased field of 120 players, including 63 members from the European Challenge Tour and 57 from the PGTI.

The event will be held at the pristine Kensville Golf & Country Club in Ahmedabad, for which Jeev Milkha Singh is the brand ambassador.

The event will also see the presence of batting great, Sachin Tendulkar, another brand ambassador of the Kensville Golf & Country Club, who will visit the event on the Pro-Am day.

The presence of Beem is a significant coup for the event. Beem scored a historic win at the last Major of 2002 when he rallied from behind to beat Tiger Woods by one shot to win the PGA Championship. He has two other PGA Tour wins to his name.

Oliver Wilson, considered one of the stars for the future when he started out, has been second on no less than nine occasions on the European Tour, including the HSBC Champions and Alfred Dunhill Links Championships. He also played in the 2008 Ryder Cup when he teamed up with Henrik Stenson to beat Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.

The field for the 2013 edition will also include the 2011 winner, Gaganjeet Bhullar, currently the top Indian player in golf’s world rankings, and the 2012 runner-up Rahil Gangjee, together with other leading Indian players such as Himmat Rai, Chiragh Kumar, Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan.