New Delhi, Sept 5: The Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) on Thursday launched its inaugural tour starting September 10, with co-founder and brand ambassador Yuvraj Singh likening the venture’s potential impact on golf to the game-changing effect the IPL had on cricket.
In partnership with the Indian Golf Union (IGU) and the Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI), the IGPL tour will comprise a 10-event calendar, beginning with the first tournament scheduled at Chandigarh Golf Club from September 10 to 12.
The tour is spread across multiple cities and it will also go to Sri Lanka and UAE.
Each event will be a three-day affair with no cuts, featuring a mix of young and veteran golfers alongside women professionals and amateurs.
The field size for the inaugural year will be 48 professionals: 36 men and 12 women, along with some amateurs, for a total of 54 participants.
“I’m really excited to be part of IGPL because I feel that golf needs to grow in our country. I think it should become a part of our culture. IGPL will give them a chance to be fearless and be the best in the world,” former India all-rounder Yuvraj
told reporters.
“When I was playing cricket, I always thought I could have played more matches and done better. But when I started playing golf, I realised that probably my biggest regret is not
starting golf at a young age.”
Drawing from his experience as a cricketer, Yuvraj said, “Golf is such an amasing sport, but a golfer’s life is tough. When you’re on tour, you have to pay your own bills, and manage everything yourself.
In cricket, with the BCCI, we never had to worry about daily allowances or renting rooms because
everything was taken care of.
“I think IGPL is providing a format where especially the young generation coming on board doesn’t have to worry about those issues.
That will give a lot of confidence to young talent to come forward. Going down to the grassroots level is very important.
“I believe this format is going to be great. I hope it changes the momentum of golf because if you compare IGPL to IPL, the IPL changed the whole dynamics of Indian cricket and world cricket.
If IGPL can do that for golf, it will be incredible to see.”
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