Visakhapatnam, Oct 1 : Top stars like PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat, Manu Gandas, Olympian Udayan Mane, Rahil Gangjee, Aman Raj, Shaurya Binu, Dhruv Sheoran and Shankar Das will be in the fray in the second edition of the Vizag Open to be held at the East Point Golf Club in Visakhapatnam from Wednesday.

The Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), the official sanctioning body of professional golf in India, along with East Point Golf Club, Visakhapatnam, announced the second edition of the event from October 2 to 5. The total prize purse for the event is INR 1 crore.

The prominent foreign participants in the event are defending champion N. Thangaraja of Sri Lanka, another Sri Lankan K. Prabagaran, Czech Republic's Stepan Danek, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain, Badal Hossain, Md Akbar Hossain, Andorra's Kevin Esteve Rigaill, Nepal's Subash Tamang, Canada's Sukhraj Singh Gill, South Korea's Si In Kim, Japan's Makoto Iwasaki and American Dominic Piccirillo.

The local challenge will be led by professionals S. Muthu and Rahman Mehboob Shorif and amateurs Bharath Kollapudi and G. Durga Prasad.

M.S.N Raju, Honorary Secretary, East Point Golf Club, said, "Hosting a PGTI tournament is a great honour for our club. This prestigious event showcases the highest level of professional golf in India, attracting top players from across the country and fifteen other nations.

"With live broadcasts on major networks such as Eurosport and ABP, the tournament will reach an audience of 30 million viewers worldwide, offering unparalleled visibility and further elevating our club's reputation on the global stage.

"This event not only provides our club players with a unique opportunity to compete alongside professional golfers, but it also includes clinics conducted by PGTI. These sessions are invaluable for aspiring professionals, offering insights and training that can shape their future in the sport.

"We are happy to share that we received an overwhelming response from players across the country for participation in previous tournaments at our club. We anticipate the same enthusiastic response this year, and we are committed to making this event a grand success," he said.

Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, "We at the PGTI are delighted to return to the East Point Golf Club for the second edition of the Vizag Open. The tournament has been one of the most eagerly awaited on the schedule this year as the professionals had a memorable experience playing their first event at the EPGC last year and look forward to teeing it up at this magnificent venue once again. We thank East Point Golf Club and all our event partners for supporting our efforts in staging this event."

The East Point Golf Club, established in 1884, transformed into a championship course in February 2021 and received the Best Renovated Golf Course Award at the GIA Summit 2022 in New Delhi.

The 6871-yard-long Par-72 EPGC is surrounded by lush green mountains, reservoirs, palm trees, water bodies, plantations, and fountains and is home to very well-maintained fairways, greens, tee boxes, and capillary bunkers. EPGC conducts many club-level, inter-club and IGU tournaments throughout the year.

/IANS