RCGC’s Sanjeev Mehra leads by one
Home favourite Sanjeev Mehra , who plays off a solid handicap of 2, shot a 77 to take a one-stroke lead in the opening round of the Vredestein AVT Kolkata’s leg at Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) today. Sanjeev saw a challenge mounting up from Gaurav Ghosh & Arvind Khanna but still prevailed to take the solo lead, entering the final round tomorrow.
RCGC tested players to its full extent and saw a majority of the players shooting over 80. The course, which is host to over 85 players from outstation, is highly praised for its pristine and testing playing conditions.
In Category 55-59, Sandeep Singh Sandhu of Chandigarh shot 79 to take the lead and was followed by the 2019 overall champion PS Rathore of BSF with 82. In Category 60-64 Sanjeev Mehera emerged leader by eight strokes with an 82, in 65-69 Vijay Kumar and Ashit Mohan Luthra took the share of the lead with matching scores of 82 and the 1982 Asian Games Gold Medallist in golf, Arjuna Awardee, Lakshman Singh took a three stroke lead with an 83 in his age category of 70 & Above.
At this edition, 85 outstation players have flown into Kolkata to compete with a contingent of 40 players from Delhi NCR alone. In addition, 14 golfers from Bangalore, 8 from Mumbai, 7 players each from Chandigarh and Pune, while only 15 local players are in the field.
The players will be vying for the overall title of over 50 champion, as well as titles in various veteran age categories under 55, under 60, under 65, under 70 and long drive challenges by Vredestein Tyres and Indian Terrain on Hole nos. 4 & 15, where Sandeep Sandhu shot a 279.8 yards drive on hole no.4 and Arvind Khanna drove his ball to 271 yards on no. 15 to lead the challenges today.
The AVT Champions tour series prepares Indian seniors to test out their skills against the country’s best while preparing for their international outing to the annual Asia-Pacific Senior Amateur Championship.
The AVT Champions Tour was played just once in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021-2022, the tour will stage four events culminating in crowning the overall tour winner in March 2022 at Classic Golf & CC in Gurugram.
Results –
Category Player Handicap Score
50-54 Sanjeev Mehra 2 77
Gaurav Ghosh 2 78
Arvind Khanna 1 78
55-59 Sandeep Singh Sandhu 5 79
PS Rathore 9 82
60-64 Sanjeev Mehera 8 82
Bandi Sriharirao 9 90
65-69 Vijay Kumar 2 82
Ashit Mohan Luthra 11 82
70 & Above Lakshman Singh 9 83
Venkatesh Murthy Hebbale 16 86
Full results and scores can be viewed here – https://www.rnsportsmarketing.com/events/avt/Kolkata/pdf/Overall%2018%20Hole%20Scores.pdf