Top Indian golfers to star at Louis Philippe Cup

Top Indian golfers, including Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa, will star in the second Louis Philippe Cup which will have nine city-based teams competing for the Rs 1.2 crore prize cheque at Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida from February 13th to 16th.

The nine teams are Silverglades Delhi, AVT Kolkata, Take Solutions Chennai, Puravankara Bangalore, DLF Gurgaon, DevEllora Chandigarh, Shubhkamna Noida, Navratna Ahmedabad and Jaypee Greens Greater Noida.

Scottish Open Champion Jeev Milkha Singh will turn out once again for Shubhkamna Noida, while Anirban Lahiri, the 2012 Sail SBI Open winner, who finished 31st at the 2012 British Open Championship, will represent Puravankara Bangalore.

Among others, three-time Indian Open champion and former Asian Tour No. one Jyoti Randhawa will plays for DLF Gurgaon and winner of the 2011 Singapore Classic Himmat Rai will turn up for Delhi in 2013, while India's highest world ranking player, the 2012 Macau Open & Yeangder Tournament Player Championship winner Gaganjeet Bhullar, will join the Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida team.

Apart from the star players from international tours who are sponsors picks on each team, the top 18 ranked players on the PGTI 2012 final order of merit are assured of a starting place on one of the nine teams.

"It's a fantastic format. A very high prize money is on the line and the idea of having different city teams competing with each other is something which will draw more fan-following into the game. I am really looking forward to representing Shubhkamna Noida again this year," said Jeev Milkha Singh.

Bhullar said: "I will be representing Jaypee Greater Noida team this time as I have signed a three year deal with Jaypee Greens as their brand ambassador. I have Sanjay Kumar and R Murthy by my side who are experienced players and we'll try to exploit the home course advantage to the fullest."

Jyoti Randhawa said, "Its a refreshing format and it's a format which we professional golfers don't get to play much often. So it's very good for the change. Being the part of a team results into added pressure but the feeling of representing a city makes up for it. I hope we will put on a good show this time around."

In the inaugural edition in Bangalore last March, Navratna Ahmedabad consisting of Sri Lanka's tenacious Mithun Perera, and Delhi-based Vinod Kumar and long-hitting Vikrant Chopra were the surprise winners as they edged out Puravankara Bangalore which starred Lahiri in the final to grab the winning cheque of Rs. 36 lacs.

Puravankara Bangalore took home Rs 24 lacs, while finishing in third place, Take Chennai headlined by European Tour player SSP Chowrasia earned a purse of Rs. 18 lacs and Dev Ellora Chandigarh with Bhullar received Rs. 12 lacs as they finished 4th.

The unique format of the four-day event features two days (36 holes) strokeplay in which all nine teams will compete. The four teams with the best total team scores over 36 holes will advance to the semi-finals.

The semi finals and finals are played in singles matches between the three players of each team. Each player will earn their team one point for a win and zero for a loss.

The two winning semi-finalists will go head-to-head in the finals on the fourth day. While the losing semi finalists will battle for 3rd place. Singles Matches tied after 18 holes go into sudden death hole by hole playoff.