Surya Nepal Masters to tee off Tuesday

KATHMANDU, April 9: Some of the top golfers of South East Asia are expected to attend the Surya Nepal Masters which will tee off at Gokarna golf course on Tuesday. The richest and most prestigious golf tournament of Nepal with a total prize amount of Rs four million will be held in the 18-hole course.



The 18th edition of the annual event organized by Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd is being co-sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in partnership with Nepal Professional Golfers Association (NPGA) after a hiatus of some years. [break]



The organizers said the cash prize has been increased in this edition keeping in mind the growing stature of the tournament.



The tournament began in 1993 under the initiative of Ray Noronah, former MD of Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd (Surya Tabacco Company then), who was a keen golfer and had played the game in different parts of the world. It was his dream to bring international golfers to Nepal, a preposterous thought back then because golf was a fledgling sport in the Himalayan nation in the early 90s.



Back then, the only fully-functional golfing facility in the country was the Royal Nepal Golf Club and it was, and still is, a nine-hole course. It took months of planning, and working at the site for days and night together to carry out significant infrastructural redevelopment of the course.



Around the same time, the golf course in Gokarna was coming up and that was of great importance as Nepal had its first 18-hole golfing facility. It made sense for the tournament to shift to the new venue and it also paved the way for the Surya Nepal Masters to become a full-fledged professional event.



Golf in Nepal thus got a huge boost and the excitement was visible on the face of the Nepali players.



The first few Nepali pros who looked to compete with the best were Deepak Thapa, Ghansham Thapa, Ridhi Sapkota and Bhimsen Karki to name a few. They were truly the pioneers of the game in the country and have inspired and given hope to a host of players to follow their footsteps and bring glory to the nation.



Then it was for the youngsters to take on the mantle. One of Nepal’s leading pros Deepak Acharya was the frontrunner of this young pack who had the zeal to take the game ahead.



Deepak Thapa Magar created history in 2007 by becoming the first Nepali pro to win the Surya Nepal Masters and that was a major milestone as it paved the way for the other youngsters to take up the game for a living.

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