Golfers gear up for the Tata Open tournament at Beldih in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Golfers will walk home with a heavier purse from the 13th Tata Open tournament, which kicks off at Beldih and Golmuri greens on December 18.

The Tatas have jacked up the prize money from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh for this edition of the tournament, which will witness close contests among some top professional golfers of the country.

Pro-am (professional-amateur) event will precede the main tournament on Wednesday. “Total 25 groups, each comprising one professional and three amateurs, will be in fray for the pro-am,” Farzan Heerjee, chief sports and guest relations, Tata Steel, said at a news meet at BOC Pavilion on Tuesday.

The main tournament will feature top Indian professionals like Chikkarangappa S. (current Rolex Rankings leader), Mukesh Kumar, Shamin Khan, Om Prakash Chouhan, defending champion M. Dharma, Shankar Das, Amardip Sinh Malik, Digvijay Singh and Sanjay Kumar to name a few. Sri Lankans Anura Rohana, K. Prabagaran and N. Thangaraja, Australian Kunal Bhasin, Nepal’s Shivaram Shrestha and Md Zamal Hossain Mollah will also be in fray.

The local challenge will be led by Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk, who currently leads the PGTI (Professional Golf Tour of India) emerging player of the year race for 2014. Taunk was the runner-up at the last Tata Open.

The golfers would swap the greens of Beldih and Golmuri to complete 18 holes.

“The Golmuri is equipped with 18 holes but, like every year, the event will be spread at both the venues. Infrastructure at Golmuri is not adequate,” added Heerjee.

Uttam Singh Mundy, one of PGTI directors, said both the greens were amazing and golf lovers could look forward to some exciting contests during the four-day event.

Tata Steel vice-president (corporate services) Sunil Bhaskaran said Tata Open was an annual domestic professional golf tournament of repute, which gives an opportunity to players to display their skills.

Alan Singh, chief administrator of Jamshedpur Golf was also present at the press meet.