Drives, putts, chips, punches and more were executed with flair and panache by lady golfers at the 10th Calcutta Ladies Amateur Open Golf Championship in association with The Telegraph. Held from February 28 to March 2 at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, this prestigious flagship tournament of Calcutta Ladies Golf Club was a 54-holes strokeplay event. Governed by rules approved by The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, along with local rules, the championship was held in silver and bronze divisions and played in medal, Stableford and bogey formats for the first, second and third days of play respectively. It was participated by 70 amateur women golfers from all over the country and witnessed a remarkable display of competitive golf at its highest level. Snapshots.
Calcutta Ladies Golf Club captain Dhritipriya RayDasgupta handed over the prestigious RCGC Cup for best overall gross score in silver division to Yaalisai Verma (right). “First of all I would like to thank my parents for supporting and helping me in this journey. I would also like to thank my coach Varun Sahay for guiding me. Winning is always wonderful. It was an amazing ground, I played well and it’s been a fantastic experience for me. I would also like to thank the organisers for conducting this fabulous tournament,” the young champ said.
Winner of the senior prize for 9 holes, Mamta Bhargav (right) received her award from past president of Calcutta Ladies Golf Club, Debjani Dasgupta, Gynaecologist and avid golfer Dr Madhumita Das received the bogey winner prize from former managing director of Goodricke, Krupa David
(l-r)Best Nett Over 54 Holes Handicap winner Sheena Rawla tees off on the greens on the last day of play at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Best Gross Over 54 Holes Handicap winner Yaalisai Verma in action on the final day of play at Calcutta Ladies Amateur Open Golf Championship
One of the youngest participants, Anwesha Das (left) received a prize for the straightest drive
Poorvi Ajmeera (right) won the best gross bronze overall prize. “It has been a fabulous experience. It felt really nice to win a prize today as I have not been winning since the last few months. That I have achieved it on a challenging course like RCGC makes it even more special. The tournament itself was very well organised and I feel happy to be a part of it,” Poorvi said.
“We have been organising this tournament for the last 50 years. For the last 10 years it’s been called the Calcutta Ladies Open. This year, what has been most surprising and satisfying is that in spite of the unfavourable weather conditions and the expenses, we have had such wonderful participation from golfers from all over the country. We organised the tournament in different categories so that it could bring out the varied skill sets of the ladies playing the course. In fact, we plan to expand on these categories further. Another unique feature of this tournament was that participation cut across all ages — the seniormost player is over 70 years old while the youngest has barely reached her teens — and they were all playing for the same goal!” said captain of Calcutta Ladies Golf Club, Dhritipriya RayDasgupta.
Rina Sen (left) received the medal round winner award for the first day’s play from CLGC president Nina Singh
Overall Silver Nett winner Sheena Rawla received her prize from the director of RD&A Insurance Broking Services, Biswajit Dasgupta. “I love playing tournaments organised by the Calcutta Ladies Golf Club. It’s always so warm and welcoming, whether we are teeing off or coming back after the day’s play, and that really gives a nice feeling. It’s been a terrific experience really. But I always play to win and am always working towards winning and keep practising regularly,” said Sheena.
Overall Silver Nett runner-up Sucharita Moitra also received her prize from Biswajit Dasgupta. “I am a member of both RCGC and CLGC. I have been playing since 2009 and keep practising off and on. So I didn’t prepare especially for this tournament. But I really enjoyed participating and the course also played very well. The entire tournament was beautifully conducted and all players were very well looked after, specially by the captain and I must congratulate her for that. We all had a great time!” Sucharita said.
