Royal Ranthambore BT Golf sees solid turnout in Kolkata

The Royal Ranthambore Business Today Golf 2023-24 season successfully completed its second leg at the historic Tollygunge Club in Kolkata on Saturday, November 4 with a packed field, and perfect post-Durga Puja weather.

Oona Khanna, A.K. Sareen and Dinesh Agarwal topped the Ladies, 0-14 men’s handicap and 15-24 men’s handicap categories at the green and leafy Tolly course was presented to the participants in perfect condition on a pleasant November morning.

West Bengal Industry Minister Shashi Panja attended the event as chief guest and gave away the prizes. In her brief address to the gathering which she said included Kolkata’s “captains of industry, business tycoons and corporate titans”, Dr Panja pointed out that the city was in the grip of a sports wave.

“It’s a season full of sport for us. We have a cricket World Cup match here tomorrow so the flavour of the season is sports, sports and sports, and golf is not very far behind,” the minister added.

Qatar Airways is co-powering the seven-city season that will run up to March 2024 and IndianOil was the other co-presenting partner at Kolkata. Event partners also include Bandhan Mutual Fund as investment partner, Darwin Platform Group of Companies as conglomerate partner, and O3 Plus as gifting partner, while Morris Garages are driving the events.

Teeing it up on Saturday was Amit Bhowmik and Hitesh Gurtu of Linde India, Murali Ganesan, executive VP and head of audit, ITC Limited, Gaurav Soneja of ITC Hotels, Ranabir Chatterjee of Praxair India, Texmaco Rail and Engineering’s Indrajit Mookerjee, Joydeep Duttagupta of Deloitte Touche Tomahatsu, Shrishti Infra managing director Sunil Jha, Arnab Basu of PWC, and Vikram Singh Gulia, CEO of Amalgamated Plantations.

Others included ITC limited director B. Sumant, Harsh Pal Singh of Shrishti Infra, Vijay Jacob Parakkal of Wunderman Thompson, and Sanjeev Mehra of the R.P. Goenka Group.

While Oona Khanna (34 points) topped the ladies category, A.K. Sareen won the men’s 1 to 14 handicap section with 37 points ahead of Col Suneet Shukla, who secured 35 points.

Competition in the men’s 15 to 24 handicap section was equally close, Dinesh Agrawal topping with 35 points while Paresh Patek was on his heels with 34 points

On-course prizes went to Hermanpreet Singh in the closest to pin (1 foot, 6 inches) on hole 2, R.K. Poddar for the straightest drive overall on hole 14, and Mayukh Ray in the longest drive overall (285 yards) on hole 10.

Results

0-14 Handicap: Winner – A.K. Sareen, 37 points; Runner Up – Col Suneet Shukla, 35 points.

15-24 Handicap: Winner – Dinesh Agarwal, 35 points; Runner Up – Paresh Patel, 34 points.

Ladies Winner – Oona Khanna, 34 points.

Individual prizes

Hole 2 Closest to Pin (Overall) – Hermanpreet Singh - 1 foot, 6 inches

Hole 14 Straightest Drive (Overall) – R.K. Poddar – 6 inches from centre line

Hole 10 Longest Drive (Overall) – Mayukh Ray (285 Yards)