KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 5

The Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2022-23 is teeing off here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club on Tuesday.

The 15th edition of the Tour features eight events with the total cash purse of Rs 6.185 million, informed General Secretary of Nepal Professional Golfers Association at a press meet today. The season is beginning with the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open, which offers prize money of Rs 670,000.

Out of the eight events, two tournaments will be held outside Kathmandu Valley with Dharan and Pokhara hosting one each. Dharan Golf Club will host the Surya Nepal Eastern Open later this month, while the Surya Nepal Western Open will be held at the Himalayan Golf Club in Pokhara in February. Both the events carry cash purse of Rs 800,000.

Other two events with Rs 800,000 cash purse included Surya Nepal Central Open in January and Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship in April - both at Gokarna Forest Golf Resort.

Apart from Kathmandu Open, the RNGC will host other two events - Surya Nepal Match Play in Februaryand Surya Nepal Challenge in March.

The Surya Nepal Premier Golf Championship is the big-gest event of the season in terms of cash purse. The season-ending event carries a cash purse of Rs 1.5 million and will be held at Gokarna in May.

'We have increased prize money by five per cent in this season,' said Acharya. He also said the NPGA was in talks with Nepal Golf Association and Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd to find a suitable way to allow the amateur golfers receive prize money.

NPGA President Rabindra Man Shrestha thanked the main sponsor, Surya Nepal for continued support for professional golf. 'Surya Nepal has been supporting us for a long time and we are grateful to them,' said Shrestha. 'We have been conducting the Tour is a sustainable manner and we also have a feeling that it could have been better,' he added. 'The Surya Nepal Golf Tour is also a good platform for the amateur golfers of the country.'

Shrestha urged the government to invest in infrastructure of the sport.

'We need at least one golf course each in seven provinces for the overall development of the sport. If we have minimum-standard golf courses in all provinces, we can link them to tourism as well,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.