Kathmandu, November 7:

Nepal Golf Association (NGA) is organising the Samsung Mobile NGA Match Play Golf Tournament from Saturday.

The first day of the tournament features Pro-Am event at the Gokarna Golf Club where 21 professional and 90 amateur golfers will take part. The event, the third event of the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2008, will select 16 top pros for the Match Play tournament, which will be held at the Royal Nepal Golf Club from November 9-11, said the organisers at a press meet.

In the Match Play, the professional golfers will be given the ranking and the top will contest against the bottom placed golfer. After the first day, top eight will enter the quarter-finals and after that the top four will make it to the semi-finals.

The losing semi-finalists will play for the third place and the top two from the semi-finals will vie for the championship match. The first round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and third-place play off will be played over 18 holes, while the final will be played over 36 holes, informed Nepal Professional Golfers Association General Secretary Deepak Acharya.

Out of the total cash prize of Rs 200,000, the winner will receive a purse of Rs 50,000, while the runner up will get Rs 30,000. The third and fourth placed golfers will get Rs 22,000 and Rs 18,000 respectively. The losing quarter-finalists will receive Rs 10,000 each and the eight golfers who fail to advance to the second round will get Rs 5,000 apiece. Samsung Mobile is the chief sponsor of the event, while Sulux Centre the co-sponsor.

NGA President Vinode SJB Rana said the association was organising the first event since its elections earlier this year. NGA General Secretary and the main sponsor Tashi Ghale said the tournament was the first of its kind in Nepal. “This is the first time Nepali pros will be playing in the Match Play format. As there will be no second chance, the golfers will have to play serious golf from the beginning,” he added.

NGA Vice President Prachanda Bahadur Shrestha informed that the NGA was also organising the qualifying for SAARC Golf Tournament from November 12-14. “We will send five amateur golfers including two ladies for the SAARC tournament and two others for Dhaka Open slated for Bangladesh in December,” he said. Secretary Dorjee Tsering Sherpa and Treasurer Gautam Sayami were also present on the occasion.