Kathmandu, March 22:

The major international golfing event in Nepal, Surya Nepal Masters-2007 has been scheduled for March 27-31 at the Le Meridien Kathmandu Gokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa.

The main event, Surya Nepal Masters, will be played on March 28-31, while Standard Chartered Pro Am will be held a day earlier. About 90 amateurs and 30 professionals will participate in the Pro-Am event, the organisers said in a release today.

Surya Nepal Masters will witness some of the top golfers from India and Malaysia along with Nepali professionals vying for Rs 324,000 winner’s cheque.

The field for the main event includes the likes of India’s current No 2 Ashok Kumar, former Indian Open winners Vijay Kumar and Feroz Ali, the 2004 Surya Nepal Masters winner Shiv Prakash, Rohtas Singh, Yusuf Ali, Harinder Gupta and Parnita Garewal including three Malaysia golfers, the release added.

Professional golfers Deepak Acharya, Sabin Sapkota, Deepak Thapa Magar, Ramesh Nagarkoti and Pashupati Sharma will lead the Nepali challenge in the Rs two million event.

Main sponsor Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, however, said that they were forced to stage the event before holding Surya Nepal Western Open as has been the case in the previous years.

The non-availability of the international golfers at a later date was the reason, the organisers said. Surya Nepal Western Open now will be held at the Himalayan Golf Course in Pokhara from April 5-7.

The company also expressed its commitment to send three golfers at the PGTI Golf events in

India. Surya Nepal has been associated with this tournament since its inception in 1993. Nepal Tourism Board, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd and the Le Meridien Gokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa are the partners of the event.