Kathmandu, March 29:

The last of the nine events under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2008-09, Surya Nepal NPGA Tour Championship, tees off here at the Gokarna Golf Club on Monday.

In all 24 professional golfers will vie for the championship played over 72 holes. Top 15 pros plus ties along with top three amateur golfers will make the cut after the second round. The winner will walk away with Rs 65,000 in the Rs 300,000 event. The first and the second runners up will also pocket Rs 41,000 and Rs 32,000 respectively. Pros finishing upto 15 places and ties will also receive their shares of cash prizes.

Nepal’s No 1 Shiva Ram Shrestha will be eying the sixth titles under the Tour. Shrestha is expected to get tough fight from No 2 Deepak Thapa Magar, No 3 Rabi Khadka, N0 4 Ramesh Nagarkoti, No 5 Sanjay Lama, No 6 Deepak Acharya, No 7 Deepak Neupane, No 8 Pashupati Sharma, No 9 Sabin Sapkota, No 10 Mani Rai and No 11 Surya Sharma.

Amateur winners of the past eight events held under the tour are also qualified to compete in the tournament.

Rupak Acharya, Tashi Ghale, Dhana Thapa, Prasanna Uprety and Suman Rai among others will be rubbing their shoulders against the pros for the amateur trophy. The 2009-10 Tour begins in mid April.