Kapil Dev – Grant Thornton Invitational – A Special Report

1. Meet the Winner – Varun Parikh

Varun Parikh, the winner of the inaugural Kapil Dev – Grant Thornton Invitational belongs to Ahmedabad, Gujarat and at 24 is the first ever player from Gujarat to win a PGTI title. Varun entered the golfing world because his maternal grandfather, Mr. Trilokbhai Parikh founded one of Ahmedabad’s first golf courses –  Gulmohar Greens Golf and CC.

His coach, though, is based in Chandigarh –  Jesse Grewal, who is known to have produced other winners like Shubhankar Sharma, Ajeetesh Sandhu and several others. 

Varun turned pro in 2019 but in his first two seasons on tour didn’t see much success. However at the 2022 PGTI Qualifying Event at Kalhaar, he won by 8 shots with four sub 70 rounds of  67-69-69-67 (16-under 272).

In 2022 so far,  Varun has made 9 cuts in 11 events, and after finishing 3rd in Coimbatore, recorded this big win, taking his total earnings to ₹ 22,17,770 and 4th in the PGTI rankings. The PGTI season still has 8 tournaments to go and it will be exciting to watch Varun Parikh’s development post his confidence boosting win. 

In his Amateur days from 2015 to 2019, he recorded several victories around India and finished a creditable 34th  at the 2019 African Amateur Stroke Play Championship in South Africa. 

 

 

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2. A 10 kg Trophy !

 

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The  trophy designed by the teams at Grant Thornton and Art D Inox, was fittingly handed to the winner by legends Kapil Dev and M S Dhoni . Made entirely of stainless steel, weighing 10kgs, the final product was a result of a month of constant work on the design but the final product was certainly worth the effort that went into it. 

3. Legends walked the fairways at DLF 

With India’s two World Cup winning captains – Kapil Dev (1983) and M S Dhoni (2011) walking the fairways at DLF, the tournament got a huge boost in the media – the young pros and fans alike, lined up to see the icons. 

 

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The two legends paired up to play a full 18 holes during the final round of the tournament with Vishesh Chandiok (CEO, Grant Thornton) and Ashish Beriwala (Director, SRMB Steel).

4. Team Pro-Am adds a new dimension 

The team Pro-Am format added a new dimension to the tournament and was inspired by similar formats at the Alfred Dunhill Cup played at St Andrews on the European Tour and the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour. Four member teams of amateurs flew in from Kolkata &  Hyderabad to join the NCR based amateurs to partner the pros for two days. Each pro in the final two rounds was paired with an amateur in a better ball format with the amateurs receiving strokes according to their handicaps.

The pros in turn got a chance to dip into an extra Rs 10 lacs in prize money for the team winners each day and overall over 36 holes. 

Winners – Day 1 –

Winning Team – High Rollers – 85 Points

 

    Pro Trishul Chinappa, Ritwik Kejriwal

    Pro  Ritwik Sharma, Mohit Talwar

2nd Place – SRMB Stunners – 83 points

      Pro Divyanshu Bajaj – Ashish Beriwala

      Pro Sukra Bahadur Rai – Paresh Patel

3rd Place – Smashers – 81 Points

      Pro  Badal Hossain – Anupam Prakash

      Pro  Sarthak Chibber – Hunar Brar

Winners – Day 2 –

Winning Team – Golfism – 88 Points

   Pro Manu Gandas – Vikram Bakshi

  Pro Manav Jaini – Rajat Kumar

2nd Place – Easy Drivers – 84 Points 

        Pro Vikrant Chopra – Dev Ahuja

        Pro Shivendra Singh Sisodia – Manu Anand

3rd Place – Eagles – 83 Points

        Pro  Gaurav Pratap – Ashutosh Sharma

         Pro Jyoti Randhawa – Amit Kumar

Overall Winners

SRMB Stunners – 

Overall Team Pro Am Winners – SRMB Stunners

Ashish Beriwala

Paresh Patel

Dimple Kochar

Nilanjan Sarkar

Vivek Diwan

 

 

5. Saturday Pro-Am Winners 

 

Results – 

Team Prizes – 

Winners – Kartik Sharma, Ravinesh Kumar, Kundan Kumar, Dr. P Hari Prasad 

Runner-Up Team – Tvesa Malik, Ranvir Saini, Alysha Dutt, Karthik Singh

3rd Place Team – Ridhima Dilawari, Mukta Malhotra, Ashish Shah, Rajive Mahindru

A Hole in One grabs the Forest Essentials – The Essential Swing Contest  

Forest Essentials – The Essential Swing –  #16 – Jagdeep Ranger (Winner) with an ace

Other on Course Contest Winners:

Nourish Organics – Longest Drive #14 – Rakesh Kaul – 275 yards 5 ft

                                                                        Shamsher Dhupia – 275 yards 2 ft

                                                                        Neeraj Sachdeva – 260 yards

AMP Motors – Closest to Pin #5 – Giriraj Meena – 3 ft 37 inches

                                                                             Inderjeet Singh – 2 feet

                                                                              Alysha Dutt – 3 ft

Blu Smart – Closest to Pin #3 – Zoravar Randhawa – 2 ft

6. The Forest Essentials Celebration Dinner 

To celebrate the successful completion of the inaugural edition of the Kapil Dev – Grant Thornton Invitational 2022, a celebration dinner was held hours after the final round concluded. The host Kapil Dev himself along with Hero Motocorp Chairman, the Guest of Honour, felicitated the tournament winner Varun Parikh along with Vishesh Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton, while cricketer turned expert commentator Murali Kartik and several high profile corporate guests graced the occasion. 

 

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