Gulmarg, Oct 13: After fighting their way out at tricky Lidder Valley Golf Course (LVGC) Pahalgam, battle for supremacy in the three-day mega Greater Kashmir Autumn Golf Festival resumed at Asia’s highest Golf course here on Saturday.
 It was a relief for the golfers, both outside and locals to play at the Gulmarg Golf Course after fighting their way out at treacherous, unforgiving and challenging LVGC at Pahalgam.
 The days play was teed-off by Greater Kashmir skipper, BR Singh in presence of Chief Executive Officer, Mahmood Ahmad Shah and others.
 It is for the first time that Greater Kashmir Communications Private Limited has taken the initiative of involving full golf circuit of the Valley comprising, LVGC Pahalgam, Gulmarg Course and RSGC Srinagar for the event.
 In the event around 108 golfers are participating and they have been divided into three teams of Greater Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh . From outside, 52 well known golfers including 16 females are participating.
 While the Greater Kashmir team is led by BR Singh, Lalit Kapoor is the captain of Delhi team. Chandigarh team is playing under the leadership of Col. AP Dhillon.
 It was a fascinating day of golf as players found Gulmarg Course excellent , with its re-laid turf giving golfers’ ample chance to exhibit their skills to the fullest. With Pahalgam having scripted the event in its own language, the only difference between the two was that on Pahalgam course the score was on higher side while it was low scoring affair at Gulmarg. The grand finale would be held at RSGC Srinagar on Sunday. The event is being played on Stable ford ¾ handicap format.
 Delhi team captain Lalit Kapoor while giving vent to the feelings about his team said, “Our team comprises mostly senior members with an oldest player, J M Kapoor being 83 years old. It took him 10-lopng hours to negotiate the treacherous at Pahalgam course on Friday. We are old but not out and battle for title will go to the wire”.
  “It was dream come true to play at most beautiful course like Pahalgam and then moving to course like Gulmarg which is one of the oldest courses in world  is more pleasurable,” he said.
  If golfers of the country will come to know about this event being held amid high class facilities, they will wait in a queue for a place in it, he said.
 Giving details about the course CEO Gulmarg Development Authority, Mahmood Shah said, “It is the oldest and highest course of Asia, which was established in 1889-92 by Colonel Neville Chamberlain. It was expanded to 18-hole recently. And it has been developed on link style with green tees and fairways while rest of it has been kept wild to make it synonymous with Gulmarg surroundings”.
 Lauding the efforts of Greater Kashmir in promoting Golf in the state he said “It is great to see Greater Kashmir coming forward to organise national event like the current one in Gulmarg.  The course needs publicity only as we have got all the facilities available for the golfers”.
 The event is being held in collaboration with Mushtaq Group of Hotels, Al-Khuddam, JK Tourism, JK Bank and others.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 IST