Srinath Reddy and NRN Reddy emerge victorious at the Hyderabad leg of Mercedes Trophy 2017

Hyderabad golfers, NRN Reddy and Srinath Reddy Kottam claimed the two available National Final spots at the Hyderabad leg of the 17th annual MercedesTrophy 2017. This was the fifth leg of the nationwide tournament, which was held at the Hyderabad Golf Course (HGA).

Srinath Reddy Kottam in the CAT A (4-17) handicap category, ended the day with a nett score of 71 while NRN Reddy in CAT B (18-24) also scored a nett of 71 to emerge the winner. They will now be playing in the National Finals scheduled in Pune’s Oxford Golf Resort from 15-17 March 2017. The Hyderabad leg saw a total of over 116 golfers fight for the national finals spot in Pune up from 100 golfers in the last edition of the trophy. There were a host of other prizes on offer on the day. Prominent winners included Aluri Srinivas Rao who won the Ballantine’s Long Drive Challenge on the 13th hole with a mammoth drive of 292 yards and 3 inches. Vinayak Chintapally won the SWISS Closest to Pin contest landing the ball just 8 ft 6 inches from the pin on hole 2.

In the Mercedes – Benz straightest drive contest played on hole four, Manoj Chawda was declared the winner while in the Mercedes- Benz Closest to Pin in Two Shots on hole 12 was won by Sri Myneni. The best gross winner for the day was awarded to Rohan Reddy who had a gross score of 77.

The format of play was Double Peoria. This unique format of adjusting handicaps of players levels the playing field enabling golfers to have a greater chance of qualifying for the National Finals. The Hyderabad leg was the fifth leg of the 12-city tournament which kick-started the MercedesTrophy globally. This year, the MercedesTrophy will travel to 50 countries engaging 60,000 golfers worldwide. The Indian leg will witness 25 days of competitive amateur golfing action in 12 cities engaging 2500 golfers, making it larger than ever before. Mercedes Trophy’s next stop is at the Cosmo Tamil Nadu Golf Club in Chennai on February 3rd. Three Winners from the National Finals will further progress to the MercedesTrophy World Finals – Stuttgart, Germany in September 2017 to compete against winners from all over the world. One winner will travel to Scotland to witness the British Open at Royal Birkdale in July.