Indian PGA C'ship now an Asian tour event

The biggest event on the domestic golf tour, the Indian PGA Championship, has now become a specially sanctioned event of the Asian PGA tour, officials said on Tuesday.

The tournament, to be held at the Delhi Golf Club from November 1-4, will now have an enhanced prize purse of $200,000 from last year's three million rupees ($63,610).

"The championship is the premier tournament of the Indian golf tour and we are delighted that it has become a part of the Asian PGA tour," said Siddharth Sriram, one of the event's main sponsors.

"The players will earn more money, but more importantly, it will help them win world ranking points. This will definitely contribute towards raising golfing standards in the country," he told reporters.

The tournament's 144-member field is expected to be made up of 80 top professionals from the Asian tour apart for India's biggest domestic golfers.

One India's leading golfers, Jyoti Randhawa, is the defending champion. Randhawa was second on the Asian tour's money list last year behind Britain's Simon Dyson.

India already hosts two Asian tour events annually, the Indian Open and the Indian Masters, both worth $300,000 in prize money.